The Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products (INTROP) have collaborated with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation Malaysia (MOSTI) on a program titled 'Brain Gain Malaysia' for the conduct of a research project on Control of Diversity and the Carbon Balance of Tropical Forests, which was launched on March 13, 2009 at Serdang.

The project is under the supervision of UPM professors and scientists at the Laboratory of Sustainable Bioresource Management of INTROP led by Prof. Dr. Aini Abskukor, Prof. Mohd. Basri Hamzah, Prof. Dr. Jonathan Miks Adam and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jalaluddin Harun. The project was endowed with RM477, 000 and aimed to assess the future carbon storage in Malaysian forest. The project will run until October 2010.

The research is expected to produce at least five high impact journal publications with technical reports. The collaborative effort will strengthen the mutual alliance of research in agriculture biotechnology between UPM and The Rutgers University, USA, Forest Department of West Malaysia (JPSM) and Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FORIM), according to Dr. Jalaluddin. The R&D alliance has placed INTROP as an institute of reference in sustainable forest management especially on the exploration of carbon and the dynamics of tropical forest biodiversity, and the global climate change, (Source: 2009 March 13/UPM/www.upm.edu.my/)