UP Vice President for Academic Affairs and marine science professor Gisela Concepcion and three faculty members of UP were among the winners of this year’s National Science and Technology Week (NSTW) Awards given on July 25, 2016.
Concepcion was chosen as this year’s outstanding science administrator for her many accomplishments, which included lobbying for the creation of the UP Diliman-based National Science Complex, and the grant of a heftier funding for master’s degree and doctoral scholarships.
The UP official also simplified the Balik Scientist program to allow Filipino scientists based abroad to return to the UP campuses and enhance their teaching capabilities. Concepcion initiated as well another program that sent faculty members, research and professional staff for short-term training and internships abroad.
“Dr. Concepcion has fostered an enabling environment for researchers in UP by providing university funds, which faculty and researchers use to carry out interdisciplinary and basic or applied research and creative work,” the DOST stated in its citation.
Award for dengue diagnostic kit
Given the Outstanding Technology Commercialization Award was Dr. Raul Destura, infectious disease specialist and former director, National Institutes of Health’s Institute of Biotechnology and Molecular Biology, who developed a portable kit that can detect within an hour the presence of dengue virus in the blood and at a lower price than the currently used method.
He was cited for his successful commercialization of the breakthrough diagnostic kit called Biotek-M Dengue Aquakit that can detect the presence of the dengue virus by adding nucleic acid to a blood sample that turns green. Uninfected blood turns orange. The kit targets Filipino mutations of the four types of dengue and has a better sensitivity of 86-92% and a specificity of 100%.
The kit was developed and initially tested in 2012 at Rizal Medical Center, National Children’s Hospital and Philippine Children’s Medical Center. Destura was the leader of the Lab-in-a-Mug Project, which includes the dengue rapid test kit. It was a joint undertaking of the DOST’s Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, Department of Health’s National Epidemiology Center, Biotech-Manila and Philippine Genome Center.
Award for computer-based designer drugs
Dr. Junie Billones, faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences and former Learning Resource Director, with Dr. Roel Suralta of PhilRice, received the Outstanding Research and Development Award for Basic Research. The team used computer programs to develop a new class of designer medications against tuberculosis, one of the top causes of deaths in the country. The use of computer programs led to the “swift discovery” of new drugs without the need to perform costly laboratory experiments.
Dr. Alonzo Gabriel of the UP Diliman College of Home Economics’ Department of Nutrition, was recognized with a Development Award for Applied Research. He was cited for his research on precision food processing which can lead to safer and more nutritious food products. (With reports from article published at Inquirer.net July 24, 2016)
