A professor from the Faculty of Pharmacy and two biochemistry alumni won the Best Scientific Poster Award for Health Sciences during the 42nd National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) Annual Scientific Meeting held last July 10.
Asst. Prof. Leonardo Guevarra Jr., together with Nikki Capistrano and Austin Sta. Maria, authored the winning research poster titled “Isolation and Affinity Purification of Immunoglobulin Y against Synthetic Peptide Analog of In silico-predicted Unique Epitope of Zika Virus NS1 Antigen.”
“Immunoglobulin Y (IgY) are chicken antibodies that can be collected from the yolks of chicken eggs. Antibodies used in testing kits to diagnose diseases normally come from the blood of animals,” Guevarra told the Varsitarian in an online interview.
“IgY technology offers a cost-effective and animal-friendly alternative source of antibodies for this purpose,” he added.
The objective of the study was to produce and purify IgY that uniquely binds to the Zika virus NS1 antigen, a particle that attaches to antibodies and are commonly used as markers of infection.
Guevarra said current antigen and antibody-based detection, particularly for Zika and other mosquito-transmitted diseases such as dengue, cross-react, which may cause misdiagnosis due to false positive results.
He hopes the study can be used to develop kits that specifically diagnose related mosquito-borne infections such as Zika, dengue and Japanese encephalitis.
“Particularly for Zika, which in most cases is asymptomatic, we would like to be prepared for possible outbreaks by having a highly sensitive and highly specific rapid test that can be used by the people,” he added.
The research was made in collaboration with Prof. Leslie Dalmacio and Asst. Prof. Laarni Corales of the University of the Philippines Manila.
