By Dominic Zi Ann Ng | News Writer
Vol. XCI No. 14
Jan. 17, 2020
A group of students from Silliman University Medical School (SUMS) garnered 2nd place in the ASEAN Emerging Researchers Conference 2019 held last Dec. 9 – 10 at Sunway University, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
The ASEAN Emerging Researchers Conference is a flagship programme of the ASEAN Young Scientists Network; the official platform for young researchers in the region. It aims to create a platform for researchers from the ASEAN region and the ASEAN research diaspora to drive research excellence in the region.
Different universities and establishments from Southeast Asia participated in the competition in which early- and mid-career researchers, ASEAN researchers, postgraduate students, undergraduate students, industry partners, government official and policy stakeholders, media practitioners, and non-governmental organizations can join the competition.
The lead author, Elizalde D. Bana, together with his co-authors Ed Gerard Ang Gobonseng, Albert Rashid Babaylan, Marie Concepcion Renacia, Andrea Tenorio, Christy Sabueto, and Iana Saquin, earned 2nd place in the competition with their topic entitled – “Seal And Heal Ointment: Effects of Cryopreserved And Lyophilized Amniotic Fluid and Membrane (AFM) Ointment On The Wound Healing Process In Sprague Dawley Rat”.
The research aims to enhance the healing process of a patient’s wound, specifically diabetic patients whose wounds have poor rejuvenation, to prevent possible amputation, and to prevent amputation and to minimize the cost and hospital stay of a patient.
Describing their experience, Bana said, “Before the event, I already have an “end” in my mind and that is to germinate the seed of inspiration to the young ones and to find a collaborator for our research. Neither winning nor losing is meaningful.”
What is meaningful is what we learn about ourselves in the process. It embeds the discipline and the enabling capacity to reach that moonshot thinking. After all, the international audience is a competitive platform to widen circle influence and circle of interest.”
Bana said that the students need to work in “quadruple helix” by collaborating with different disciplines because the Philippines is lagging behind in terms of high impact researches. He challenges everyone to take those moonshot thoughts, and in the process, it will have significant changes to the community as a whole. “Work with will and grit because without those we are just making short stories here.”
