JENNY Marie D. Blancaflor won the Best Oral Presenter award at the recently concluded International Conference on Advance Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (ICAPPS) at Bukittinggi, West Sumatra, Indonesia on Sept 26-29, 2018.

Blancaflor bested 36 other competitors from Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Philippines and Japan on pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences research.

Blancaflor, a faculty member of the Department of Pharmacy College of Health and Allied Medical Professions of University of San Agustin, presented her studies on the phytochemicals from Kadios (Cajanus cajan) seeds that have the potential as antibiotic against drug-resistant bacteria.

Kadios is a staple of the Western Visayan diet and the major ingredient of the Ilonggo dish called kadios-baboy-langka (KBL).

Aside from a certificate of recognition, Blancaflor received a cash prize of 2,000,000.00 Rupiah (7,000 pesos). Her research work is a technology generated by the newly established research centers in USA: the Center for Natural Drug Discovery and Development (CND3) and Center for Chemical Biology and Biotechnology (C2B2).

Blancaflor recently completed her Master of Science in Pharmacy degree at University of Santo Tomas, Manila through the University of San Agustin scholarship program and mentorship of Dr. Doralyn S. Dalisay, a Deparment of Science and Technology (DOST)-Balik Scientist.

Another faculty member who presented a research paper at the 2018 ICAPPS is Nilita Sirikit P. Villanueva.

Villanueva’s study is on anticancer activity of a mangrove plant Barringtonia asiatica, locally known as bolubitoon. Bolubitoon is known for its folkloric use for cysts and tumors.

Villanueva is finishing her thesis for Master of Science in Pharmacy at Centro Escolar University, Manila.  She conducts her thesis work at CND3 and C2B2 as well under the mentorship of Dr. Dalisay and is supported by USA scholarship program.

Blancaflor and Villanueva were accompanied by Dr. Dalisay, who was an invited Plenary Speaker at the 2018 ICAPPS. She joined other Plenary Speakers from the Netherlands, Japan, UK, Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia. She showcased the research outputs on drug discovery at the CND3 and C2B2 of USA. Dr. Dalisay is the current Director of C2B2.

The key aim of the 2018 ICAPPS is to accelerate and disseminate research in pharmacy and pharmaceutical science. It provided participants with an excellent platform for sharing of experiences and discoveries on cutting-edge research methods and findings on various topics such as drug discovery and development, pharmaceutical sciences and technology, biotechnology, pharmaceutical analysis, pharmacology, toxicology, clinical pharmacy, and pharmacy community.