41ST ANNUAL PAASE MEETING & SYMPOSIUM
APAMS 2021

The newsletter features stories on financial inclusion, MSME development, digital transformation, water security, urban development, science, technology and innovation, and out-of-school youth entrepreneurship development.

PAASE extends its sincerest gratitude to Dr. Anabelle P. Villalobos and Dr. Alvin D. Culaba for their generous donations to the organization.

KATHLEEN B. AVISO, PhD

2021 Awardee for Engineering

Dr. Kathleen B. Aviso is faculty member and recently appointed Dean of the College of Engineering at De La Salle University Manila. She is widely recognized for her research and contributions to environmental decision-making of the Philippines through her mathematical models. In 2013, she was an awardee of the Outstanding Young Scientists Award.

Saturday, October 9, 2021, 7:30 am EST (7:30 PM PHT)

ARNEL A. SALVADOR PhD

2021 Awardee for Science

Dr. Salvador, a Professor at the UP National Institute of Physics (NIP), led a team of scientists who made breakthroughs in the field of fiber optic communications. He earned his Ph.D in Physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is an academician of the National Academy of Science & Technology (NAST), Republic of the Philippines.

Sunday, October 10, 2021, 7:30 am EST (7:30 PM PHT)

We are proud to announce the first set of fellows for the program. Fellows will be entitled to free registration, will receive certificates of participation and will be listed in the PAASE Directory of Graduate Students.

Ann Elizabeth P. Rollon-Enova

Program: M.S. Marine Science

MSI, UP Diliman

Mentor: Dr. Caroline Marie B. Jaraula

Lowell Andrew Iporac

Program: PhD Marine Biology

Florida International University

Mentor: Dr. Ligia Collado-Vides

Angelico Nichole M. Tolentino

Program: M.S. Chemistry

RCNAS, University of Sto. Tomas

Mentor: Dr. Christina A. Binag

Juhn Chris Espia

Program: PhD Political Science

University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand

Mentor: Prof. Alexander C. Tan

ABSTRACT

The marine ecosystem has become the hotspot for finding antibiotic-producing actinomycetes across the globe. Although marine-derived actinomycetes display strain-level genomic and chemodiversity, it is unclear whether functional traits, i.e., antibiotic activity, vary in near-identical Streptomyces species. Here, we report culture-dependent isolation, antibiotic activity, phylogeny, biodiversity, abundance, and distribution of Streptomyces isolated from marine sediments across the west-central Philippines. Out of 2212 marine sediment-derived actinomycete strains isolated from 11 geographical sites, 92 strains exhibited antibacterial activities against multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli. The 16S rRNA and rpoB gene sequence analyses confirmed that antibiotic-producing strains belong to the genus Streptomyces, highlighting Streptomyces parvulus as the most dominant species and three possible new species. Antibiotic-producing Streptomyces strains were highly diverse in Southern Antique, and species diversity increase with marine sediment depth. Multiple strains with near-identical 16S rRNA and rpoB gene sequences displayed varying strength of antibiotic activities. The genotyping of PKS and NRPS genes revealed that closely related antibiotic-producing strains have similar BGC domains supported by their close phylogenetic proximity. These findings collectively suggest Streptomyces' intraspecies adaptive characteristics in distinct ecological niches that resulted in outcompeting other bacteria through differential antibiotic production.

"Cecilia P. Reyes is an entomologist with extensive experience in teaching, research, extension, project coordination, and senior management with a demonstrated history of working in both government and non-government organizations for over twenty-five years. She relentlessly pushed the frontiers of scientific knowledge, expanded interdisciplinary collaborations, mentored junior researchers and students in public and private universities, and published research outputs.

Cecilia has published scientific papers in both international and national journals, and her research contributions that enriched the scientific knowledge include discoveries of 9 genera and 42 species of insects. She also pioneered the use of copepods as biological control agents of dengue mosquitoes in the Philippines. She is a member of professional and socio-civic organizations and recipient of prestigious national and international awards. She has lived and worked for an extended period in the National Capital Region, Regions 2, 3, and 12 in the Philippines, India, Canada, and the United States of America."

The program has support from the US National Science Foundation and is headed by Prof Roger Pielke Jr of University of Colorado at Boulder. Prof Pielke Jr is one of the world's leading scholars in environmental science policy. EsCAPE is also part of the policy research network of the International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA) The Philippines team is supported by pro bono efforts of our Science, Technology and Society, (STS) scientists.

Dr Benjamin M Vallejo Jr of the UPD College of Science is the National Team Leader. The Philippines team has the following members at present, Asst Prof Ranjit Rye of UPD CSSP, and Dr Rodrigo Angelo C Ong, Professorial Lecturer at UPD Science and Society Program. There are 17 national science teams in the program. EsCAPE recognizes the excellent work done by Filipino scientists especially by OCTA Research on COVID-19.