An alumnus and two faculty members of the Department of Biochemistry won awards in the November 13-15, 2019 2nd International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB) Education Conference and 46th Philippine Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Annual Conference, held at the Manila Hotel.
Emerging as the Champion of the Young Scientists Forum is 2019 BS Biochemistry Summa cum Laude Simon Miguel Lopez, who presented the research entitled “Cholinergic, beta-secretase, and oxidative activity evaluation of spider venom from Philippine Tarantula (Therposidae),” which he co-authored with Jeremy S. Aguilar, Jerene Bashia B. Fernandez, Angelic Gayle J. Lao, Anna Beatriz R. Mayor, Mirzi Rain R. Estrella, Lance Ehrold D. Sarmiento, and faculty members Mark Kevin P. Devanadera, Leonardo A. Guevarra, Jr., MSc, Asst. Prof. Myla B. Santiago-Bautista, and Prof. Librado A. Santiago, PhD.
Meanwhile, two faculty members placed third in their respective categories in the poster presentations segment of the conference. Winning 3rd Place for Natural Proucts is Laboratory and Equipment Supplies Office (LESO) Administrator Leonardo A. Guevarra, Jr., for the research “Immunogenicity and specific antipeptide binding activity of in silico predicted epitope of fragilysin from Bacteroides fragilis.” Co-authoring the paper with Guevarra were Gieanne Louise J. Abara, Christian Rafael B. Lorenzo, Maryrose O. Boongaling, and Assoc. Prof. Pia Marie S.P. Albano, PhD.
Finally, winning in the category of Health was Mr. Mark Kevin P. Devanadera, for the research entitled “Evaluation of the cytotoxic activity of polyunsaturated fatty acids and its concoction on human breast adenocarcinoma cells.” His co-authors were R.M. Bennett, K. Watanabe, Asst. Prof. Myla R. Santiago-Bautista, Prof. Ma. Cristina Ramos, PhD, T. Aki, and Prof. Gina R. Dedeles, PhD.