Bioengineer and nanotechnology researcher Azlin Fazlina Osman and her team will explore dolomite reservoirs around the Ashio mountainland in Kuzu district, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. Dolomite is a naturally occurring primary sediment mineral that contains large deposits of high-purity calcium magnesium carbonate. Azlin has performed research on dolomite originating from her country of Malaysia, but dolomite from different places may have different compositions and characteristics due to different ways of sedimentation process / rock formation, time and duration of formation, environment, climate, etc.

In Japan’s Tochigi Prefecture, Azlin will observe and collect dolomite samples from different mines and quarries for use in her ongoing research on the dolomite nanofiller for biomedical application. As compared to other types of minerals such as clays and silica, dolomite is not frequently used and studied for biomedical applications. Azlin’s preliminary study, however, shows that dolomite is non-toxic and suitable for such use. The use of dolomite is expected to be a practical and valuable approach toward the production of high tensile and tough polymer nanocomposite. Flexible yet tough plastic is beneficial for the following potential applications: encapsulant of electrically-active biomedical implantable devices; medical equipment such as clinical tubes and containers, implantable microchip medical information carrier; packaging film of biomedical and electronic products.

Azlin and her team want to discover how the origin, composition, and geological and other factors can determine the properties / characteristics / quality of dolomite. The findings can contribute to scientific knowledge and cross-discipline study on mineral, nanotechnology and advanced materials, thus widening the application of dolomite, with great benefits to the area of polymer / dolomite nanocomposite for biomedical applications.

Azlin has a PhD degree in nanotechnology and is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering Technology, Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), and a Leader for the Biomedical & Nanotechnology Group in the Center of Excellence Geopolymer and Green Technology (CEGeoGTech), UniMAP. Her research interests are in the field of biomedical polymer, nanotechnology, nanocomposites, biocomposites, chemistry and properties of materials.