Dr Amani Salim
Inventor, Engineer-Scientist, nanoSkunkWorkX CTO and Co Founder, Driving Malaysia innovations towards global impact.
A seasoned engineer, researcher, and project manager with expertise in nanotechnology, biomedical, electrical, and materials engineering. She was the first non-American Muslim PI for a NASA project, an honour earned post-PhD at Purdue. An award-winning innovator, Amani has worked on mission-critical projects under prestigious organisations like NASA, EPA, NSF, and NIH. She’s currently channelling her talent into entrepreneurship, driving impactful innovation in Malaysia with global ambitions.
Breaking new ground in nanotech – on Earth and in Space
2014: SporeSat, with Dr Amani Salim as Principal Investigator (project lead), pioneering space biosensors with nanotech on SpaceX CRS-3.
2020: nanoSkunkWorkX’s COVID-19 kit selected as Global Finalist in the 2020 MIT Solve Global Challenge: Health Security & Pandemics and Community Award winner. Ministry of Health support to develop that kit.
2022: nanoSkunkWorkX Deployed SUSANNE V1 at UMXcelerate for biosensor production. Simple, low-cost fabrication of advanced nanotech without cleanrooms.
2023: Field trials and pre-commercial rollout of SkunkBoX Dx for various applications, such as COVID-19 (with IMR and TIDREC@UM with Accobiotech), Food Safety Pathogen Testing (UM Molecular Medicine), Veterinary (Veterinary Lab Services Unit at Universiti Putra Malaysia) and Forestry and Ags (FRIM and MADA).
2023: Participated in MRANTI’s GMP Japan Program with Leave a Nest for commercialisation efforts.