(Photo from Thomas Adrian Tiongson)
November 7, 2015, 5:52p.m. – FOUR THOMASIANS topped a poster competition during the recent national convention of cell biologists.
Thomas Adrian Tiongson and Maria Charina Magsumbol, both Biochemistry seniors from the Faculty of Pharmacy, along with professor Myla Santiago and research assistant Mark Kevin Devanadera, bested 16 local and international participants to secure first place for their visual representation of the methods and data of their study on doxorubicin, a kind of anti-cancer drug.
“Our primary objective is to have a cheap, alternative encapsulation technique of the doxorubicin drug [through] the use of natural oil bodies extracted from Cocos nucifera L. or coconuts,” Tiongson told the Varsitarian.
Tiongson said the topic of the poster, which took nearly a month to be completed, was a continuation of Santiago’s research.
University of the Philippines (UP) – Diliman and Stella Maris College – India placed second and third place respectively.
The sixth national convention, which had the theme “Cell biology for global competitiveness,” was divided into five sessions that tackled cell biology, diseases, education, and commercial potentials.
Speakers included Dr. Dennis Bela-ong of UP Diliman and Dr. Lemmuel Tayo of Mapua Institute of Technology. Dr. Nobutaka Hirokawa of University of Tokyo – Japan and Dr. Kwon-Soo Ha of Kangwon National University – South Korea were keynote speakers.
Some of the topics discussed in the scientific meeting were clinical developments in cell therapy and the future of microbial drug discovery.
Saint Louis University – Baguio, Makati Science High School and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila were among the schools that joined the convention.
Last year, UST hosted the fifth national convention and scientific meeting at the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex. This year’s meeting was held at UP – Diliman.
The convention, held last Oct. 26 to 27, was organized by the Philippine Society for Cell Biology, a group that aims to provide avenues for presenting the scholarly works on cell biology by Filipino scientists. K.V. Baylon
