UP Mindanao will showcase its projects in “Agham+Sining,” a two-day event of UP’s creative work, research projects, and technological innovations, which will be delivered face-to-face and on live streaming on November 28-29, 2022, in the UP BGC-Henry Sy Sr. Hall.
On Monday, 28 November 2022, at 1:00 PM, UP Mindanao and the DOH Regional and Local Government Unit will sign a memorandum for “DiWa,” Disease Watch Web Application, alongside other projects, in the plenary session "Sealing the Future: UP Partners with the Industry."
On Tuesday, 29 November, at 1:00 PM, Dr. Joel Hassan Tolentino will present the Phil. Genome Center Mindanao in Plenary Session 4: “Partnerships for Technological Innovations.”
At 2:30 PM, Dr. Melvin Pasaporte will present the Direct Lactic Acid Technology in Plenary Session 6: “Okay ka ba tiyan? On responsible consumption and production.”
Read the program here: Agham+Sining
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Dateline 28 November 2022:
UP Mindanao and the University of the Philippines System officials gathered at the "Agham+Sining: UP Innovation and Knowledge Festival 2022" to offer DiWA, the Disease Watch & Analytics web-based application, for the use of the Department of Health Davao Region (in lead photo, below). DiWA was one of the inventions offered in the “Sealing the Future: UP Partners With Industry” program, which featured the ceremonial signing between UP, the Inventor, and the Industry Partner, held on November 28, 2022, at the UP Bonifacio Global City. Prof. May Anne Mata, the Inventor, met onstage with DOH-Davao Regional Director Dr. Annabelle Yumang, the Industry Partner, in the signing ceremony witnessed by UP Vice-President for Academic Affairs Maria Cynthia Rose Bautista, UPMin Chancellor Lyre Murao, and UP Technology Transfer and Business Development Director Dr. Luis Sison. Through DiWA, the UP and UPMin reaffirmed their commitment to national development by delivering a product of research for the public good.
On Agham+Sining Day 2, on November 29, 2022, Dr. Joel Hassan Tolentino (in second photo, below) presented the Philippine Genome Center Mindanao in Plenary Session 4: “Partnerships for Technological Innovations.” Omics, a branch of biological science, and its corresponding technologies with its immense potential for research and development were brought in by the establishment of the Philippine Genome Center Mindanao in 2019 as a satellite of the Philippine Genome Center in UP Diliman and housed in UP Mindanao, with funding from the Department of Science and Technology. PGC-Mindanao created the 42-member Mindanao Genomics Consortium to invigorate multi-disciplinary collaborative research in Mindanao. At the height of activities in 2020, the African Swine Fever disease hit Mindanao, which led PGC-Mindanao to seek and earn accreditation as a Laboratory Testing Facility of ASFV. The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, which followed, motivated PGC-Mindanao to deliver technical assistance for the establishment of three COVID-19 molecular laboratories in the Davao Region and train 100-plus Mindanao medical personnel in molecular diagnostics. In the intensifying efforts to limit the spread of the pandemic, PGC Mindanao participated in the national biosurveillance program to identify COVID-19 variants to mitigate the effects of similar health crises. These three major activities are ongoing concerns of the PGC-Mindanao to this day, even as it continues with its mandated services and R&D for Mindanao.
In Agham+Sining Plenary Session 6: “Okay ka ba tiyan? On responsible consumption and production,” Dr. Melvin Pasaporte (in third photo, below) presented the UP Mindanao Lactic Acid Technology initially developed by former UPMin faculty member Dulce M. Flores. This Technology is a sustainable process of producing lactic acid directly from cassava starch, an abundant agricultural resource in the Philippines. Unlike other existing technologies, this process can produce lactic acid in just 24 hours at room temperature using industrial-grade starch. This technology has a huge economic significance for our country since lactic acid has applications in multiple industries, but we don’t have local production. The Philippines imports all its lactic acid needs. With our technology, the Philippines can develop the manufacturing capability to produce lactic acid for different industrial applications. The top three applications for lactic acid are in the polymer industry, food and beverage industry, and chemicals industry. In the polymers industry, lactic acid is a raw material for the production of PolyLactic Acid or PLA, a biodegradable material with high demand from the packaging, biomedical, textile, electronics, agriculture, and other industries.
In addition, Chancellor Murao, Professor Novero, and TTBDO Administrative Officer Lynda Buenaobra served as panelists in various segments of Agham+Sining.
Finally, UPMin's appointed UP Scientists, professors May Anne Mata, Annabelle Novero, and Emma Ruth Bayogan, were recognized alongside fellow UP Scientists (in penultimate photo, below).
UPMin's delegation was composed of (in last photo, left-right) Dyle Legaspi, Lynda Buenaobra, Melvin Pasaporte, Leo Manuel Estana, May Anne Mata, Chancellor Murao, Annabelle Novero, Joel Tolentino, Miguel Carlo Guillermo, and Rene Estremera (photographer).
