Mahmoud Al-Maklizi, 22, a student in the Faculty of Science at the American University in Cairo (AUC), and Mustafa Hendawi, 22, a fellow student in the same faculty, have succeeded in making what may be a breakthrough in physics using nano-technology. The story began when Mohamed Suweilam, the professor of both Al-Maklizi and Hendawi, gave them a project he was working on and asked them to continue it. Al-Maklizi and Hendawi worked on this project for one year, and the results were dazzling. According to Al-Maklizi, a piece of metal with a small hole in it will cause light to scatter when passed through it, significantly reducing the light's energy. “But we succeeded in gathering the light in one point in addition to increasing the energy of the light and decreasing its wavelength.” Hendawi added that the experiment had revolutionised understandings of light's behaviour, since the wavelength of the light had been reduced to a third or one quarter of the original. He said that the device was tiny, at 1/1000000000 of a metre, making it an exercise in nano-technology. As a result, the experiment had been simulated on a computer programme called Numerical, the results of this being more than 99 per cent accurate. “Our device uses a piece of gold with two holes in it instead of one in order to get the focussing of the light we want,” Al-Maklizi said, with Hendawi adding that the significance of the research was that it would help researchers see things they weren't able to see before. “Our device will improve the power of microscopes to four times their previous power,” Hendawi said, and there were applications in various fields, including drug delivery. “We have shown that the device can trap nano-particles and move them at a distance. This has applications in drug delivery, as the active chemicals in the drugs are at the nanoscale and can be moved by the beam at a distance using this device,” Al-Maklizi commented, adding that the discovery had been patented in 2013. Al-Maklizi, who works in medical research, had previously identified a way of halting DNA replication from work on crabs found in the Red Sea, and although methods of this sort have been identified before his was the first drug produced by a living organism to act in this way. Because the target of the drug was an enzyme called DNA polymerase, bacteria or viruses could not develop resistance to it, he said. “The work has high potential for cancer treatment as cancer is characterised by uncontrolled DNA replication,” he added. Hendawi said that there should be further support for young scientists in Egypt to carry out research and convert their ideas into inventions that could benefit society. Al-Maklizi said that Egypt had many clever young people, but most of them were frustrated because the government did not offer them support. “The result is that either ideas die or they are executed abroad where the facilities are available. In either case, Egypt does not benefit from them,” Hendawi said. Al-Maklizi has now been accepted by Zurich University at the post-graduate level, which is ranked number 10 in the world in his specialisation. “The University accepted me to study but refused to give me a scholarship, saying that this was the affair of my home government. Frankly speaking, they are right,” Al-Maklizi said, adding that the Egyptian government should pay more attention to the country's young scientists before it is too late. The writer is a freelance journalist.
