The Students’ Chemistry Congress was successfully held last 22-23 February, 2014 at the University of the Philippines-Diliman. With an end-goal of stimulating chemistry awareness to undergraduate students, the two-day event offered vibrant activities to cater interests from the simplest to the sublime.
Symposium and Poster Presentation
The first day was composed of symposium on the vital role of chemistry in medicine – with a focus on the applications of chemistry techniques in medicine and career options of chemists which are related to medicine and poster presentation of undergraduate studies on chemistry. Held at the PCED Auditorium, School of Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman, it was participated by students from the Batangas State University, Mindanao State University – Iligan, Philippine Normal University, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Tarlac State University, Technological University of the Philippines, UP Diliman, UP Los Banos, UP Manila, UP Visayas and University of Santo Tomas. The program started the opening remarks from Dr. Christina Binag, PACS, Inc. adviser. The short opening program was followed by the symposium and poster presentation simultaneously. The first lecture entitled “Medical Applications of Aptamer Biosensors” was delivered by Dr. Rahula Dharmatov Albano. Dr. Albano is currently an assistant professor of Dept. of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Santo Tomas whose research interests is on piezoelectric quartz crystal aptamer biosensors, bioanalytical nanotech chemistry, capillary electrophoresis, microfluidics, lab-on-chip and sensor technologies.
Researchers of the top 6 posters who qualified for oral presentation together with
Mary Rosary de Leon and Dr. Armand Guidote
The second talk was entitled the “Role of Chemistry in Medicine: Clinical Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery” delivered by Prof. Cherrie Pascual of the Institute of Chemistry, UP Diliman who is also a research consultant of the St. Luke’s Medical Center. Dr. Pascual’s research interests is focused on electrochemistry, drug analysis, analytical chemistry and environmental chemistry. The last lecture was from Dr. Francisco Heralde, an associate professor at Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Medicine, University of the Philippines – Manila, who is also a visiting consultant at the Lung center of the Philippines, and the principal investigator of NRCP funded project on Genomic Surveillance and Intervention of Dengue Virus in Mosquito. His talk was entitled “Applications of Chemistry in Personalized Medicine: Hydrogen Bonds, Solubilities and Functional groups in Diagnostics and Drug Discovery”.
While the symposium was on going, the poster presentation was also simultaneously being held at the lobby of the School of Economics. Out of the 19 posters, five studies were chosen for oral presentation. The top five studies were then strained to determine the top three studies that are given the opportunity to present in the Philippine Chemistry Congress (PCC). The senior author or the chosen representative of the top three studies are entitled for free registration in the 29th PCC to be held at Naga. The top three studies were: Effect of Lewis Acid on Diels-Alder Cycloaddition: A Density Functional Theory (DFT) study by Rumar L. Delima and Edgar W. Ignacio, Synthesis and in vivo Biocompatibility Studies of Researchers of the top 6 posters who qualified for oral presentation together with Mary Rosary de Leon and Dr. Armand Guidote Chitosan/Interconnected Polypyrrole-Polyaniline Composite Hydrogel Films by Julius Patrick N. Cerda, et. al. and Antihyperlipidemic Activity of the Aqueous Extract from the Bark of Scyphiphora hydrophyllacea (Rubiaceae) on Triton X-100 Induced Hyperlipidemic Rats by Joanna Lourdes Visitacion A. Mallillin, et. al. The judges for the poster and oral presentation were: Dr. Armando Victor M. Guidote, Jr and Mr. Paul Gerald L. Sanchez.
PACSiklaban
The Champions for this year’s PACSiklaban: University of the Philippines Diliman
The second day showcased the highly awaited event of undergraduate chemistry students: PACSiklaban – an intercollegiate chemistry quiz bee. The PACSiklaban aims to test the depth and width of the knowledge of the students in Analytical Chemistry, Biochemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry and Physical Chemistry. It was held at the School of Labor and Industrial Relations Hall, UP Diliman. It was participated by 11 schools, namely: Adamson University, Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, Philippine Normal University, Polytechnic University of the Philppines, Technological University of the Philippines, UP Diliman, UP Manila, UP Visayas and University of Santo Tomas. The second day started with doxology and singing of the national anthem by Rose Anne Santos and Aries Garingalao. It was then followed by opening remarks from Mary Rosary de Leon, PACS, Inc. president. The morning session was allotted for the elimination round which consisted of 10 easy, 10 average and 10 difficult questions. After the elimination round, only the top six schools proceeded to the final round.
The top six schools were from: Adamson University, Ateneo de Manile University, De La Salle University, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, UP Diliman and The Champions for this year’s PACSiklaban: University of the Philippines Diliman UP Manila. The final round consisted of 10 easy, 15 average and 15 difficult rounds. These six teams battled for the top three spots which were then coveted by Polytechnic University of the Philippines (2nd Runner up), University of the Philippines Manila (1st runner up) and last year’s champion, University of the Philippines Diliman (Champion). The judges for the PACSiklaban were Dr. Mafel Ysrael (Biochemistry; Head Judge), Dr. Gladys Cherisse Completo (Organic Chemistry), Dr. Noel S. Quiming (Physical Chemistry), Dr. Allan Yago (Analytical Chemistry) and Dr. Ronald Fabicon (Inorganic Chemistry).
PACS, Inc 2013-2014 General Assembly during the last day of SCC 2014
The Students’ Chemistry Congress was proudly presented by the Philippine Association of Chemistry Students, Inc. in cooperation with Microlab, Ramos Sison Review Center, Fruit Magic, Medtek, Shimadzu, Dairy Queen, Belman Laboratories and our media sponsors: DZUP 1602 and Green Giant FM.