Meka Saima Perdani won a doctorate degree from the Faculty of Engineering, University of Indonesia (FTUI) in 2.5 years. At a very young age, 25 years, Meka passed after defending his dissertation entitled “The Performance of Cholesterol Oxidase Enzymes, Rhodococcus Erythropolis BL21 (DE3) and Streptomyces sp. Immobilized Modified Magnetite for Cholesterol Oxidation Reaction ”. This doctoral promotion open session was held online through the Zoom application, on Friday (15/01/2021), with the title Very Satisfying, 3.92 from a scale of 4.00.
Promovendus successfully graduated and was listed as the youngest and fastest doctorate to complete his education at FTUI. He is the 53rd doctorate in the Chemical Engineering Study Program (Prodi) for doctoral level and the 387th doctorate at the Faculty of Engineering UI. In addition to earning a doctorate with the best honors, this chemistry lecturer at the Defense University has also written and published 14 articles in various international journals indexed by Scopus.
The topic of Meka’s dissertation is the development of cholesterol oxidation reactions by utilizing enzymes as a source of biocatalysts. His research aims to form a cholesterol biosensor prototype through enzymatic reactions, which this prototype can be used in the medical world. From the results of the research conducted, it was proven that the cholesterol oxidase enzyme from Streptomyces sp was immobilized by metal materials and the recombinant enzyme Rhodococcus Eryhtopolis could oxidize cholesterol. This research topic was successfully published into five scientific articles published in two international journals indexed by Q1 Scopus, one international journal indexed by Q2 Scopus and three proceedings indexed by Scopus.
In pursuing his doctoral education at FTUI, Meka admitted that he received support from mentors and promoters. “The atmosphere of education and research at FTUI is very much felt. I had the opportunity to do an international collaboration for 9 months at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan, to complete my research. ” Meka was accepted into the Chemical Engineering Study Program FTUI under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Heri Hermansyah, M.Eng. and co-promoter Dr. Eng. Muhamad Sahlan.
Meka is one of 243 recipients of the batch III Masters to Doctoral Program scholarships for Excellence Undergraduate (PMDSU) batch III from RISTEK DIKTI at FTUI. He is the first graduate to complete his doctoral studies. PMDSU scholarships are offered for the best undergraduate graduates in Indonesia to continue their master to doctoral studies. This scholarship is given by the government in order to improve the quality of the scholars so that they become scholars who have strong enough competitiveness. This scholarship program is structured to improve the quality of master’s education in Indonesia.