Pinay scientist devotes life to discovering cancer cure from depths of sea

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MANILA—At 64 years old, Dr. Gisela Concepcion is just a year shy of retiring from university work, and perhaps several years away from finding a cure for cancer or another disease.

At her lab at University of the Philippines’ Marine Science Institute, we watches her quiz her research assistants on their latest work.A Ph.D. student from abroad shows off small vials of colored liquid, solvents extracted from various sea creatures, while one graduate student unwraps a white elongated shell of a giant shipworm from layers of bubble wrap. He points us to a large jar filled with a dark yellow chemical and cut up parts of the shipworm discovered a couple of years in Mindanao.

“I guess because my mother died I couldn’t understand why I lost my mother so my tendency as a person is to be pensive, to be introspective. That grew in UP.” Concepcion started reaching out to scientists in the United States and collaborated with marine experts there. On the other hand, marine organisms, especially those from the Philippines, have not been thoroughly studied yet.

For the testing phase, the cancer cell lines are treated with the compounds and later the compounds are injected into mice. She said globally it takes at least 15 years for a bioactive natural compound to become medicine. Instead, she will focus on moving forward with her existing research so they can proceed with the animal testing. She says she just wants to protect her intellectual property.

“We want to get more Filipinos to understand the process of invention and innovation and to go on the path of discovery,” she says.

 

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