Two faculty members of the Institute of Biology were awarded by the National Academy of Science and Technology during its 41st Annual Scientific Meeting. Dr. Michael C. Velarde was awarded  Outstanding Young Scientist (Physiology and Biophysics). The award was in recognition of Dr. Velarde’s notable research on the regulatory mechanisms of cell proliferation in mice and humans.

2019 Outstanding Young Scientist Dr. Michael C. Velarde, with wife Stephanie.

2019 Outstanding Young Scientists from the University of the Philippines (left to right): Dr. Patricia Ann Jaranilla-Sanchez (UPLB), Dr. Velarde (UPD-IB), Dr. Pia Bagamasbad (UPD-NIMBB), Dr. Lilibeth Salvador-Reyes (UPD-MSI), and Dr. Michael Francis Ian Vega (UPD-NIP).

Dr. Lillian Jennifer Rodriguez was also awarded 2nd Prize in the NAST Talent Search for Young Scientists. The award was in recognition of her research entitled “Diversification and spatial structuring in the mutualism between Ficus septica and its pollinating wasps in insular Southeast Asia.”

The 41st Annual Scientific Meeting of the NAST was held last 10-11 July 2019 in the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel, Mandaluyong with the theme “Caring for the Country’s Carrying Capacity.” The NAST is the government’s highest recognition and advisory body on science and technology.