Genome Visayas Staff Training in Genome Sequencing

Seven of the participants were PGC VSF staff while the other four participants were prospective PGC VSF clients. The other four participants are Dr. Noe D. Bataga, Ms. Karen Claire S. Ebreo, Mr. Joseph P. Faisan Jr. and Ms. Rema C. Sibonga. Dr. Bataga is an endocrinologist from West Visayas State University College of Medicine. Ebreo is a UPV MS Biology student under Dr. Ma. Celia D. Malay, faculty member of the Division of Biological Scineces, UP Visayas. Faisan and Sibonga are early career researchers under the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) GlobalSeaweedSTAR Programme. GCRF GlobalSeaweedSTAR Programme is a £6M, 51-month programme funded by Research Council UK (RCUK) entirely focused on the needs of seaweed-producing developing countries. Mr. Faisan is also a senior technical assistant of SEAFDEC/AQD.

The participants performed laboratory procedures such as extracting environmental DNA from soil, extracting RNA from plant, performing nucleic acid quality control procedures and library preparation during training. Trainers from the DNA Sequencing Core Facility (DSCF) also toured the participants around PGC. Dr. Benedict A. Maralit, DSCF Director, gave a lecture on determining the sequencing platform that suits a research.

This NGS training acquainted the PGC VSF staff on the future operations of its core facility. The other four participants have genomics-related proposals/researches in the pipeline to be carried out at PGC VSF. The satellite facility Philippine Genome Center Visayas is located is currently located at the Fisheries Aquaculture Station of the UP Visayas, Miagao campus.