Agriculture.ph Blog

Tissue culture of Manila Super Mango bags PARRFI R&D award

After years of study, researchers from the Institute of Plant Breeding at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) have developed a tissue culture (TC) protocol for mango coupled with a successful system for transplant to soil. This research, Tissue Culture of Mango var. ‘Carabao’, won the Philippine Agriculture and Resources Research Foundation, Inc. (PARRFI) Research and Development Award at Los Baños Science Community’s celebration of the National Science and Technology Week.

The technology is important as a rapid method of propagation of superior ‘Carabao’ strains or of uniform rootstocks for germplasm conservation and exchange and for genetic transformation.

Tissue culture of woody species like mango is prone to failure. In previous attempts both locally and abroad, tissues turn brown easily or fail to form callus or regenerate into embryos/plantlets. Complicating the situation is the difficulty in ensuring the survival of tissue-cultured plants when transferred to the soil.

The ‘Carabao’ or ‘Manila Super’ mango is the third leading Philippine export fruit after banana and pineapple. Because of its importance, the best planting materials must be used to develop plantations and ensure future productivity. According to team leader Lilian F. Pateña, “the technology can be used to propagate elite stocks, to conserve germplasm, and can be used for germplasm exchange”.

Further, Pateña stressed that the technology “opens new possibilities for biotechnology research in mango”. A reliable TC protocol for mango is a vital follow-through to the biotechnology aimed to raise the fruit’s value. Mango plants with improved traits would have to be successfully regenerated from the genetically transformed mango cells. The TC protocol surmounts this potential bottleneck in the gene transfer process.

One of the major obstacles in the successful TC of mango is the browning of tissues being cultured. The research team did not encounter this problem and attributes its success to using protocols developed earlier and fine tuning the composition of culture media.

The greater challenge was the transfer and survival of plantlets to the soil. The team spent a year in developing the TC requirements for the induction of embryos from tissue cells (somatic embryos) and proliferation of the cells. Conversely, it took three years to come up with the right acclimatization and transfer techniques to ensure that the plantlets survived in the soil.

The UPLB team includes Maureen Bonna C. Ines, Alice B. Formaran, and Ramon C. Barba. This is the first report of a successful TC system up to transfer to soil of a polyembryonic mango.

The PARRFI R&D Award is given to projects in the fields of agriculture, forestry and environment in two categories – research and development.    The project was funded by the Department of Science and Technology, UPLB, and PCARRD.

Written by Sandra Alena L. Ilao, S&T Media Service

Source: Pcarrd

Scientist: Herbals help Pinoys afford meds

FOR Juan de la Cruz, getting sick is quite difficult primarily because of the high cost of medicines.

In response, the government enacted Republic Act 9502, or the Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008, that resulted in the lowering or halving of prices of a number of commonly used medicines, such as those that are anticholesterol, anticancer, antidiabetes, antihypertensive and antibiotic.

According to the Department of Health, a price cap on medicines is important because only 30 percent of households in the country have at least one member covered by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth). PhilHealth benefit packages barely cover outpatient conditions and require substantial out-of-pocket payments by patients.

It should be noted that the P10-billion budget spent annually by the national government on pharmaceuticals represents only 10 percent of the whole pharmaceutical market.

This is why for Dr. Nelia Maramba, professor emeritus of the College of Pharmacology of the University of the Philippines Manila, developing the country’s herbal-medicine industry is one way to help the people get more affordable medicines in the long run.

“There is future for medicinal plants as sources of synthetic drugs. Sixty percent of the drugs sold in the market are sourced from medicinal plants. We only have to look for it,” said Maramba in a press interview in the sidelines of one of the scientific meetings at Renaissance Hotel in Makati City as part of the recent celebration of National Science and Technology Week.

“Medicines containing plant material/s combined with chemically defined active substances, including chemically defined isolated constituents of plants, are not considered herbal medicines,” she said.

World Health Organization defines herbal medicines as “finished labelled medicinal products that contain as active ingredients aerial or underground parts, or other plant materials, or combinations thereof, whether in the crude state or as plant preparations. Plant material includes juices, gums, fatty oils, essential oils and any other substances of this nature.”

Maramba cited in her presentation that Europe is a major center in the world in using herbal medicines. In 2003, in Germany, a total of $283 million in reimbursements were made for prescribed gingko, Saint John’s wort, mistletoe, saw palmetto, ivy, hawthorn, stinging nettle too, mystol, phytosterols and cucurbita.

In 2002 the health insurance companies in France paid $91 million in partial reimbursements for gingko, saw palmetto and pygewen prescriptions with a total value of $196 million.

“If we encourage our own industry to manufacture our herbal medicines and if the government will support and reimburse these costs, many Filipinos will definitely benefit from it,” said Maramba.

Five medicinal plants are currently being used in Philippine hospitals, such as lagundi, sambong, yerba buena, tsaang gubat and akapulco. Lagundi is used for coughs, while sambong is used as diuretics and in removing kidney stones.

Maramba said herbal medicines could also be effective in treating early symptoms of diseases such as diabetes.

She added that there are ongoing researches exploring the possibility of using herbal medicines in treating the early stages of diabetes on families who have a high incidence among their members.

Statistics show there is a growing number of Filipinos with diabetes not only owing to genetic causes, or from family lines, but also due to lifestyle, or the kind of food people eat and lack of exercise.

In developing herbal medicines in the country, Maramba said the government should include among its priorities a research based on national needs.

For the initial step, she said it must focus on the antitussives (lagundi leaves), antiasthma, analgesics (yerba buena, the aerial part), anticolic/antispasmodic (tsaang gubat leaves), antidiarrheals (guyabano mesoderm of fruit), diuretics (sambong leaves), antifungals (akapulko leaves), antihelmintics (ipil-ipil leaves and niyog-nyogan kernel).

For the second phase, the mission-research should be on the antiarrhythmics or cardiovascular drugs, such as garlic clove/kernel, on antihypertension and on antihypercholesterolemic agents.

Other researches should involved antituberculosis agents, antimicrobials, antiparasitics (antimalarials), antineoplastics, antidiabetic agents (ampalaya leaves, Makiling variety), antihyperuricemic (ulasimang bato) and anticonstipation or laxatives (Kanya pistula leaves).

Herbal medicines include:

·         Crude-plant materials, such as leaves, flowers, fruit, seed, stems, woods, bark, roots, rhizomes or other plant parts, which may be in their entirety, fragmented or powdered

·         Herbal materials in addition to herbs, fresh juices, gums, fixed oils, essential oils, resins and dry powders of herbs. In some countries, these materials may be processed by various procedures, such as steaming, roasting, or stir-baking with honey, alcoholic beverages or other materials

·         Herbal preparations are the basis for finished herbal products and may include comminuted or powdered herbal materials, or extracts, tinctures and fatty oils of herbal materials.

They are produced by extraction, fractionation, purification, concentration, or other physical or biological processes. They also include preparations made by steeping or heating in alcoholic beverages and/or honey, or in other materials.

* Finished herbal products consisting of herbal preparations made from one or more herbs. If more than one herb is used, the term mixture herbal product can also be used. Finished herbal products and mixture herbal products may contain excipients in addition to the active ingredients. (Encarta Online defines excipients as inert substances like starch or gum arabic that are combined with a drug to make it easier to administer.)

However, finished products or mixture products to which chemically defined active substances have been added, including synthetic compounds and/or isolated constituents from herbal materials, are not considered to be herbal.

Written by Rizal Raoul Reyes

Source: Business Mirror

Local inventor’s poultry equipment can trigger backyard businesses

An incubator for custom hatching of poultry eggs and another more sophisticated one for those of ostriches, or cages for chicken brooding, growing and laying at every possible scale.

These are just examples of the many poultry gadgets and equipment of Filipino inventor Jose Abellar, owner and president of Abellar Equipment Philippines.

“There are a number of doable businesses in poultry that even small-scale entrepreneurs can do, be it in the rural or urban areas, or in a big farm setting or simply at the backyard,” said Abellar.

One such business is backyard poultry raising through the use of a steel cage module called “Brooder, Grower, Broiler Cage Assembly” or simply BGB cage, which is made of sturdy welded wire.

“Growing the birds in BGB cages is more beneficial than growing them in a colony system. The metal cage is very hygienic. The birds have a better feed conversion because they are confined in a small area where movement is limited. There are usually no runts in each batch because of enough feeding space and ventilation,” Abellar explained.

Two feet wide, 1.5 feet tall and 16 feet long, the BGB cage, with its steel support, stands two feet from the ground and has four compartments, each with an area of two feet by four feet for a combined 100-bird capacity.

Thus, brooding can be done right in the cage. Then, when the chicks are about three or four weeks old, 25 can be placed in each of the four compartments, where they will be raised for about 35 to 40 days.

The divisions prevent the overcrowding of chicken at any one part of the cage and make it convenient to handle them during medication and other procedures. Feeders on both sides of the cage are very convenient to fill and refill.

Using the same cage module, an entrepreneur can also grow pullets for egg production. After brooding, the birds will be raised in this cage until they are 16 weeks old and ready for transfer to the layer house.

The module can also be expanded to raise capacity since the cages can be joined together forming a straight line. At 100 birds per module, it will take only 100 modules to expand that capacity to 10,000. For this purpose, Abellar has a rail-based feed dispensing system that can distribute feeds in just 10 minutes.

Moreover, the BGB cage can be used to house ready-to-lay pullets of 16 weeks old. Day-old chicks usually cost R30 each, and after raising them for 16 weeks, they are usually sold at only R160 each. Thus, many egg producers buy ready-to-lay pullets since these are supposed to have been fully vaccinated and will start generating income in just a few weeks.

Another possible business is custom hatching using Abellar’s incubator, which caters mostly to fowl breeders. This incubator, with a capacity of 360 eggs, can hatch different batches of eggs of various quantities in a continuing operation.

Abellar’s another line of incubators is for ostrich eggs. “This incubator features a digital thermostat, the first of its kind introduced in the Philippines,” Abellar said. “It has a fully automated egg turner that operates according to the time programmed by the owner, depending on his requirements. This machine also includes such other features as electronic thermostat, heater pilot lights, built-in water pan, external water refill receptacle, magnetic door locks, panoramic glass viewing doors, fiberglass housing and low wattage.”

Abellar’s products will be showcased with those of various firms from around the world during the staging of Agrilink, Foodlink and Aqualink 2009 at the World Trade Center Metro Manila on October 8-10. “This international event, the country’s best agri trade fair, not only helped me meet clients, but also offered me insights on how I could further contribute to the industry,” Abellar stressed.

Supported by some 20 national trade associations with ABS-CBN as media partner, Agrilink, Foodlink and Aqualink constitute the country’s biggest and most prestigious annual international trade show on agribusiness, food and aquaculture.

Email frld@pldtdsl.net for more information from event organizer Foundation for Resource Linkage and Development.

Source: www.mb.com.ph

Synsepalum dulcificum Danielle, the miracle fruit

Will the miracle fruit work miracles in our lives?

What does one do when farms are not producing as much as they should? Or when local farm produce does not earn as much against cheaper imports? Or when the prices of farm inputs spike beyond reach? How should UPLB as dispenser of agricultural knowledge cope with the needs of the times?

Niche farming may be one of the answers, and there just might be an opportunity to do this — by producing the remarkable miracle fruit (Synsepalum dulcificum Danielle).

The miracle fruit debuted in the Philippine horticultural stage on Nov. 20 with the lecture of Dr. Domingo E. Angeles, dean of the UPLB-CA. The lecture is part of SEARCA Agriculture and Development Seminar Series.

Miracle fruit got its name from its ability to modify the taste of fruits, food and liquids that usually make us pucker and shudder for their unpleasant taste. Dr. Angeles reported that the fruit makes sour fruits taste sweet, and as pundits on the Internet claim, it makes all unsavory-tasting food delicious and pleasing to the taste buds. One just has to pop the thumb-sized red berry into the mouth and allow it to coat the taste buds for a few seconds before drinking or eating, for it to take effect.

The fruit originated from tropical West Africa and was first documented by explorer Chevalier de Marchais in 1725 when he noticed how local tribes would pick the berries and chew it before meals.

In the 1970s, many laboratories in Japan and the US attempted to isolate and further investigate the glycoprotein “miraculin” that is responsible for modifying taste. Soon, companies started to produce miracle fruit tablets and powder preparations.Today, the use of miraculin as a sweetener has been approved in Japan but not in the US.

The Japanese have successfully introduced into lettuce, a fast-growing crops, the gene responsible for producing miraculin. A US-based company created powdered and tablet forms of the extract, and even manufactured popsicles from it.

The potential use of the miracle fruit as a sweetener by diabetics is significant. It can also be used by everyone else, the health conscious especially, to reduce calorie intake and maintain weight. Dr. Angeles said that even cancer patients who are undergoing chemotherapy have claimed that miracle fruit has reduced, if not eliminated, the metallic taste in the food they eat.

Dr. Angeles added that there is no secret to propagating the miracle fruit. The plant can be propagated as seeds, rooted stem cuttings, and through marcotting. It adapts well to Philippine soil and climatic conditions. The plant favors acidic soil, only requires organic and commercial fertilizers, and none of insecticides or herbicides. The plant is watered only when necessary, using a power sprayer with a two-inch duct hose.

The plant is pruned regularly to increase light use and to control pests, improve fruit quality and increase yield. The fruits, which are borne in clusters, ripen two months after setting. Fruiting peaks from March to May and, in less quantity, from December to February.

One fruit pest that Dr. Angeles said he is even happy to share his miracle fruits with, are birds. Because the fruits grow in abundance, a few hundred fruits that get by the chirpy creatures do not really worry him that much. Dr. Angeles started growing a single miracle plant in 1994 and today he has at least 50,000 plants. In 2007, Dr. Angeles harvested close to two million fruits from his farms in Calauan and Bay.

But what does one do with this large volume of fruits? Dr. Angeles shared his way: he sorted the fruits and retaining only the red-colored berries. Green berries and those with wounds or are overly mature are not acceptable in the export market. He then had the choice picks washed in water, blot dried, lanced, and frozen. The fruits are then packed in plastic bags with moisture absorbent silical gel, sealed and freeze dried, ready for export to Japan. The miracle fruit has yet to find a market in the US, Europe, and other countries.

Indeed, miracle fruit production is a niche farming activity that holds great promise. Even as investors mull on growing it, its use for value-adding and for improving our way of life beckon for further research and development to help uncover its full potential.

Written by Josephine M. Bo, with information from web.extension.uiuc.edu and www.miracleberrypill.org

Source: UPLB

Utzurrum: Socorro Atega – Outstanding Landscapist

ANNUALLY, the Philippine Regulatory Commission (PRC) extends awards for excellence in each profession that is under its commission.

This year, the distinction went to a very accomplished Cebuana, landscape architect, Socorro Borromeo Atega, who was recommended by the Philippine Association of Landscape Architects (Pala).

Atega was awarded the prestigious title, Outstanding Landscape Architect for 2009, at the Manila Hotel last month with her family in proud attendance! After all, not just any architect, a lady at that, could achieve such national prominence!

Baging, as we fondly call her, has these enviable facts in her professional file: Practice in government service with National Power Corp. after the graduate program; section chief of physical planning (1983-1987); and manager, Land Management Division (1987-1989).

At present, she has her private practice as landscape architect and consultant for various resorts, subdivisions, parks, and eco-tourism development.

On her academe background, she is a senior lecturer in University of the Philippines-Cebu (1984-1987), professor in University of San Carlos, College of Architecture and Fine Arts (USC-Cafa), and program coordinator of landscape architecture (1992 to present).

Landscape architecture is a profession that applies both art and science in the design and planning of land areas to create an environment in harmony with nature, beautiful and functional outdoor spaces where people live, work and play.

To achieve this and more Baging has this academic excellence tucked under her belt: A graduate of Masters in Landscape Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design in Cambridge, Mass., USA.

Locally, she is totally immersed in social development and environmental sustainability as volunteer executive director and past president of Cebu Uniting for Sustainable Water Foundation Inc.

It is with undeniable pride, therefore, that Cebu congratulates Socorro Atega for this award — not only Cebu, but her Theresian family as well, basks in her unfading glory!

Written By Chinggay V. Utzurrum

Source: Sun Star

Maranao lass strives to become a professional agriculturist

Cagayan de Oro City (22 July) — Twenty-one year old Asmairah M. Didatu is just one of the hopeful Filipino youths who is working for a college degree–that of Bachelor of Science in Technology & Horticulture Management (BSTHM) from the Misamis Oriental State College of Agricultural Technology (MOSCAT) in Claveria town, Misamis Oriental.

Unusual for a Maranao lass to go into the field of agriculture? Not so, for Asmairah or “Maimai” said she has always wanted to become an agriculturist to be able to help her people improve their lives.

“I observed that many of the farmers in our place have little knowledge about agriculture. So after my studies, I will go home to share what I have learned in school and convince them to adopt new technologies in farming,” she said when she barely started her college education.

And home she will be, God willing, at the end of this school year (2005-2006) armed with what she has always aspired for: a BSTHM degree.

“I would like to convince my people to depart from the very traditional ways of farming. We have to modernize in order to harvest more than what we were used to,” she stressed.

Maimai comes from the Peace Development Community of Delabayan, Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte put up in the area after the March 2000 crossfire between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the government troops resulted in the loss of their homes.

She is pursuing college as a scholar of Project “I Sincerely Love All Muslims (ISLAM) Foundation implemented by the 4th Infantry Division, Philippine Army’s Operation ISLAM under 4ID Task Group Kalilintad for SALA’AM Projects of Lanao del Norte.

Granted on the basis of the need of the community, in coordination with Sultan Camlon T. Moner, barangay chairperson of Delabayan, the Project ISLAM Scholarship (PIS) Program is sustained by 4ID, PA with the help of several Evangelical Christian Churches and some non-government organizations in Northern Mindanao and Luzon.

There were a total of 14 scholars, all Maranaos, from the Delabayan PDC at the start of PIS implementation, 8 of whom took up the Diploma in Agro-Forest Technology (DAFT) in MOSCAT. Two of them have opted to pursue 4-year courses, namely Maimai and Muslimen Abdulfatak, who is also graduating this schoolyear, while the other 6 DAFT graduates have undergone on-the-job trainings.

Four other PIS scholars are now in the 2nd year level of the Diploma in Agricultu- ral Technology (DAT), also in MOSCAT: Cosari P. Managgolo, Fahad M. Maguidala, Jalaloding M. Tabua and Yusoph P. Moner, while the rest are enrolled in other schools taking up non-agriculture courses.

“We want to make sure that the PIS scholars will have no problem passing their English and Mathematics subjects, so we have arranged a special tutorial service for them in these areas,” Col. Francisco I. Simbajon, commanding officer of 4ID’s Civil Affairs Unit (CAU) said.

These tutorial sessions, Simbajon said, are handled by a hired teacher who conducts regular classes on Saturdays to really make sure the PIS scholars will be able to cope with the requirements necessary for them to hurdle the subjects and prepare them for the next term.

The Project ISLAM Scholarship Program goes along President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s 10-point agenda, particularly on giving our youth the opportunity to finish their studies under the “Education for All” Program as she calls on everyone to come “Let us BEAT THE ODDS and build our nation to last.”

President Arroyo’s “Education for All” Program has so far granted P300 million in loans to almost 50,000 college students under the SAFE-4-SR project, built 10,765 classrooms, supplied computers to 3,334 public high schools, and awarded certificates of educational assistance to almost 2,000 indigent families under the Iskolar ng Mahirap na Pamilya program. (PIA 10)

Written by Rutchie Cabahug-Aguhob

A Filipino agricultural scientist is promoting the use of biotech seeds to help local farmers increase crop yields.

Dr. Calixto Protacio, a professor of agronomy at the University of the Philippines-Los Baños, said “biotech seed is a weapon that reaches the farmer and does not need to be trained on improved technology to benefit from the crops grown through genetic improvement.” Reports said biotech is the most rapidly adopted new farming technology in history.

Protacio noted that improved technology seldom reaches the intended targets and that extension workers are not trained appropriately to impart the new knowledge.

“Biotechnology’s potential is to bring science to the countryside even without extension workers. How? Just by giving the farmer improved seed,” Protacio, a US-trained scientist, said.

“If we can incorporate into a seed all that science has to offer, then the fruits of science (actually a seed) would have reached the farmer. This scheme fits in the natural cycle of agriculture where a farmer will secure the best seed he can get,” he said.

Apart from these seeds, he said biotech product may also be a tissue-cultured plantlet.

“But even if produced by tissue culture, especially if by somatic embryogenesis, synthetic seeds can also be produced by encapsulating the somatic embryo in a suitable gel-like medium usually along with everything that the embryo will need- just like a natural seed,” he explained.

Protacio said so far the promise of biotechnology has only been realized commercially in corn.

“Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn’s built-in crop protection capability has reduced the chemical-related expenses for growing the crop and the farmers seem to find it cost effective,” he said.

“The herbicide resistance also incorporated in corn is also relevant to our aging farmers as less labor is required to weed the extensive corn fields,” Protacio said.

He said that while there has been enormous success in propagating Bt corn in the country, commercial seeds developed by biotechnology still have to make their mark in the rice farms and coconut plantations.

“The reason for this is that the private industry invested heavily in corn biotechnology research unlike in the two other crops. Biotech research in rice and coconut are primarily publicly funded. However, the fact that public money is spent on this crops promises that the crop eventually developed will be more relevant to the farmers and the general population,” Protacio said.

Protacio said increasing crop yield would help the government fight hunger and poverty in the country.

The biotech expert also said that government has been working hard to develop “Golden Rice,” which have genes that carry vitamin A. Vitamin A is crucial in battling blindness.

“Nonetheless, experts are still arguing over the practical impact of Golden Rice since vitamin A levels in the variety are still and research has to be done to boost the capability of the strain to harbor a bigger amount of the nutrient,” he said.

Written by: Helen M. flores

Source: Philippine Star

Hernani Grande Golez, Ph.D. is a recognized expert and major contributor in the development of the mango indutry in the Philippines. Golez devoted 25 years in research work in improving the variety and in increasing the production of mangoes through proper pest management and post harvest handling.

His hometown, Guimaras, Iloilo became the only province in the country capable of exporting high quality mangoes to the United states and Australia. Golez was instrumental in establishing the National Mango Research and Development Center (NMRDC) in Guimaras. The center not only provides top caliber planting materials using various strains of Carabao mango, it also offers technologies such as pruning, chemical flower induction, and fertilization, among other which has considerably improved mango production and yield in the area. His extension work is credited for the widespread mango plantings in Central and Southern Mindanao.

Source: http://www.map-abcdf.com.ph/

MAKATI CITY — After years of tedious research, Filipino scientist Dr. Baldomero Olivera and his team at the University of Utah discovered a major breakthrough in pain management. Now, deadly pain might have finally met its match in Ziconotide (trade name Prialt).

The breakthrough research was presented by none other than Olivera himself to doctors, scientists, investors, students and the media gathered at the Filipinas Heritage Museum on July 6. His talk, “Turning Killers into Pain Killers”, was part of Innovation Forum, a series of bi-monthly forums on various technologies sponsored by the Ayala Foundation and InfoDev.
Seaside discovery

This major discovery opens a new drug pipeline for pain and other serious diseases. Olivera is among the few scientists who have chosen to tap animal wildlife as a pharmacological source of treatment.

Olivera developed a keen interest in seashells as a young boy in the Philippines. He would gather and bring them home so he could compare them with the diagrams in the pages of his books on marine life.

Cone Snail

One particular seashell, the cone snail, became the focus of Olivares and his team. Studying them had been like second nature to Olivares since cone snails are abundant in tropical countries like the Philippines. The team’s curiosity was particularly aroused by the duality of the seashell being exquisite on the outside but highly lethal on the inside. After further research, they found out that the cone snail’s venom which contains conotoxins has an equally antidotal effect. Conotoxins is now being considered to yield new drugs for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and other brain disorders aside from pain.

Moreover, Olivares’ interest in sea cone snails became instrumental in his discovery of a new pharmaceutical class called conopeptides, the active ingredient in Ziconotide. And in 1992, Olivera’s team was able to determine the analgesic-like qualities of conopeptide. From there, Ziconotide was made available to the public via Prialt.

Non-narcotic pain relief

Before Prialt, there was morphine, a highly potent opiate analgesic drug that effectively relieves severe pain. Morphine, however, is a narcotic – a controlled substance and therefore not readily accessible to those who need urgent relief from extreme pain.

Prialt, on the other hand, has none of the habit-forming qualities of morphine. Administered via a spinal pump, patients now have a safer pain-killing alternative. Prialt is believed to be more powerful than morphine. In recent years, Prialt has been the better choice for the treatment or management of pain caused by a variety of diseases such as AIDS, cancer, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s.

The US Food & Drug Administration approved Prialt for severe chronic pain in December 2004. Formerly known as Neurex, it was bought in 1998 by Ireland’s Elan Pharmaceuticals for $700 million. In 2005, sales reached $6.1 million, and then doubled in the succeeding year.

The science of pain

Olivera’s three decades of dedication to developing drugs from animal wildlife earned him this year’s “Scientist of the Year” award from the Harvard Foundation. In that span of time he had already published 158 medical abstracts on conotoxins. He had been teaching Biology in the University of Utah since the 1970s where he is currently associate professor and, of course, a renowned scientist.

His colorful career began after finishing Summa Cum Laude at the University of the Philippines in 1960. He then went on to graduate school and earned his PhD in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology. He furthered his specialization doing postdoctoral work at Stanford University.

Olivera then returned to the Philippines and became a research associate professor of Biochemistry at the UP College of Medicine. In 1970, he returned to the US to start teaching in Utah where he has been consistently awarded the title of “Distinguished Professor of Biology” since 1992.

Upended patent

Sadly, Olivera wasn’t able to patent his research. Consequently, he never profited from the sales of Prialt. But Olivera saw that as a challenge. To recoup his investment, in 1996 he founded the Utah-based startup group Cognetix. This pharmaceutical and research company had been developing four conopeptide compounds to treat pain and myocardial infarction.

Olivera now serves as director of the Olivera Lab and has since been leading the way in further research and development of conotoxins – a technological advancement that will definitely benefit mankind.

Written by: Carmie Carpio

Source: www.asianjournal.com

Photo Source: www.publications.nigms.nih.gov

I attended the 2nd Innovation Forum last April 25, 2007 and heard Mr. Comandante speak with another invention, truly a Filipino Iventor. Mabuhay po kayo! His invention is now franchising

Article about Mr. Bonifacio Comandante Jr. – http://blog.agriculture.ph/sleeping-fish.html

Video Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXSkYLnVUtA