Skin ulcers are one of the specters haunting people with diabetes. They stem from nerve damage caused by high blood sugar and a drop in the blood's oxygen circulation. The result is wounds that struggle to heal and begin to rot.
This condition caught the attention of the Morifresh Team, who set out to develop a nanospray to heal diabetic wounds. Muhammad Raihan Arrasyid, who leads the team, explains that the spray draws on extracts of moringa and neem leaves.
The UMS Psychology student says the moringa extract works as an antiseptic to clean the wound and kill bacteria.
"The neem extract is for speeding up wound closure. So it doesn't just clean, it also closes the wound faster," explains the young man known familiarly as Rasyid, when we met on Tuesday (21/7/2026).
Until now, he says, moringa has often been used in antiseptics such as hand sanitiser. But those products rely on alcohol as a solvent.
The trouble is that diabetic wounds must not come into contact with alcohol at all. Rasyid notes that the alcohol in antiseptics can slow the closure of scar tissue.
The research and development of the moringa nanospray took around two months. Of the whole process, filtering the nanoparticles was the hardest stage. Nano-sized particles were chosen because they are smaller than water particles and so absorb into the skin more easily.
The nanoparticle filtering, Rasyid explains, had to be kept sterile, free of dirt or dust, so that when the final product was tested, the liquid's particle size would prove smaller than ordinary water.
Rasyid and his team then gave the product the name Morifresh. They ran a series of irritation tests on 30 people, and the results showed Morifresh was safe on skin.
"We sprayed Morifresh onto the skin, then covered it with a plaster for 24 hours. The aim was to check for any irritation, rash, or itching. Alhamdulillah, everything was safe," Rasyid says with gratitude.
Morifresh has passed the stage of testing on rats to gauge its effectiveness in healing wounds. The wounds on the rats healed completely. Even so, Morifresh must still undergo a series of tests before any mass production, including direct testing on humans, shelf-life testing, content testing, and antibacterial testing on humans.
The Morifresh product is packaged in a 30-millilitre electric nanospray bottle. Using it is simple: press the power button and Morifresh comes out, ready to apply to the wound. "Like using a face mist," he says.
Rasyid and his team have secured a patent for the Morifresh innovation. Now in his eighth semester, he hopes younger students will carry the development forward after he graduates. "If anyone wants to continue it, please do," he says.
In mid-May, Rasyid and five of his teammates carried Morifresh to the World Young Inventor and Innovation Exhibition (WYIE) 2026 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The competition ran from 18 to 20 May 2026.
Rasyid still remembers the invitation from one of the vice deans at the UMS Faculty of Psychology. "Rasyid, there's this WYIE competition in Malaysia, and no one from Psychology has represented us yet. Please step up and represent us," he says, imitating the vice dean.
He took up the request and set about forming a team at once. Under the guidance of UMS Pharmacy lecturer Ratna Yuliani, S.Si., M.Biotech., Ph.D., Rasyid assembled a group of six, himself included.
The other members were Taqiyyah Nurul 'Azzah (Physiotherapy), Irfan Malik Tamroini (Islamic Education), Hanin Shohwati Muthi'ah and Sri Kusuma Dewi (Pharmacy), and Alfa Utami (Psychology).
Before entering WYIE, Rasyid says, the team had first floated the idea of a mosquito-repellent mat made from gadung tuber. But after consulting the UMS Pharmacy lecturer, they shifted toward a diabetes-care product using moringa and neem leaves.
Competing abroad, he acknowledges, calls for support from many quarters, UMS among them. Rasyid and his team also drummed up backing by sending proposals to a number of organisations and institutions.
"Alhamdulillah, LazisMu Central Java, the Central Java Regional Board, and Bank Jateng Syariah were willing to back the Morifresh innovation," Rasyid says gratefully.
In Malaysia, Morifresh drew remarkable attention from visitors and judges alike. In their presentation, the team estimated Morifresh would be priced at around Rp97,000, or roughly 22 Malaysian ringgit.
Some visitors even handed Rasyid their business cards, taken with the innovation. "They were interested in developing this product," he says
The moringa-and-neem innovation ultimately took gold at WYIE 2026, adding another line to the growing record of UMS students' achievements on the international stage.
Asked about plans ahead, Rasyid said the team would carry out evaluation and further testing. They also intend to enter Indonesian Inventors Day in Jakarta this coming October.
Writer: Gede Arga Adrian
Editor: Genis Dwi Gustati
Designer: Muhammad Nur Haqqi
Failure after failure in scientific writing competitions never stopped Syaban Al Musyaffa Ibnu Ahmad from writing. Instead, those setbacks turned into educational content that now inspires thousands of followers on Instagram.
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