Science Field: Biology

Lorenz Chua is a postdoctoral researcher at the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH). Lorenz’s research revolves around high-resolution transcriptomic profiling using single-cell RNA-sequencing and spatial transcriptomics, with a special emphasis on respiratory diseases like COVID-19 and pulmonary fibrosis.

Christina is a biomedical engineer and neuroscientist using AI to map the brain’s information highways. Her research interests are in the structure and function of the brain in chronic neurological disorders.

Joan Talubo is an Assistant Professor at the UPLB Department of Community and Environmental Resource Planning. Her doctoral thesis assessed island socio-ecological resilience for disaster risk and recovery planning in the Philippines.

Ciara Juan is a PhD student in Exercise Biochemistry at Ulster University in the UK. Ciara’s thesis is exploring the relationship between epigenetics and aging.

Deign Soriano is a research assistant and instructor pursuing his Masters in Environmental Management at the University of Reading. His dissertation tackles ecosystem services, ecological quality, and remote sensing.

Dianne Aguilon, an entomologist and Assistant Professor at the University of the Philippines Los Baños. Her research interests include insect life history, insect diversity, ant ecology and taxonomy, pollination ecology, forest insect pests, among others.

Chino Bandonil is a PhD student in Molecular and Cell Biology at Taiwan’s Academia Sinica. He has worked on various projects, including investigating mitochondrial and glycolytic dynamics during cancer and stress conditions to studying neuron morphology and development.

Julliane Negre is an aspiring physician-scientist and current Biological Sciences undergraduate at Marquette University. For her undergraduate project, she is characterizing and developing a bacterial enzyme as a novel antibiotic drug target.

Charles is a joint postdoctoral research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He currently investigates the molecular causes of neuronal death in X-linked dystonia-parkinsonism (XDP), a uniquely Filipino disease endemic to his father’s hometown, the Panay Island of the Philippines.

Dino Tordesillas is a resident researcher at the Research Center for Natural and Applied Sciences at the University of Santo Tomas focusing on the reproduction, development, and respiratory activity of the invasive Arctodiaptomus dorsalis.

Sophia Hernandez is a PhD student in molecular biology at Umea University, Sweden. She continues to investigate the Plasmodium parasite through research grants from EMBO and the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Melvin See is a Science Research Specialist at The Medical City’s Institute of Personalized Molecular Medicine. He undertook a research project characterizing stable and unstable Chinese hamster ovary cell lines for the production of monoclonal antibodies.

Andrea Monica Ortiz is an interdisciplinary climate change scientist, honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Manila Observatory and Fellow at environmental consultancy Parabukas. Currently, she is in Chile, working on ways to connect science across the Pacific Ocean.

Kier Pitogo is a wildlife biologist with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – PENRO South Cotabato. Kier leads biodiversity field surveys in forest and wetland habitats, as well as maintains a biodiversity database system that is then used to inform science and evidence-based policy interventions.

Johnathan Sarines is a molecular biologist in action amidst and for the global health crisis. His undergraduate thesis elucidated the effects of certain Philippine berries towards enzyme targets for diabetes.

Jonathan Concepcion is a PhD student in Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biotechnology at Michigan State University.

Carla Bertulfo is a PhD candidate in Biological Sciences at Columbia University. For Carla’s doctoral studies, they are using the Nobel Prize-winning gene editing technology CRISPR to explore combinatorial therapies against T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Lowell Iporac is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Environment at the Florida International University. In his current doctoral work, Lowell explores interactions between macroalgae and invertebrates as well as investigates the characteristics of habitat-forming organisms in tropical shallow coastal systems.

Emmylou Nicolas recently graduated with a Master of Biotechnology from the University of Adelaide in Australia where she used the Nobel Prize-winning gene editing tool CRISPR/Cas9 to investigate disease-causing gene variants.

Alexa Abangan is a Marine Sciences graduate from Sorbonne University and is about to start her PhD journey with the French Research Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea (IFREMER) where she will explore fish behavior and develop machine learning technologies.