Winning the Gold in the Asia-Pacific Young Inventors Awards (YIA)

Edward Quinto

In our treasure trove of memories, we remember years that have been very

kind and generous to us. There are good years and there are bad years. For me

the year 2002 will always stand out as not only a fine year but a phenomenal one!

In that year, UST and I got the coveted prize of winning the Gold in the 2001

Young Inventors Awards (YIA) sponsored by the prestigious Far Eastern

Economic Review (FEER) of Dow Jones Company and Hewlett Packard (HP)

Invent Asia-Pacific. This prestigious international contest for innovative ideas ran

for five straight years with the lofty goal of uplifting the quality of life for many

people throughout the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. Original ideas hatched by

undergraduate and graduate students from many Asia-Pacific institutions of higher

learning turned in their research project for the contest and I was one of them.

Where and how it all began

In the year 2002, in my birth month of January, a birthday gift beyond my

wildest dreams came my way. I always looked back with cheers to the beautiful

sunny and cool morning of January 18, 2002 at the Department of Biological

Sciences in UST. While UST’s Varsitarian science news reporter Mr. Stephen

Rojas-Chua was eagerly interviewing me on what it is like to be one of the finalists

in the Young Inventors Awards, I received the most memorable phone call of my

life! It was Dada from the Dean’s Office of the College of Science informing me

excitedly that HP Philippines in Makati just disclosed the news that I won the Gold

in the 2001 Asia-Pacific Young Inventors Awards Competition. I petrified and went

speechless holding the phone! The first thing that crossed my mind was to thank

God for indeed my weeks of eager anticipation were finally over and what a

magnificent ending it truly was. My mind also wandered straight away to the very

recently concluded New Year celebration of 2002. As I viewed the colorful

fireworks exploding in front of me from my vantage point high up in my rented unit

in the 30th floor of the España Tower, I vividly remembered saying a silent prayer

requesting for a favorable outcome in the YIA contest. It was really for me a prayer

answered and granted beyond my expectations of just getting one of two

honorable mentions for the YIA.

After regaining my senses back, I immediately conveyed the good news to

my friends and colleagues in the department and it opened up the floodgate of

congratulatory remarks from so many people coming from near and far; and from

the past and present. Fr. Victor Badillo, S.J. former President of the Philippine

Astronomical Society (PAS) and former director of Ateneo’s Manila Observatory

who at that time I have not met in years also congratulated me. I was really so

happy to hear from Fr. Badillo, a respected Jesuit mentor whom I have known way

back when I was still a young member of the Philippine Astronomical Society

(PAS) during my late high school and early college days. Every time, we were at

the Manila Observatory at the Ateneo, he was always around for a warm informal

chat and witty answers to our questions in Physics. Fr. Badillo an NRCP

achievement awardee in Physics together with Engineer Jose Caburian of

Marsman Company are the “Fathers of Philippine Amateur Astronomy”. They had

inspired several generations of Filipinos to become dedicated amateur

astronomers like my friends Edwin Aguirre and Imelda Joson, famous amateur

astronomers, now based in the U.S. Prof. Fabian Dayrit, Ph.D., Dean of Ateneo’s

School of Science and Engineering, a highly esteemed professor and a beloved

figure in Philippine chemistry education and research, also congratulated me by

email. I also received notes of congratulations from Filipinos living in Singapore

and Australia. My winning the contest also got featured in a news-magazine

devoted to Filipino activities and concerns based in Singapore.

Winning the gold was for me truly unbelievable due to the sheer chance of

winning first prize in a contest of 220 entries from different universities all over the

Asia Pacific region. Universities from Pakistan to New Zealand and from Japan to

Australia joined the contest in 2001. The entries were received and organized by

the Far Eastern Economic Review in 2001, which were subsequently narrowed

down to fourteen finalists. My entry was short listed as one of the finalists and all

were featured in the December 20, 2001 issue of the Far Eastern Economic

Review Magazine. I told myself then that I would be very happy even if I just get

one of the two slots for honorable mention. It was indeed so humbling to compete

against such high Asiaweek ranking universities as the National University of

Singapore (NUS), the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST),

South Korea’s Pohang University, New Zealand’s Massey University, Taiwan’s

National Cheung Kung University and other venerable institutions of higher

learning. In fact among the fourteen finalists no university is ranked lower than 32

in the Asiaweek 2000 survey of Best Universities in Asia and the pacific except for

UST, which was ranked at 74.

The older issue of FEER containing the shortlist of the finalists in the 2001 Young Inventors Awards under the section Innovation: Designing the Future

But hope indeed springs eternal and my pioneering work on the marine luminous

microbes in the Philippines has once again brought with it an amazingly brilliant

outcome. The College of Science and the Department of Biological Sciences

celebrated with a special dinner at the Chilli’s Restaurant located at Tomas

Morato. Dean Gloria Bernas, Fr. Pompeyo de Mesa, O.P., Ma’am Asuncion

Bagarino, Ma’am Milagros del Callar, Ma’am Rosie Madulid and my teaching

colleagues were all there to celebrate with me. I also remembered receiving a

card from Chilli congratulating me for winning in the prestigious contest.

The awarding ceremony at the top of the world

The weeks that followed were very stressful, as I have to make haste to

secure a new passport to enable me to fly to Hong Kong. My missing passport

had to be replaced as soon as possible. I got my new passport in the “nick of time”

so to speak a mere three days before I was to depart for Hong Kong to attend the

awarding ceremony. After getting my plane ticket from the FEER’s office in Manila

at the classy Philam Life Building in Makati, I finally arrived on an all expense paid

trip to Hong Kong in the afternoon of February 27, 2002. Hours before, I was still

at the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex preparing my poster for the awarding

ceremonies when I bumped into Dr. Christina Binag and her husband who wished

me well on my trip. Immediately, I exited through the Dapitan Gate and soon I

found myself in a nerve-racking situation as I agonizingly searching for a cab

along Dapitan road behind UST. I was awfully perspiring a lot while walking in

strides carrying my poster and my luggage. My mind was already entertaining the

thought that I will miss my flight but I guess I was meant to be in Hong Kong when

an empty cab appeared right in front of me. When I arrived in Hong Kong, I was so

amazed at the level of advancement and prosperity that this small former British

colony has achieved since gaining independence. Hong Kong was the very first

foreign country that I landed on as a stopover on my long flight to Germany in

1988. Indeed the influence of the British and the diligence of the inhabitants for

the prosperity of Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore is something that these

countries can all be proud of. Hong Kong’s imposing and high-tech airport built on

an island on its own is a mega structure par excellence. I was fetched and rode all

alone in a big tourist bus by a transportation service provided so generously by

FEER. The ride from the airport to the city was thrilling as it was gratifying.

Cruising swiftly through the long bridges supported by numerous towering metallic

cables, my sights wandered and what I saw just left me so awe-inspired and

astonished.

It was already dark when I arrived at Luk Kwok Hotel in Wanchai, Hong

Kong’s financial district. The awarding ceremony was to be held the next day at

the Apex of the posh and glitzy Central Plaza which at that time was Hong Kong’s

tallest building. Central Plaza is not just an outstanding dwelling building for the

well-liked and the well-off; it is more of a towering symbol of architectural

sophistication as well as a beacon of national achievement proudly proclaiming

that Hong Kong has attained first world status. To reach the Apex from Central

Plaza’s impressive grand lobby with long crisscrossing seemingly aerially

levitating escalators, you have to go through three changes of elevator ride

climbing all the way up to the heavens. In between the elevator rides, you walked

through glistening almost mirror-liked floors with huge artistic pots containing

beautiful plants and colorful flowers. Mrs. Anna Lam, a FEER representative,

accompanied me during this unforgettable tour of Central Plaza. It is by far the

flashiest and the most impressive building that I have ever been to so far. The last

elevator trip opens up to the “Apex” a marvelous and opulent all glass auditorium

perched on the seventy-fourth floor and boasting of a 360 degrees panoramic

view of the whole of Hong Kong as well as the heavens above. My God I cried out

inside me as I held my breath when I saw the extraordinary view from the Apex.

The blue sea surrounding us seemed to stretch infinitely far out into the edge of

the hazy horizon. Ships and boats looked like toys as seen up at the Apex. What

an awesome and breath-taking sight it was! Being in the Apex was certainly the

closest place to heaven that one can ever get to here on earth. A long metallic

spire probably acting as a lightning rod protrudes high up into the great blue

yonder from the center of the Apex. Central Plaza stood majestically for years

against the Victoria Harbor skyline as an icon of prosperity and cosmopolitanism

for the people of Hong Kong.

The silver awardee Bini Thumbarathy, an Indian national, studying at the

National University of Singapore and Chen-chi, the bronze awardee from Taiwan’s

National Cheung Kung University were already at the Apex when I arrived after

lunchtime. We were all very happy and pleased to have finally met one another.

Both Bini and Chen-chi were Ph.D. students who were so nice, very friendly and

so unassuming. The famous and witty cable TV business newscaster Bernie Lo of

CNBC was also around quite early to give us a hand. I was so pleased to meet

and to talk to Bernie, a great business newscaster and economics commentator,

who I only see before in cable TV in Manila. He is a very friendly and jolly person

who immediately made us all feel at home in the Apex. He interviewed us and we

spent the whole afternoon with him going through the hectic rehearsals for the

evening’s awarding gala ceremony. Whenever, I watch Bernie I still see the

sincerity and the dedication he exudes for his profession and the very best in

delivering honest to goodness business news and reliable commentary on the

global financial predicament. When Bernie reports it, its business news at its best!

The towering and posh Central Plaza with its crowning spire and apex set against the glittering

Victoria Harbor Skyline from http://hong-kong-travel.org

We shared ideas and insights and Bernie gave us a brief history of Hong

Kong and its famous airport. I told Bernie that I know what it’s like to land in the

old airport as I experienced it in 1988 during my stopover. The planes glided

carefully and smoothly through soaring skyscrapers around. He noticed the white

glistening clothes I wore and he said that he saw President Joseph Estrada

wearing something similar. Proudly, I said that our beloved President and I were

wearing the Philippines’ national costume for men, called the “Barong Tagalog”. In

addition, I told Bernie that we wear it during special occasions. Bini, Chen-chi and

I, then took our position before our posters after the rehearsals to explain, discuss

and answer queries from the visitors who were beginning to arrive at that time.

Students from the prestigious and venerable Hong Kong University of Science and

Technology (HKUST) were also around for winning the honorable mentions.

The VIPs of the prestigious Dow Jones Company arrived from their various

offices located in the same building below; the men were in their formal black suits

and the women in their trendy cocktail dresses. Mr. Phil Revzin publisher of the

FEER, his personal guest Mr. Paul Saffo, headed the Dow Jones contingent. Mr.

Paul Saffo is the director of the “Institute for the Future” based in California. Mr.

Michael Vatikiotis, chief editor of the FEER and their associate editors and

reporters also arrived. Dow Jones Company, a highly respected name

synonymous with the best in global business news, is the publisher of the popular

Wall Street Journal in the US, the Asian Wall Street Journal and the Far Eastern

Economic Review. The representatives of Hewlett-Packard (HP) Invent Asia-

Pacific, Ms. Cecilia Pang, and Ms. Yee Foong, advertising managers of HP based

in Singapore and Mr. Raymond del Val president of HP Philippines were also in

attendance. The representatives from Polycom donor of the VIACOM

videoconferencing units were also present to demonstrate their latest high-tech

gadget. Guest of Honor was Mr. Chau Tak Hay, secretary of Commerce &

Industry of the Government of Hong Kong Semi Autonomous Region (HKSAR).

Deans and academic officials from various Hong Kong universities were likewise

in attendance, as well as the consul general of the Philippines to Hong Kong Mrs.

Zenaida Angara-Collinson, and her British husband. Mang Nards of the

Philippines’ Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) also graced the occasions. I

am so happy to meet in person the associate editors of the FEER: Helen

Pryzidowski whom I got to know very well through our several email

correspondences during the submission of my entry and in the screening of the

finalists. Helen was the one who gave me that seemingly far away glimmer of

hope of ever winning in this contest when she informed me in October 2001 that

my entry has been shortlisted as one of the finalists. Special mention also goes to

Sofia McFarland, the freelance Swedish-American reporter who interviewed me

for several days in UST on my invention. She was the one who wrote the beautiful

article on “A Luminous Vision” found in the January 18, 2002 issue of the FEER

and in its website. Sofia is a lovely, soft-spoken, well-organized person and a

freelance writer par excellence. She is a mild mannered writer who is strongly

devoted to her profession. She lives permanently in New York with her children

and husband - Jeffrey. Jeffrey worked as a physician and epidemiologist at the

World Health Organization (WHO) for the pacific region based in Manila.

To cap it all up, I was so happy almost at the verge of tears to see the arrival

in the Apex of Asst. Prof. Milagros del Callar whom we fondly call Ma’am del. She

is the esteemed chairperson and endeared academic mother of UST’s

Department of Biological Sciences. Her husband the respected Dr. Achilles del

Callar, professor of mathematics and physics at UST’s Graduate School,

accompanied Ma’am del in their trip to Hong Kong. At last, I said to myself, I have

someone really close to me from the Philippines with whom I can share my

happiness and this momentous event with.

A page from former version of the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) Magazine featuring the YIA

It was truly unfortunate that the UST administration was not able to send any

representative to grace the occasion and to receive the beautiful heavy trophy and

symbolic check of 7,500 US Dollars from the FEER. Evening finally came and

Hong Kong unfurled a spectacular view! The city of Hong Kong literally exploded

with lights of various colors as seen from our vantage point high up in the Apex

with all the neighboring skyscrapers towering brightly and magnificently around us.

I am simply at a loss with words to describe the sophisticated ambiance, the

magical moment, and the gathering of notable academics and business people at

the Apex of the Central Plaza that evening. The event was so delightfully

surrealistic it almost felt so dream-like to me; it was the kind of stylish sights and

sounds that I had only seen in Hollywood movies.

The awarding ceremony started at 6 pm with a snappy video presentation of

what the Young Inventors Awards is all about. I remember being seated between

Mr. Raymond del Val of HP Philippines and Chen-chi. Chen-chi from Taiwan’s

National Cheng Kung University was the first to be called up the stage by Bernie

to receive the bronze award and the trophy and computer prizes from HP. Bini

Thumbarathy from the National University of Singapore was next to receive the

silver award and prizes . My turn finally came to receive the gold award. I felt so

happy to go up on stage and beaming with pride I delivered a brief and concise

answer to Bernie’s question. His honor Mr. Chau Tak Hay gave me the heavy

trophy and then I posed with him for the picture taking. I went back to my seat

carrying the heavy blue and yellow trophy of the gold award for UST. Lastly, it was

Ma’am Del’s turn to represent the UST administration. She went up on the stage

and stood proudly during the climax of the program. With much applause, Ma’am

del received the large symbolic check of 7,500 U.S. Dollars in-behalf of UST

although she and her husband went to Hong Kong on their own private initiative.

The ceremony took place on a formal candle-lit dinner, drapes of red and white

cloths covered the long tables, catered with sumptuous foods and lavish drinks,

and of course, to cap it all up, the charming and articulate Bernard Lo acted as

master of ceremonies. The awarding ceremony went like clockwork; so smoothly

and precisely as we had rehearsed it in the afternoon just a few hours before. At

around 8:00 pm the awarding ceremony full of wonderful moments finally came to

passed. We all went down the Central Plaza building in the elevator in batches.

The attendees all received souvenir items and a small handsome binocular from

HP contained in a small black leather bag. Some of us walked back to the Luk

Kwok Hotel where the other winners and I were booked. The hotel is just a few

blocks away from the base of Central Plaza. Somewhat tired but still very much in

high spirits, I carried with me the heavy trophy for UST and of course my HP

Omnibook 6100 laptop. The Omnibook 6100 is the top of the line multi-functional

laptop from HP at that time, which has been extremely useful to me in my teaching

and research work in UST. In fact, I used this laptop in my academic work, still

functioning perfectly well though requiring only a hard drive replacement after 9

years. Ma’am Del and her husband Dr. Achilles del Callar took the impressive and

clean subway of Hong Kong to travel back to a hotel in Kowloon where they

stayed. I am truly grateful to Anna Lam, a pretty, petite and friendly lady and

Jonathan Hardy both connected with FEER for having managed and attended to

our needs during the rehearsals and the awarding ceremonies. The YIA awarding

ceremony was held in Hong Kong in the years 2000 to 2002 while in the years

2003 and 2004 it was held in Singapore.

In the comfort of my big room at the Luk Kwok hotel in Wanchai as I reflected

back on the exceptional events that transpired, I cannot help but wonder and be

amazed at the seemingly meant-to-be turn of events. It is indeed true that it is

better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all. What started out for

me as just a late evening curious internet visit to the website: www.feer.com

using an old computer with a black and white monitor in the UST Research Center

previously housed in the charity hospital turned out to be the chance of a lifetime. I

am indeed grateful to FEER, HP and the people of Hong Kong for my grand time

and the warm reception. My research work on the light generating indigenous

marine microbes has been for me a very rewarding endeavor ever since I learned

of it in my “aufbaustudium” at the University of Saarland in Germany in 1993. I

surely will never forget the awarding ceremonies in Hong Kong for it was for me

the closest ever of winning a major science award! Winning the Gold is indeed a

fitting tribute to start-off the university’s countdown towards its Quadricentennial

founding celebration in the year 2011. Someday people will look back at the list of

universities, which have made their mark in this prestigious competition of

innovation in the Asia-pacific region. Thomasians will surely take pride in knowing

that in the second year of the “Young Inventors Awards” (YIA) sponsored by

FEER and HP that ran into a full five-year course, UST took the highest honors. It

is the first for a Philippine university and the first for a developing country like the

Philippines to be in the list of winners.

Back in UST, Ma’am Del and I paid a courtesy call to the Father Rector, the

Very Rev. Fr. Tamerlane Lana, O.P., in the imposing Rector’s Office and gave him

personally the Gold winning cheque worth 7,500 USD. There was also a day when

the Dean: Ma’am Gloria de Castro-Bernas and a close friend from the Dept of

Chemistry: Miko Silvallana and I were invited by Mr. Raymond del Val, President

of HP Philippines for a cordial and informal meeting in his Office in Makati. Mr. del

Val is a La Sallista who headed HP Philippines at that time. The Polycom

videoconferencing units were delivered to me in Manila. One unit was for UST and

one for me, which Ma’am del and I decided to donate to UST so that they can

have a pair of it. My personal YIA trophy arrived soon in the university. Together

with my other plaques and trophies of recognition, I placed it on top of my filing

cabinet in my lab in the research center. The cash prize was converted to

384,000 pesos, which was fully utilized to purchase much needed laboratory

equipment for the Pure and Applied Microbiology Lab. of the Research Center for

the Natural Sciences as well as for the Department of Biological Sciences of the

College of Science. Digital balances, distillation apparatus, magnetic stirrers,

refrigerators, and microwave ovens were bought using the cash prize. New

computer units were also made available to the Biology and Microbiology Student

Organizations of the College of Science. The laboratory equipment and computers

purchased were thought out carefully to maximize the benefits to the biggest

number of graduate and undergraduate students, faculty members, and

researchers alike. Indeed the equipment purchased continues to serve the needs

of students, researchers, and faculty members up to now. There was a time when

the distillation unit supplied distilled water to all laboratories in the 3rd and 4th floors

of the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex. A top loading and analytical balances

once served the needs of researchers, graduate and undergraduate students in

the research center.

The last time I saw the FEER-HP trophy for UST was during the birthday of

the Vice Rector Fr. Juan Ponce, O.P. in 2003 when the academic community paid

him a courtesy call in his office. His office connects to the Rector’s Office in the

second floor of the university’s historical main building. The Rector’s office is the

university’s “sanctum sanctorum” and it is not often that one gets to enter it. So

we took the rare opportunity to enter the Rector’s Office and viewed a large table

bearing so many trophies and plaques, memorials of success and victory that the

university has earned through the years. There I saw the trophy once again

standing side by side with the others. What immediately came to my mind was

how heavy and solid it was! Carrying it from the top of Hong Kong’s tallest building

during the awarding ceremonies back to UST in Manila was surely a big effort but

well worth it. I remembered so well, Bernie Lo jokingly told us winners that we can

use the heavy trophy as weights to keep us fit. Well he can surely say that again! I

will forever be grateful to the very Rev. Fr. Tamerlane Lana, O.P. for the support

he gave to research in the arts and sciences in UST earning for the university

numerous recognition in the national and international arenas.

A news clipping from the PDI showing Mr. Raymond del Val and me. My special thanks to Prof. Dr. Abercio Rotor of the UST Graduate School for framing this news clipping

Some scientists in the U.S., England, Germany, Poland, and Croatia likewise took

note of my novel method of immobilizing marine luminous microbes in small paper

discs through reprint request of my first international article published in the

Journal of Biological Education (JBE) in 2001. The JBE, an Institute for Scientific

Information (ISI) listed journal, is the official publication of the Institute of Biology

(IOB) the biggest organization of biologists in the British Isles. My article’s title was

used as well by the IOB in its advertisement subscription form. The “JBE” has the

biggest worldwide circulation of a peer-reviewed journal devoted to biological

education. Dr. Baby Angtuaco of Ateneo’s Department of Biology, a professor

active in teaching and research, subscribed to the “JBE” and congratulated me

when she saw my article in the Spring 2001 issue of the journal. The acceptance

of my first article in an internationally ISI (Institute for Scientific Information) listed

journal and Expanded Science Citation Indexed journal based in London has

indeed given me the confidence to submit publications in other journals devoted to

microbiology, water and the environment.

PIBiT – the invention

I look forward to the day when the vast potentials of this simple

bioluminescence invention, with the proposed name “Paper-disc Immobilized

Bioluminescence Technology” and having the acronym “PIBiT”, will have been

fully realized. It may take a decade, a lifetime, or even a century but I am sure it

will come. PIBiT’s main use is to safeguard our drinking water from toxicants and

protect the environment from pollution. The more the world needs to reuse,

recycle and reduced due to the threat of global warming, the more this invention’s

significance will be appreciated and bring into practice in most of the developing

countries of the world. PIBiT holds the promise of being a multipurpose analytical

process that is inexpensive, user-friendly, and environment-friendly and exhibits

almost no energy consumption and zero emissions. Now that the world is facing a

serious energy problem due to the increasing price of crude oil, we have to

explore other sources of energy. Bioluminescence brings the promise of an

alternative energy source that is clean and useful. PIBiT was featured in the

prestigious September 17 issue of the Sustainable Practices 2004: Innovations,

Technologies, and Products through Mr. David Schaller. Sustainable Practices

2004 is compiled and provided by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency of

the United States.) Region Eight’s Sustainable Practices and State Partnerships

Program. EPA’s Region Eight serves Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South

Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. Surely I could have made the invention complex and

complicated by introducing a light-measuring device instead of just using plain

scotopic or dark vision to observe the light signals of the luminous microbes. But it

defeats the purpose of making it readily available to the vast majority of the poor

people of the world. Digital Photography is a much simpler and far less expensive

alternative to the use and procurement of a luminometer although its light

measuring ability may not be as sensitive. I subscribe to the school of thought

known as KISS, which I first heard from an MIT professor giving a lecture in the

BIOTECHNICA 1988 in Hannover, Germany. He said that at MIT, they keep

everything including research output KISS which means “Keep It Simple Stupid”.

Hopefully, the day will come when the World Health Organization (WHO) and

UNDP and also UNESCO will have adopted this simple invention in many of the

developing countries of the world as a simple and inexpensive means to guard the

safety of our drinking water and for the protection of our environment. I am

sharing a simple note that I sent to judges and to the people of FEER and HP. It

goes:

My winning the Gold in the Asia-Pacific Young Inventors Award

Is very much like my culture of luminous microbes

One microbe alone cannot shine on its own

Much less attain a state of brilliant luminosity

But by being in the company of other microbes

Can one truly shine and together as a whole attain amazing luminosity

It is with joyous pride and profound gratitude that

I myself have likewise attained this state of brilliant luminosity

Only because, I have been in the company of the other 2001 brilliant inventors

Recently, my award winning innovation has become my personal advocacy of

promoting the use of microbial bioluminescence, the good blue light for a greener

world. For this green technology of “Less is More” so much can be achieved to

safeguard a clean drinking water, provide healthy foods and produce, and protect

the environment from pollution. I never wavered from my belief in the green nature

of my bioluminescent innovation which can find significant public health

application in the financially handicapped communities of the world. “Blue Light

Green World” was how I baptized this personal advocacy of mine whose

awareness, I am spreading around in the internet through videos, documents,

comments and subscription to various blogs.

Myself receiving the Gold YIA trophy from Mr. Chau Tak Hay, secretary of Commerce & Industry of the Government of Hong Kong Semi Autonomous Region (HKSAR)

The winners of the YIA through the years Year Gold Silver Bronze

[2004]

Wang Qijie China

Nanyang Technological University

Randall Law Singapore

National University of Singapore

Liang Xiaojun, Sun Yi, &Zhang

Xuming China

Nanyang Technological University

[2003]

Ryuji Inai Japan

National University of Singapore

Material Advantage

Sangjin Han South Korea

Seoul National University

Fuel-Cell Thrift

Joanna Tan Hwa Lay

Singapore

Ngee Ann Polytechnic

Growth Market

[2002]

Anthony Samir Australia

University of Melbourne

Life-saving Precision

Robert Fearn Australia

University of New South Wales

Music to My Ears

Michael Zheng Zhongming

Singapore

National University of Singapore

The Fungus Among Us

[2001]

Edward Quinto Philippines

University of Santo Tomas

A Luminous Vision

T.B. Bini Singapore

National University of Singapore

Nerves of Steel

Yu Chen-Chi R.O.C

Taiwan

National Cheng Kung University

What a Catch

[2000]

Mulyoto Pangestu Australia

Monash University

BIOLOGY

Tse Kowk-Kuen China HongKong

City University of Hong Kong

SOLAR ENERGY

Chong Wai Yin, Kelvin

Singapore

Ngee Ann Polytechnic

GENETICS

www.ntu.edu.sg/home/EXJLiang/YIA2004.htm

Go west, life is peaceful there; Go west, where the skies are blue To finally complete the prize of having won the Gold in the Asia Pacific 2001

Young Inventors Award, I had the rare privileged of being flown on an all-expense

paid trip to Palo Alto, California through the courtesy of Hewlett-Packard Invent.

The trip entailed visiting Stanford University and the Hewlett-Packard Nanotech

Laboratories and most of all to meet the winners of the 2001 Collegiate Inventors

Contest considered America’s most brilliant young minds. I was supposed to fly to

California with the two other winners of the 2001 Young Inventors Award. But Bini

Thumbarathy and Chen-chi both cannot fly to the U.S. Bini was on her eight

month of pregnancy and Chen-chi had academic commitments and so I had to go

to the U.S. alone.

The visit to the U.S. was something that I could not miss for the world. The

chance to visit the U.S. came to me once again and this time around, it was

offered to me as a gift for having won the Young Inventors’ Awards (YIA)! Vividly, I

recalled my sad experience in 1993 when my earnest desire to go to the U.S. was

squashed by the U.S. embassy in Bonn and I was denied a US visa. I left the

embassy so broken hearted that day because I really wanted to visit my friends in

Illinois on my way home to the Philippines. I do not know then when the

opportunity to visit the U.S. will ever knock on my door again. Astonishingly in

2002, it did knocked again and even opened up the door for me so generously! It

was so different in 2002 than in 1993, so confident and proud am I of going to the

U.S. embassy in Manila for I know fully well that I will get my coveted visa this time

around. The processing of my visa in the U.S. embassy was a breeze. With just a

short answer to a simple question from the consul on what it was that I have

invented that won me the award and after having presented my certificate of

employment from UST and the official letter of invitation from HP, I finally got my

precious six-month visa the following day. I was so pleased with how I was treated

by the woman consul that I left her a copy of the FEER magazine containing a

write-up of my award winning entry. The saying that the best things in life are free

meant so much to me than ever before. So far, all of my foreign trips had been

free of charge. Recently, in 2007, I requested again for a U.S. visa to enable me to

attend a conference in Texas. Lo and behold, I was so happy and thankful that I

was given a ten-year visa.

Going back to 2002, I woke up very early at around 2:00 am in the morning of

2001 Easter Sunday in my rented place at the España Towers near UST.

Immediately, I organized myself and soon I was at the Ninoy Aquino International

airport at the early morning of 4:00 am. From Manila, I first flew to Hong Kong

again to get a connecting flight that will take me all the way to the City by the Bay -

San Francisco. Hong Kong has always been a part of my international itinerary.

Way back in 1988 on my way to Germany, I made a brief stopover at the old Hong

Kong Airport making this former British Colony the first foreign land that I set foot

on. The journey to California was quite long. I felt so excited, somewhat daunted

because it is going to be my first trip to the United States. Surely I have made

many long trips to Germany before, always flying westward across the vast

landmasses of Asia and Europe. Now, I am flying eastwards across the vast

expanse of the Pacific Ocean. Flying via United Airlines, we cruised at an altitude

of more than 30,000 ft. Seated beside the window, I did not see the ocean below

just the thick blanket of white-grayish clouds extending all the way yonder.

Sojourn in the famous Silicon Valley

America here I finally come! I reached San Francisco in the early morning of

Easter Sunday after about fourteen hours of continuous flight. The total time of

journey including the stopover in Hong Kong must have been more than 20 hours.

It was a very memorable 2002 Easter Sunday for me because I finally set foot on

the land of milk and honey, the most powerful nation on earth. It is the land that

many Filipinos will do everything possible to get in, settle down and work. It was

indeed a relief that I am standing once again on firm American ground. I can hear

at the back of my mind the Mamas and the Papas singing “California Dreamin”,

and remembered the era of the flower power. The long trip made me feel so

plane-sick and tired that I felt so sleepy and groggy upon exiting the plane.

Mustering enough energy, I began my long trek in the imposing corridors of the

magnificent airport moving towards the area of the U.S. immigration officials. The

cold early sunny Easter morning was truly a welcome relief. The mere thought of

being in the U.S. revitalized me and gave me enough push to move on. It really

felt so great to be finally in the great U.S. of A. The first thing I noticed was the

presence of so many Filipinos holding various types of job in the airport. The

immigration official that gave me a six-month stay and the woman in charge of the

money exchange looked like Filipinos. Often one can hear Pilipino being spoken in

some quarters of the Airport and in the streets of San Francisco. I guess that

really makes San Francisco a home away from home for many Filipinos.

Unfortunately, I missed the person who was supposed to fetch me at the airport

and who was supposed to bring me to the Sheraton Hotel in Palo Alto. It made me

a bit nervous because I don’t have enough money to take a taxi ride to the

Sheraton. So, I bravely went out of the Airport holding on to my luggage to explore

the public transportation system of San Francisco. What I planned was to take the

free shuttle airport ride to Caltrain. Taking this special California Train should bring

me all the way to Palo Alto. When I reached Caltrain, I found out that since it was

a Sunday, the scheduled Caltrain trips were far apart in between. The next trip

was 3 hours away and so I decided to return to the Airport and hoped to take a

bus ride. Soon enough I discovered the Palto Alto route that finally took me to the

Shopping Mall in Palo Alto located close to the Sheraton hotel. It was a delightfully

languid day. The weather had a welcoming charm, it was sunny and cool, and the

sky was blue as cheery American eyes. Alluring two-storey houses lined the

suburban streets; showy and well-maintained green lawns and a modern vibrant

city were my first memorable glimpses of the city of San Francisco.

The hallowed corridors of the HP Laboratories in Silicon Valley where the future of computer technology unfolds

Palo Alto is a captivating place with the widest of flowing free-ways and

seemingly boundless parks and vast locales for the multi-national business

companies. Ah yes! It is the envy of many - California’s ostentatious display of

limitless open spaces. Stanford University and Silicon Valley are the famous

landmarks of this region nestled several kilometers south of San Francisco. I

reached the Sheraton Hotel at noontime, some of my relatives visited me at mid

noon, and at 6 pm I was already in bed deeply asleep due to the long exhausting

journey that originated from the other side of the globe.

At the garden of the HP headquarter with HP Officers

The following refreshing morning, in the Lobby of the Sheraton Hotel, still

suffering from an intense jet lag, I had the pleasure of being introduced to the five

winners of the 2001 U.S. Collegiate Inventors Contest. Steve Anderson, Manager

of HP Brand Sponsorship, a tall black American who is an avid fan of the Giants

and who likes Filipino dishes like noodles (pancit) and spring rolls (lumpia), was

our HP host. We toured the HP Main Office in Palo Alto, the original offices of

Dave Packard and Bill Hewlett where a literal “open door” policy was implemented

to all the employees of their corporation. This policy surely made HP a very

competitive corporation that is able to continuously re-invent itself to meet the

challenges and the needs of the world.

Inside the office of Dave Packard and Bill Hewlett in the HP Headquarter in Silicon Valley

Meeting the winners of the 2001 U.S. Collegiate Inventors Contest

Due to my jet lag, I almost fell from my seat while trying so hard to keep

myself awake listening to HP’s CTO Mr. Stephen Squires’ message. He is the

chief technical officer of HP who gave a short inspiring round-table discussion on

HP Invent and on innovation. During the light lunch tendered by the HP

administration in the scenic HP garden, I finally got the chance to really know in

person the winners of the U.S. Collegiate Inventors Contest. Two of the winners,

Michael Oddy and Daniel Fletcher recently earned their Ph.D. in Engineering from

the prestigious Stanford University.

Below is a picture of the famous HP Garage bearing a historical marker with the inscription “Birthplace of “Silicon Valley” and meeting the winners of the prestigious US “Collegiate

Inventors Contest”. From left D. Doshi (Univ. New Mexico), D. Fletcher (Stanford), S. Welz (Univ. Chicago), D. Perkins (Univ. Maryland), myself and M. Oddy (Stanford)

Would you believe that the research endowment fund of Stanford University

alone stood at 7.6 Billion US Dollars, which was roughly the size of the Philippine

government national budget in 2001! Sascha Welz is also an Engineering Ph.D.

holder from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Sascha comes from the Saar

region in Germany. The Saarland for me is a region full of wonderful memories

and in whose university I finished a one-year postgraduate certificate course in

Biogeography and Environmental Assessment way back in 1992. Small world isn’t

it! Dana Perkins, the only rose in the group, recently earned her Ph.D. in

Pharmacology and Experimental Therapy from the University of Maryland.

Incidentally, there was a big celebration that Monday evening among us because

the University of Maryland made history by winning for the first time in the NCAA

against Indiana University. Dana proudly said that she was born in the Dracula-

famed Transylvania region of Romania and ultimately migrated to the US. Dhaval

Doshi was an Indian national who like the others earned his Ph.D. in engineering

recently from the University of New Mexico. The sixth winner who was not able to

make it to Palo Alto was Xiangfeng Duan from Harvard University.

What is it that they invented? Xiangfeng won by developing nanowire building

blocks. Michael who comes from Arizona invented a novel device for the rapid

stirring of micro and nano liter (extremely small) solutions for molecular

diagnostics with potential for aiding genetic and drug discovery research. Daniel a

true-blooded Californian invented a microsurgical tool that provides more precise

tissue dissection and drug injection capability than is currently possible with

existing procedures. Sascha invented a cost-effective technique to produce

dynamic seals coating for vehicle engines to improve life and prevent failure. Dana

successfully utilized a Herpes virus as transfer agent to combat degenerative

brain diseases like Alzheimer in laboratory animals. She said that clinical trails

would follow soon. Dhaval developed a technique using UV light to alter a thin

film’s pore size, optical characteristics and other properties to improve

microelectronics. Inventors are not nerds, which is usually how Hollywood portrays

them. Just like any other young people, inventors know how to have a good time.

They enjoy going out in the company of friends to dine in good restaurants, drink

beer, laugh at good jokes, and watch basket ball games. Traits that unite them are

being open-minded and inquisitive, analytical in thinking and a strong dedication to

science. An inventor sees things not with his eyes but with a mind that dares to

confront the conventional and challenge mediocrity. They are gifted with sparks of

imagination that can make huge leaps and bounds in technological development

and scientific investigations. One simply needs to look back at numerous events

in history when the sons and daughters of science initiated and led revolutions in

ideas and ways of life. They started a cascading reaction of events that created

milestones and breakthroughs in many areas of human endeavors leading to the

twentieth-century’s conception of gene-manipulation based Biotechnology and the

computer-based Information Technology.

In today’s world of modern living, every aspect of the level of progress and the

high quality of life that we now enjoy so much can be traced to the ideas of great

minds. The discovery of antibiotics, structure of proteins, functions of nucleic

acids and other biomolecules, and the invention of the printing press, gyroscope,

plastics, jet-propulsion, robotics, photography, DNA recombinant technology,

polymerase chain reaction (PCR), computerization, LCD, LED, and nanotechnolgy

has brought all aspects of human living well beyond the space age”.

The Hewlett Packard experience

We also visited the HP Archives, the HP Cooltown Experience which was

really so “cool”, the Computer Museum in Mountain View and the Exploratorium in

the Bay Area. The vicinity of the Exploratorium with its tall huge roman columns is

memorable for I have seen it several times in the movies. The Pacific Bell Park

home of the San Francisco Giants is very impressive and modern. We took our

meals in some of the famous restaurants in the Bay Area and we visited the

With Steven Anderson left and Doug right at the HP Cooltown

famed HP Laboratories where research in Nanotechnology, the current stuff of

science fiction, was conducted. Imagine developing a chip the size of your thumb

that can hold several terabytes of stored information as well as creating machines

the size of molecules. We also visited the famous Garage, birthplace of the famed

Silicon Valley, where HP had its origin. Dave and Bill started their business of

inventing electronic gadgets like oscilloscopes and calculators and transformed it

into the multi Billion-dollar computer and information technology company known

today with pride as HP.

With Tina at the Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco

It is also amazing to know that Dave Packard worked as an engineer for

General Electric (GE) during the great depression only to resign and to put up a

company that now rivals General Electric itself. Even though other companies like

Dell have over taken HP in terms of personal computer sale, it still is one of the

best brands to consider when buying computers, computer accessories, and

computer services. In fact, my second more modern laptop is an HP Compaq

Pressario.

The Fishermen’s Wharf in San Francisco

The afternoon of my last day in San Francisco was truly hectic. I got to see

some of my relatives, which brought me to Daly City where they lived. A visit to

San Francisco will not be complete without the trip to the Golden Gate Bridge.

Uncle Jesse and I made a rapid buying spree for gifts to be brought back home.

My relatives, some of which I saw for the first time, were all so generous to give

me whatever dollar bills they had and I got to be sixty-four dollars richer than when

I entered the U.S. carrying a mere 100 dollar bill.

With Steve at the Pacific Bell Park

When I finally got back home in Manila in the wee hours of the next Sunday

morning after almost a week of a whirlwind visit in San Francisco, I switched on

my FM stereo to help me unwind and reflect on my memorable sojourn in San

Francisco. The very first song that I heard, unbelievably, was the song “I left my

Heart in San Francisco” by Tony Bennett! Absolutely true, I swear. It is my wish to

visit San Francisco again someday. San Francisco is a welcoming, wonderful, and

energetic city with so much to offer to the unwary visitor for him to stay on for

good. It is a metropolis for the world’s dreamers and visionaries where they create

the future of technology. Silicon Valley has pioneered many technological

innovations whose impact on modern living continues to affect the way we live and

view the world today. The experience of having won the Gold in the 2001 Asia

Pacific Young Inventors Award is really the chance of a lifetime that opened up

new doors of opportunity for me. I wish all our budding scientists and inventors

across this vast archipelago all the best in joining the various science contests that

are held annually in the Philippines. I am hopeful indeed that just like Germany

and the U.S. we can finally move our country forward into the globalized world of

Biotechnology and Information Technology through innovative ideas.

Bioluminescence projects shining brightly in science fair contests

After going through years of conducting demonstrations on microbial

bioluminescence in numerous lectures, seminar-workshops, training courses and

in annual conventions held in UST and in other universities, microbial

bioluminescence has finally aroused the curiosity of the country’s education

sector. High school students came to UST motivated by their desire to apply

bioluminescence as a tool to study problems in biology for their science fair

projects.

In 1998, Dean Emeritus Carmen G. Kanapi of UST’s College of Science

introduced me to a group of four high school students from the Assumption in

Makati. One of the girls was the niece of Dean Kanapi. The Assumption girls were

pretty and zesty, so confident of themselves and so enthusiastically dedicated to

their science project. These girls were definitely far from being the picture of

spoiled rich girls that most ordinary people have of the “Assumptionistas”. They

worked hard for three weeks in the university’s old research center located in the

charity hospital until the early hours of evening and were so ecstatic to see the

beauty of bioluminescence. They were holding brightly glowing flasks of

bioluminescence high up in the air and swaying as if they we were in a rock music

concert. Suffice it to say, they won first place in their high school’s science fair

contest.

In 1999, a lone female high school student from the UST Pay High School

reached the national level contest of the Intel Science and Engineering Fair with

her study on the use of bioluminescence for the ecotoxicological monitoring of

rivers in Bulacan. Many rivers in Bulacan are contaminated with heavy metals due

to the heavy presence of the tanning industry. The Tanning industry throws out

wastewater containing high concentration of chromium. Her entry won first prize

for the UST Pay High School in the Intel Science and Engineering Fair Contest for

the National Capital Region (NCR). The NCR is roughly all of the Metropolitan

Manila area. She went on to compete in the Intel National Level Contest and won

second place. But only the winner of the first prize goes on to the US to represent

the Philippines in the International Intel Science and Engineering Fair. It has been

said that when it rains, it pours. In 2004, after five years, high school students

composed of an individual from Davao’s Assumption High School and a group of

three students from the Quezon City Science High School had once again worked

on a project dealing with the marine luminous microbes.

Winning in the Intel science and engineering fairs

The first group of students that I took in who did their project in UST’s new

Thomas Aquinas Research Complex (TARC) was from the Quezon City Science

High School. One of my favorite strains of luminous microbes was Vibrio fischeri

USTCMS 1063, a brightly shining luminous microbe that I isolated from the fresh

juices of squids. Vibrio fischeri is one of the safest of microbes that one can work

with for a science project according to the Chicago Science Fair Board. When the

students from the Quezon City Science High School composed of a boy and two

girls named Jayson Reggie Obos, Melanie C. Melchor and Trina G. Napasindayao

came to me one afternoon they wanted to work on disinfectants. It was indeed

timely to work on disinfectants because SARS had just then ravaged Canada and

Hong Kong. Using disinfectants should prevent the spread of infectious diseases

like SARS and flu. At first, I turned down their request of supervising them simply

because I find the project on disinfectants too common something that lacks

novelty. Nevertheless, Jason simply will not give up and their collective persuasion

and perseverance finally paid off. I finally took them in and they were granted

permission to do their project in the Pure and Applied Microbiology Lab. However,

instead of working with disinfectants, I gave them a different science project

something that involves bioluminescence. A year before, I had worked with the

use of microbial bioluminescence to measure the dissolved oxygen content or the

degree of pollution of water and wastewater samples. In a screw-capped tube, a

suspension of luminous microbes is mixed with the water sample to be tested.

Once mixed by shaking and swirling, the liquid inside the tube shines uniformly

with bluish-green hue in the dark. This novel method should enable

bioluminescence to measure the degree of pollution in water samples. My findings

have shown that the longer the luminance of the water sample inside the tube

persist, the more dissolved oxygen there is in the water and therefore the less

polluted it is. Polluted water contains small amounts of dissolved oxygen thereby

sustaining the period of luminance, which needs oxygen, at a much shorter period.

In non-polluted water where the amount of dissolved oxygen is high, the period of

luminance of the liquid inside the tube should persist longer. I gave this project to

the “QueSci” students, a nickname that they fondly call their school. The QueSci

students were bright, articulate, and assertive enabling them to explain their work

so extemporaneously. Surely, they have what it takes to win. They had full

confidence and they were able to organize their thoughts rather quickly and speak

it out with coherence and clarity. Rarely have I seen such qualities in students not

even with most of my college students. Thus, this group from the Quezon City

Science High School was given Vibrio fischeri USTCMS 1063 for their science

project.

Tube Bioluminescence Extinction Method

It dealt with the simple and rapid measurement of dissolved oxygen (DO) in

wastewater samples based on the length of time it takes for the luminance of the

liquid inside the tube to black out. They collected water and wastewater samples

from different areas in Manila and evaluated their degree of pollution using the

method, which I called “Tube Luminance Extinction”. Using a calculator and their

knowledge of basic statistics, they processed their data into a beautiful equation

showing inverse relationship between the length of time of extinction of the

luminance inside the tube and the degree of pollution in the water samples. What

a Grand Slam this project brought them. In a year they won several prizes in

various science contests held in the Philippines. Their science project entry

earned the QueSci students, the following national and international awards:

Best Science Project sponsored by the College of Engineering of UP Diliman

for the country’s science high schools

Best Science Project in the First National Science Fair Contest (2004)

sponsored by the Department of Education (DECS) in Sta. Cruz, Laguna

First Place in the Physical/Applied Sciences category at the Intel 2004 Regional

Level Contest

First Place in the Intel 2004 National Level Contest held at the Bahay ng

Alumni, University of the Philippines at Diliman

Intel 2004 Best Science Project

Intel 2004 Excellence in Environmental Science Award

Cash Price from the US based Science News Magazine

Fourth Place in the 2004 Grand Awards of the Intel International Science and

Engineering Fair held in Portland, Oregon; USA.

Another group of three girls from La Consolacion High School in Manila used

Vibrio fischeri USTCMS 1063 to determine the presence of residual chlorine in

various tap water samples collected all over Metro Manila. Residual chlorine in tap

water is an effective shield against the spread of water-borne diseases like typhoid

fever, cholera and dysentery. Indeed using bioluminescence, they found out that

residual chlorine is no longer present in almost all water samples collected in

various places in Metro Manila. Water samples from Tondo had practically no

detectable residual chlorine, which explains several outbreaks of water-borne

diseases in that area. Several people died from these outbreaks caused by illegal

water connections and leaking pipes.

The awards that I accumulated through the years from my work with bioluminescence together with the Space Shuttle that I bought from the Exploratorium in San Francisco

The La Consolacion students won first place in their school’s contest and won

as well in the National Capital Region (NCR) Division of the Intel Science and

Engineering Fair Contest. Unfortunately, they failed to reach the Intel National

Level Competition. I really thought that this project owing to its novelty and public

health significance should have won in the national level. Probably the girls were

simply not able to impress the judges with the impact of their research project. A

third group of four students from the Parañaque Science High School completed a

project on the use of Vibrio fischeri for the rapid, simple and inexpensive way of

screening our indigenous medicinal plants for the presence of antimicrobial

compounds. The luminous microbes have been found from previous studies to be

very sensitive to the action of antimicrobial agents in plant extracts. Indeed a less

than one-percent garlic extract in water was found to be most potent in exhibiting

antimicrobial activity when compared with several plants that have been tested.

Onion, ginger, Malunggay and Lagundi were just some of the plants they found to

possess significant antimicrobial activities based on the length of time it would

take for the plant extract to extinguish the luminance of the microbes. The shorter

the period of time for the luminance of the plant extract treated luminous microbes

to fade out, the potent the antimicrobial activity of the plant extract is. They won

prizes in the Intel regional science fair contest held in Alabang as well as in the

first nationwide Science Fair Contest held in Sta. Cruz, Laguna sponsored by the

Philippines’ Department of Education. Lastly, a girl from the Assumption High

School in Davao made used of the marine luminous microbes to determine the

water pollution level of environmental water samples. She won first place in the

Intel regional level and went on to represent her region at the Intel national level

competition.

One evening in 2005, while I was all alone in Microbiology Laboratory, the

students from QueSci dropped by for a surprise visit to thank me for all the

assistance I gave them. As a token of their appreciation, they left me their ISEF

(International Science and Engineering Fair) pins from the contest that they just

attended in Portland, Oregon. They relayed to me with so much excitement and

happiness the wonderful experience of having been given the opportunity to

represent the country in the Intel “International Science and Engineering Fair”

(ISEF). They said that the interaction with international and brilliant minded

students was so exciting and enriching. Indeed, it was so remarkable for them to

be in the U.S. at a very young age. What they had achieved was the kind of fairy

tale story that millions of Filipino high school students can only dream of

achieving. To have been given such honors and the privilege of representing their

country in an international competition in America is surely a very rewarding

experience and the chance of a lifetime.

Participants’ pins for the Intel Science and Engineering Fair 2004 held in Portland, Oregon

Meeting and knowing thousands of other young participants in the science fair

contest from countries all over the world must have broadened their outlook in life

and appreciated cultural diversity. Two of them went on to De La Salle University

to pursue a degree in engineering and one went on to the Ateneo de Manila

University to pursue a career in mathematics. They are really the future scientists

and engineers who will someday take their control post and chart the course of

science and engineering in this country toward socio-economic prosperity. When

they left me that evening, it was for me deja vecu! All of a sudden, I was

transported back to the year 2002, my “annus mirabilis” and relived once more in

my thoughts the thrill of victory and of what it felt like to win the Gold in the Young

Inventors Awards. The fond memories of receiving my award at the top of Hong

Kong’s tallest building “The Central Plaza” and the trip to “Silicon Valley” in

California to visit the HP’s headquarter and the Nanotech Laboratories came back

to find me wistfully longing. The year 2004 was truly for these QueSci students

what 2002 was for me. It was a year that they and their school will always look

back to with so much nostalgia and pride; a year that they will always reminisce

with so much happiness in their lifetime. Through it all, my research work on the

marine luminous microbes have been a great blessing to me and to many of the

younger generation of Filipino scientists. Every now and then, I still received

queries on bioluminescence from students coming from the Philippine Science

High School, the Manila Science High School and from the other science high

schools. I still get a feeling of amazement and gratitude when I am alone with my

luminous microbes in the dark. They can surely heighten one’s awareness of what

it is like to appreciate life, light and biodiversity. Seeing and feeling the cool bright

bluish-green light that they generate is also their way of telling me how happy they

are to be alive as well. A speck of life has indeed made contact with another more

advanced life form through the gift of light and the complexity of vision. Through it

all, I am confident and secured in the notion that whatever the future holds, my

“Microbes of Light” will continue to light up a path that will guide me to new and

rewarding endeavors. Bioluminescence, the light of life, coming from whatever

organism, be it a protist, a copepod, a firefly or even a fish, will continue to inspire

our country’s young brilliant minds to be analytical and innovative; bold and daring

and to explore the great and the small!

Indeed, Vibrio fischeri is teaching us “lessons in green” that can be used to

safeguard our, the environment’s and the planet’s health. Very recently, I

supervised a group of three boys from Espaňa’s Ramon Magsaysay High School

on their own original special project. They worked on the effect of different

wavelengths in the drying of guava leaves on its antibacterial activity. I am glad

that they won in the NCR and went on to the National Level. Recently, a group of

students from the Manila Science High School visited me and told me the good

news that their science project won several awards in the 6th Regional Congress:

Search for SEAMEO Young Scientists (SSYS) Awards held last 3 – 6 March 2008

at the SEAMEO Recsam, Penang Malaysia. Emmanuel D. Delocado, Justine

Timothy P. Cruz, Jose Noel Gamba, Edilberto Barcelona and Mr. Jonathan P.

Derez their adviser won 2nd place in the Science Category 1 for Best Project

Exhibit and 3rd Place for Science Category 3 for Best Presentation for their project

entitled “Bioluminescent Bacteria (V.fischeri and V. phosphoreum) To Direct A

Killing Mechanism on Leukemia Cells”. The group of Emmanuel Delocado was

indeed so generous to give me a cake, a key chain from Malaysia and the

souvenir program of the 6th SEAMEO Regional Congress. When Emmanuel

Delocado inquired on Bioluminescence a year earlier he already had in mind a

clear idea as to what he wants to do. He wanted to use the energetic blue-green

light to kill cancer cells. Indeed, I was skeptical of the project’s success. I provided

him the luminous microbes and he used it the way he intended to. The rest was

history. He came back to me with several awards to be proud of. His group also

won 2nd place in the Intel Science and Engineering Fair at the National Level held

at UP Diliman. They went on to pursue biology at UP Diliman and Ateneo de

Manila University.

The key chain from Malaysia and the Proceedings of the 6th Regional Congress

BIOLUMIN - Blue Light Green World