A RESEARCHER from the College of Science has been awarded the new Digital Cooperation Fellowship grant from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany to conduct a study on antibiotics.
Prof. Allan Patrick Macabeo will pursue his study on antibiotic compounds found in local fungi species to develop drugs against disease-causing bacteria like E. coli and tuberculosis.
The rise of drug-resistant microorganisms is a special concern that needs to be addressed in the research, he said in an interview with the Varsitarian.
The study, titled “Drug discovery of biologically active natural products from Philippine Hypoxylon Species,” will be a collaboration between the UST Research Center for the Natural Sciences and Applied Sciences and the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research in Germany.
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation engages academic cooperation among scientists and scholars from Germany and abroad.
Macabeo obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degree in chemistry in UST in 1999 and 2003, respectively, and his doctorate at the University of Regensburg in Bayern, Germany.
In 2015, he was named Outstanding Young Scientist by the National Academy of Science and Technology for his work on natural products from Philippine medicinal plants and agricultural by-products. Adrian L. Parungao