Philippine Genome Center Featured, Forensics & Ethnicity, News

Response to the 09 June 2021 statement of Dr. Maximilian Larena and Prof. Mattias Jakobson on the conduct of their Genomic Study on the Filipino Past

Since the Philippine Genome Center is mentioned and we have received numerous queries from colleagues in the country and the region, we are compelled to issue this Statement to address the following:
– the possible inference (from the way the Statement is written) that the head of the Philippine Genome Center’s (PGC) Program on Forensics and Ethnicity connived with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and Philippine Health Ethics Research Board (PHREB) against Dr. Larena and Prof. Jakobsson’s research or is responsible for their actions; and
– the imputation that the ethical issues raised by these agencies and PGC aim to discredit “good research” because the head of PGC’s Program on Forensics and Ethnicity is pursuing similar genetic research.

Philippine Genome Center Featured, Health, News, PGC Mindanao

PGC Mindanao engages in a collaborative SARS-COV-2 genomics study using a portable sequencing platform

The Oxford Nanopore MinION is a portable sequencer and has the lowest instrument cost among all sequencing platforms with a 97.5 to >99.3% raw read accuracy (Oxford Nanopore Technologies, 2021). The technology has demonstrated its utility for sequencing biological entities, from the simple nano-sized viruses to complex plants and animals, generating sequence information that is sufficient to provide comprehensive insights into the underlying genome architecture. It has also been validated to produce SARS-CoV-2 consensus sequences with the same accuracy as other sequencing platforms (Bull et al., 2020 and Charre et al., 2020).

Philippine Genome Center Agriculture, Livestock & Fisheries, Publications

Nutritional properties and phenolic acid profile of selected Philippine pigmented maize with high antioxidant activity

Ten (10) accessions of pigmented maize collected from the various regions in the Philippines with the highest antioxidant activity were evaluated for several chemical and nutritional parameters such as proximate composition, carbohydrate profile (starch, amylose and amylopectin contents), phenolic acid, mineral (iron and zinc) and food energy contents.

Philippine Genome Center Agriculture, Livestock & Fisheries, Featured, Publications

Genetic Structure and Diversity of Banana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV) in the Philippines

Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) is an important disease of banana in the Philippines and in other banana-producing countries. This study was conducted to investigate the genetic structure and diversity of Philippine BBTV isolates which remain unexplored in the country. BBTV-infected plant tissues were sampled from banana-growing provinces (i.e., Cagayan, Isabela, Quirino, Batangas, Laguna, Rizal, Quezon, Palawan, Cebu, Leyte, and Davao del Sur) and the partial DNA-R gene of BBTV was sequenced.

Philippine Genome Center Agriculture, Livestock & Fisheries, News, Publications

In Vitro Lipid-lowering Properties of the Fruits of Two Bignay [Antidesma bunius (L.) Spreng] Cultivars as Affected by Maturity Stage and Thermal Processing

Bignay [Antidesma bunius (L). Spreng] fruit contains an array of polyphenols and information on how these bioactive compounds vary with cultivar type, maturity stage, and process treatment are unclear. Also, the effects of these variations on the lipid-lowering potential of this Philippine indigenous berry have not been reported.

Philippine Genome Center Core Facility for Bioinformatics, DNA Sequencing Core Facility, Featured, Health, News

PGC SARS-CoV-2 Bulletin No. 7: Detection and characterization of a new SARS-CoV-2 lineage P.3, with spike protein mutations E484K, N501Y, P681H and LGV 141-143 deletion, from samples sequenced through the intensified UP-PGC, UP-NIH and DOH biosurveillance program

A close examination of the mutation profile of the P.3 viruses revealed that apart from E484K and N501Y, they also share other spike protein mutations that are likely to have functional significance (Figure 2). This includes the P681H mutation, also found in lineage B.1.1.7 viruses, as well as a three-amino acid deletion at positions 141 to 143 (LGV141_143del).

Philippine Genome Center Core Facility for Bioinformatics, DNA Sequencing Core Facility, Featured, Health, News

PGC SARS-CoV-2 Bulletin No. 6: First case of the new variant under Lineage B.1.1.7 detected in the Philippines

Through the biosurveillance efforts of the UP – Philippine Genome Center (PGC), in coordination with the Department of Health (DOH) – Epidemiology Bureau and the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) Task Force on COVID-19 Variants,  we report the first confirmed case of the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 lineage, more commonly known as the UK variant, in the Philippines. An announcement of this finding can be found in an official DOH press release dated January 13, 2021.