7/27/2019 27 Winners
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By RIO ROSE RIBAYA
A professor at the University of the Philippines (UP) in Manila
has clinched major recognition from the
Department of Science and Technology (DOST) for her outstanding
research on the medicinal benefits
of rattan.
Gracia Fe Yu, an associate professor at UP Manila, has received
the Eduardo A. Quisumbing awards,which DOST's National Academy of
Science and Technology (NAST) confers to individual or group
whose basic study has made exceptional contributions to the
society.
Aside from national recognition, Yu also received a cash prize
and a medal for her research titled
Phytochemicals and Nutrient Composition of Rattan Limuran Shoot
Consumed by Kanawan Aytas in
Morong, Battan.
The research on Calamus ornatus Blume is a pioneering study that
showed the bioactive anti-
inflammatory and anti-diarrhea components and molecular
structures of rattan, which is an indigenous
food minority aetas in Morong town in Bataan province.
Yu, also the vice chair for Extension Services and Laboratory of
College of Medicine's Department of
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in UP Manila, was also able
to conduct partial isolation and
purification of phytochemicals from natural products and
bioessays in her study.
The NAST added that Yu's study, which also won the Philippine
chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta Honor
Society of Agriculture's Best PhD Dissertation in UP Los Banos,
has affirmed the Kanawan Aetas
claim that rattan shoots are beneficial to health.
Hoping that her research will economically benefit the Aetas, Yu
continues to find other important
applications of their indigenous food. (Rio Rose Ribaya)
By RIO ROSE RIBAYA
A chemical engineer at the De La Salle University (DLSU)'s
College of Engineering has clinched
recognition from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)
for developing a biofilm
technology in her research study.
Susan Gallardo has won the National Academy of Science and
Technology (NAST)'s Julian A. Banzon
medal for her study titled Biodegradation of Polychlorinated
Biphenyls (PCB) Using Biofilm Grown
with Biphenyl as Carbon Source in Fluidized Bed Reactor.
In her outstanding research, Gallardo successfully developed a
biofilm technology that could degrade
the chemical components of PCB, which is a liquid pollutant
banned years ago for contaminating the
environment.
Gallardo's biofilm technology has become an alternative to the
conventional suspended growth systems
which now requires cheap support material yet has a high reactor
biomass concentration.
