On Saturday, April 1 2023, PKPA Labskill X for Orchid Cultivation Techniques was held at the Biotechnology Laboratory, Faculty of Biology UGM. This activity is a collaboration of the Research Division with the Cultivation Division of BiOSC. This activity was attended by Prof. Dr. Endang Semiarti, M.S., M.Sc. as BiOSC Supervisor Lecturer. Focusing on training and introducing basic material regarding in vitro orchid propagation techniques, this activity is intended to develop student abilities, especially in BiOSC membership. PKPA Labskill X Orchid Cultivation Techniques was successfully attended by 23 members from Diksar XV, XVI, and XVII BiOSC batches. This series of activities begins with a pretest for participants followed by guidance and direction regarding the basic material for in vitro culture of orchid seeds.

Next, participants were invited to practice sowing orchid seeds directly in Laminar Air Flow (LAF). The orchid seeds that were sown this time came from the Spathoglottis genus which came from the Karanggayan and Arundina Greenhouses which were obtained from the exploration results of BiOSC members. In this activity, participants will be taught the steps that must be taken, such as sterilizing tools and materials, preparing orchids for sowing, and how to properly plant seeds in a medium bottle using Vacin and Went medium. The steps in this method need to be considered carefully because it will determine the success of growing orchid seeds into new individuals. In this Orchid Cultivation Technique, participants are expected to have an overview and understand the basic techniques that need to be considered so that the cultivation of orchids from seeds can be successful.

Biology students at Universitas Gadjah Mada (S1) made another achievement by winning the Bronze Medal and Favorite Poster at the national level El Bajo Essay Competition. This achievement was achieved by a team chaired by Amelia Rifki Alifiah (Biology 2019) and its member Fatika Soraya Taufik (Biology 2019) under the guidance of Sukirno, S.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D. This competition carries the theme “Idea, Innovation and Creativity to Realize the MDGs” and is carried out in two stages. The first stage included online essay selection by the jury with a total of 265 works from State and Private Universities in Indonesia, so that 28 finalist teams were obtained. The second stage was held on 18-19 March 2023 with an offline final presentation at the Office of the West Manggarai Regent, Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara. The organizers also held field trips for the finalists with the intended destinations including Pink Beach, Komodo Island and Padar Island.

In this competition, Amelia and Fatika brought the title “BOBESTEA: Diabetes-Friendly Boba Milk Tea with α-Amylase and α-Glucosidase Inhibitors from Mango Kernel Starch (Mangifera indica L.) and Natural Sweetener Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni as an Alternative to Low-Sugar Contemporary Drinks ”. In this essay, Amelia and Fatika discuss that the boba drink trend, which has experienced rapid growth in recent years, has actually contributed to the increase in diabetes cases in Indonesia. The sugar content in one serving of boba drink itself can reach 73.44%, thus exceeding the daily sugar consumption limit. Based on these problems, Amelia and Fatika initiated the BOBESTEA innovation with boba pearls from mango kernel starch containing α-Amylase and α-Glucosidase enzyme inhibitors, as well as milk tea derived from a combination of unsweetened almond milk, black tea, and zero-calorie Stevia natural sweetener. . This innovation is expected to be an alternative solution to current drinks that are much healthier, have a lower risk of diabetes, and can be accepted by consumers, especially millennials and generation Z as the main consumers of boba drinks.

Science continues to develop rapidly, one of which is related to anatomical characteristics as important parameters in botanical studies, including systematics, evolution, to ecophysiology related to plant adaptation. The diversity of plants in Indonesia is directly proportional to the characteristics of its internal structure. For the analysis of plant anatomical characters, special knowledge is needed related to the technique of making microscopic preparations. Therefore, training in the technique of making anatomical preparations is very important, as well as being a place for friendship and information sharing.

In order to carry out community service and establish collaboration with other parties, the Laboratory of Plant Structure and Development, Faculty of Biology UGM accepted two students from the Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Education, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, University of Jambi (UNJA). Students from the University of Jambi namely Dita Rahmayanti and Suci Sri Mulya to carry out plant microtechnical training which was carried out for 12 days, on 20 February – 7 March 2023.

The opening of the training as well as the welcoming of students from UNJA was carried out at the Plant Structure and Development Laboratory which was welcomed and opened directly by Dr. Maryani, M.Sc. as Head of Plant Structure and Development Laboratory. The training consisted of lectures/discussions on plant microtechnics (especially embedding and non-embedding methods, micrometry, and optilab) and the anatomical structure of roots and leaves. Participants were also given the opportunity to independently practice making plant preparations (practicum (hands on), and their analysis. The material was conducted by Dr. Maryani, M.Sc. and Utaminingsih, S.Si., M.Sc., while the practicum was conducted with Utaminingsih , S.Sc., M.Sc.. Independent work was carried out for 3 days accompanied by a laboratory assistant (Mrs. Prapti).

The official closing of the activity was carried out by Dr. Maryani, M.Sc. on Tuesday, March 7 2023. In his remarks, he said that by participating in this training it was hoped that the knowledge gained by the two students would be useful and could be developed in their institutions later. Hopefully this training activity can be a starting point for research collaboration and collaboration in the future.

Biology students at Gadjah Mada University (S1) made another achievement at the national level by winning 1st place in the National Essay Competition. This achievement was achieved by Zildan Basara, a student at the Faculty of Biology class of 2020. This national-level essay competition was organized by the Respati Tasikmalaya STIKes Student Executive Board at an annual event, namely the Stunting Response Festival. This year, the Stunting Response Festival has the theme “One Step for Indonesia: Optimizing Zero Stunting for Golden Indonesia”. The competition was held online with 103 registrants from 79 universities, the competition opened on 16 February 2023, and the winners were announced on 23 March 2023.

In this competition, Zildan raised the title “Ensuring Healthy Child Growth to Realize Golden Indonesia: Exploring Challenges and Solutions to Optimizing Zero Stunting”. In this essay, Zildan discusses that Indonesia is one of the countries with a high prevalence of stunting in the world. According to data from the World Bank (2021), the prevalence of stunting in Indonesia in 2020 is 27.4% of the number of children under 5 years of age. This means that around 7.8 million children in Indonesia were stunted that year. This figure places Indonesia as the country with the fourth highest stunting rate in the world. This is a serious problem because stunting can have an adverse impact on children’s physical, cognitive and social development, and can affect their quality of life in the future. Therefore, overcoming stunting is one of the main priorities in achieving the vision of the Golden Indonesia.

Optimizing zero stunting is an important program in preventing stunting in children in Indonesia. This program involves various aspects such as exclusive breastfeeding, provision of complementary foods, access to clean water and good sanitation, health education for pregnant women and their families, increasing the availability of healthy and nutritious food, and community empowerment. The development of this program needs to involve various parties and be supported by supporting policies.

Saturday, March 18 2023, the Student Senate (SEMA) Workshop was held with the Student Executive Board (BEM) of the Faculty of Biology UGM along with the ratification of the 2021 Faculty Student Representative Council Draft Law. This workshop is a meeting between SEMA and BEM with the aim is to submit the entire work program of each commission or department for one year of management period, namely the 2023/2024 service period. SEMA Biology carries the parliamentary name ‘Cakra Optima’ and BEM Biology carries the cabinet name ‘Laskar Aswattha’ in this year’s management period. This Workshop activity is open to the Faculty of Biology Student Society (KMFB), where representatives of three batches namely the 2020, 2021, 2022 and Study Groups/Institutions also attend and witness virtually.

This Workshop activity was carried out online through the Zoom Meeting platform with Nirina Adelia Putri as the Master of Ceremony. The activity started at 12.30 WIB with the agenda including the opening by the MC, remarks by Fathur Syahrian Ramadhani as chairman of the 2023 Biology BEM and continued by remarks from the chairman of the 2023 Biology SEMA namely Aqil Muhammad Hafiz, then continued with the Special Session for the Ratification of the 2021 DPM UF Bill, presentation by BEM, then presentation by SEMA, and finally closing.

From the presentations that have been delivered there are good suggestions from BEM to SEMA and from SEMA to BEM. These proposals can later be studied further and used as a basis if there are additions or changes to each work program that has been submitted. The workshop activity was then closed at 17.45 WIB and ended with an online photo session together

The series of Education and Training (Basic Education and Training), one of the XXIII KSK Biogama work programs, has been fully implemented offline in 2023. The series of KSK Biogama Education and Training activities consist of Outbound activities, Troop Deployments (gelar pasukan), and Field Training. Training XXIII aims to recruit potential new members and educate prospective cadres so they have the character needed in the organization. The XXIII Training has the theme: “Building competent, skilled and dedicated members of KSK Biogama to advance Indonesian maritime affairs”.

Outbound is one of a series of Basic Training Education (Diklatsar) events for prospective KSK Biogama members. In this event, participants consisting of 27 students received material from the committee at each post that had been placed. The material includes first aid, survival, making tents, making campfires, and learning sampling. The event was held on February 8 2023 at the UGM campus.

Troop deployment (gelar pasukan). In this event, participants consisting of 23 students made preparations for all the equipment and necessities that would be brought to the field training venue. Apart from that, in this activity the participants were also trained to built good tents so that they could be applied to field training events. This event was held on February 22, 2023 at Jalan Taman Biologi UGM.

Field training and inauguration are part of a series of Basic Training Education (Diklatsar) events for Biogama KSK member candidates. In this event, participants consisting of 23 students received field education for 3 days on 24-26 February 2023, by walking along Krakal Beach, Sarangan Beach, to Drini Beach, Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta. prospective members of KSK were appointed as young members of KSK Biogama by the Dean of the Faculty of Biology UGM, Prof. Dr. Budi Setiadi Daryono, M.Agr.Sc. who was accompanied by Abdul Razaq Chasani, Ph.D. as the Supervisor of KSK Biogama and A. Najib Dhiaurahman as the Chairman of KSK Biogama.

The Biochemistry Laboratory, Faculty of Biology, Universitas Gadjah Mada is again holding a series of Analytical Biochemistry Training on April 5-8 2023. Analytical Biochemistry Training is an annual training held by the Biochemistry Laboratory of the Faculty of Biology UGM to provide insight and training to students, lecturers, practitioners, and scientists, both internal and external to UGM, regarding analytical biochemistry. This year, the Analytical Biochemistry Training takes the theme Analytical Biochemistry Training: Gene, Protein and Metabolite Analysis which is divided into 4 packages. Package 1 was held on February 23-25 ​​2023, with the topic of Fundamentals of Molecular Biochemistry and Nucleic Acid Analysis.

The Analytical Biochemistry training package 2 has the theme Exploration of Potential Compounds of Natural Ingredients-1, which was opened by Dr. Eko Agus Suyono, M.App.Sc., as Deputy Dean for Research, Community Service, Cooperation and Alumni. Participants received a technical explanation of how it works, hands on samples and lecture material on how to extract natural materials and separate them using the chromatographic method. Participants performed extraction by soxhletation and ultrasonication. In addition, they also studied vacuum liquid chromatography (VLC) and liquid liquid fractionation (LLF) techniques, High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC), scanning compounds with spectrophotometry, multivariate analysis, and bioinformatics analysis for predicting the biological activity of natural compounds. All of these activities were carried out at the Biochemistry Laboratory, Faculty of Biology UGM. Participants were very enthusiastic about participating in this training and getting the results from the experiments they carried out.The UGM Faculty of Biology Biochemistry Laboratory is working with several partners, namely PT Abadi Nusa Usaha Semesta, PT Kairos Jaya Sejahtera, PT ITS, and Wahana HiLab which supports the Package-2 Analytical Biochemistry Training activities. “This training is very relevant in exploring natural materials to support the Faculty of Biology as a center of biodiversity,” said Raras as Head of the Biochemistry Laboratory.

Monday (10/4/23) Faculty of Biology UGM held a recitation in the month of Ramadan. The recitation, which is one of the routine activities carried out by the Faculty of Biology UGM every month of Ramadan, this time takes the theme “Benefits of Fasting in a Scientific Perspective”. The recitation took place at the Al Hayat Mosque and was attended by all Lecturers, Education Staff, Dharma Wanita Persatuan, and Student representatives.

Furthermore, remarks were delivered from the Dean of the Faculty of Biology UGM, Prof. Dr. Budi S. Daryono, M.Agr.Sc. In his remarks Prof. Budi said that knowledge would be successful if faith and piety were increased. “The Faculty of Biology always holds lectures even during a pandemic. The purpose of this study is to fulfill our obligation as Muslims to continue learning to increase the sharpness of knowledge. Apart from that, it is also to increase friendship, hopefully with friendship our brotherhood with fellow Muslims will get stronger, “said Prof. Budi.

The speaker this time is Ustadz Noor Saif Muhammad Mussafi, S.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D. He said that for fasting people there are two joys, when breaking the fast and meeting the Lord in the afterlife. “Tomorrow is a good deed that will be our provision,” said Ustadz Saif. Furthermore, he conveyed that fasting is actually a universal activity, it can be carried out by any community like the people before the Prophet. When fasting, we are actually learning self-control, controlling ourselves from excessive things. The recitation was closed with a prayer led by Ustadz Noor Saif Muhammad Mussafi, S.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D. and continued breaking the fast with takjil provided by the committee.

On Saturday, March 25 2023, a series of Seedling KSAT scientific material activities were carried out, namely Small Group Discussion 2 Landscape Architecture-Plant Diversity online through the zoom meeting platform. The purpose of holding the Archives-Ketam Small Group Discussion 2 is to increase Seedling’s knowledge and skills regarding the stages of work in garden design and plant macromorphology.The presentation of material was delivered by Ahmad Alfian Nafis (KSAT 2021) and Fika Zulfiani (KSAT 2021). The presenter explained the stages of work in designing a park which included program planning, site inventory and analysis, design development, and final design. After the presentation, it was followed by a question and answer session and a quiz via the Google Forms platform. After the quiz, followed by a short break. Then it was continued with materialization by the Plant Diversity Scientific Sub-Division. The material was delivered by Fharsya Febrildha (KSAT 2021) and Nurul Maf Qurrotun I. (KSAT 2021). SGD 2 KSAT activities in 2023 went smoothly and on time. It is hoped that holding this activity will increase knowledge and skills regarding the stages of work in designing gardens and plant macromorphology for Seedling KSAT.

Two Biology students Class of 2019 who are members of the “Organic Sheet Mulch” team under the guidance of Dwi Umi Siswanti, S.Sc., M.Sc. won a bronze medal on March 21, 2023 in an international scientific work competition. The team chaired by Vykra Aulia Firdiana with one member, namely Fatika Soraya Taufik took part in the Agritech Research and Entrepreneurship Innovation (AGREETION) competition which was held in cooperation with several organizations at the Faculty of Agricultural Technology, University of Brawijaya, including the Agritech Research and Study Club (ARSC), Agritechno Business Center (ABC), Agricultural Industrial Technology Student Association (HIMATITAN), Agricultural Engineering Student Association (HIMATETA), and Agricultural Product Technology Student Association (HIMALOGISTA). This competition takes place from 1 February 2023 to. 21 March 2023 and was successfully attended by 243 teams from three countries (Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines).

The big theme that was carried out in this competition was “Development and Innovation on Sustainable Agro-Based Industry Technology to Achieve Human Welfare” with 4 sub-themes. In this competition, Vykra and Soraya compiled a scientific work on the sub-theme “Green Agroindustry and Bio-economy” entitled “Organic Mulch from Sewage Sludge and Banana Pseudostem Waste to Reduce the Impact of Drought Due to El Nino Phenomenon on Horticultural Crops to Improve Human Welfare”. The problem behind the preparation of this scientific work is the statement by the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) and the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) regarding an increase in drought up to three times worse due to an increase in the El Nino index which is predicted to occur in mid-2023. This has the potential to further increase puso (parched) due to drought which has long been a problem for farmers despite the low El Nino index.

In this scientific work, sewage sludge and banana leaf waste are used as organic mulches which are able to maintain soil water content during the drought phase so that soil moisture is maintained. The organic materials contained in this mulch innovation also add to the role of mulch as a supplier of additional nutrients to the soil to support optimal plant growth. The use of these two materials is an effort to utilize biowaste and create a green agroindustry. The hope is that this innovation can be used as a reference in anticipating and reducing puso due to drought