Thomasian-biologist alumni win BPI-DOST Innovations Award
By Ian Patrick Laqui
Thomasian alumni won this year’s BPI-DOST Innovation Awards for a study on detecting colorectal cancer.
Medical biology alumni Aamer Sultan, Austin de Asa, and Tesah Guimbangunan, and their adviser Prof. Pia Marie S.P. Albano won the award for their research “AI-based prediction of colorectal cancer using miRNA expressions.”
Their study focused on colorectal cancer, which is said to be the third most diagnosed cancer globally, and aimed to find cost-efficient and “less-invasive” methods for identifying it.
The group received a trophy and a cash prize of P100,000.
The BPI-DOST Innovation Awards, in partnership with the Science Education Institute of DOST, is a competition that aims to challenge bright Filipino students to actively participate in resolving problems in the community through science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
The University’s past winners include Jay Patrick M. Nieles (BD Electronics Engineering — 2019), Sheena S. Gumatay (BS Biology — 2017), and Ervin Luis M. Jayag (BS Chemical Engineering — 2017).
