Joint Facility: Collaboration for Better R&D
Molecular lab at the Joint R&D Facility
Why is it important to establish facilities for the future of HABs Research?
Molecular lab at the Joint R&D Facility
Why is it important to establish facilities for the future of HABs Research?
Filipino scientists and research are very capable of doing the work. But the reality is they need good facilities and the appropriate equipment to do it. HABs Watch has consistently helped to establish or refurbish existing facilities within the collaborators’ institutions. Throughout the implementation of the project, culture facilities were established at Mariano Marcos State University and Zamboanga State College of Marine Sciences and Technology, while facilities were repaired or refurbished at Palawan State University, UP Tacloban College and Mindanao State University. The project also helped to provide new equipment for the Artificial Intelligence Facility at UP Baguio. These facilities are important to carry out phytoplankton research, and real-time monitoring and detection of harmful algal blooms.
However, we’re still gearing up for the big one!
The University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute (UP MSI), through the Microbial Oceanography Laboratory, in cooperation with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) through their CHED-LAKAS funded HABs Watch Project, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources National Brackishwater Fisheries Technology Center (BFAR-NBFTC) and the Philippine Council for Agriculture Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) through the VirOys Project are setting up a joint molecular laboratory and culture facility. This joint facility is set up in the NBFTC compound in Pagbilao, Quezon.
The facility provides a multitude of benefits. First, Quezon Province is continuously growing its mariculture industry, especially with the establishment of oyster farms around Tayabas Bay. It is therefore necessary to monitor the area for harmful algal blooms for the health and safety of the residents and the sustainability of their livelihood. Through setting up this facility with cutting edge laboratory equipment capable of isolating, extracting and amplifying DNA of potential HABs species, HABs monitoring and classification can be done faster and easier. Second, it makes processing samples more efficient, given that the lab is closer to many study sites and mariculture areas.
Moreover, establishing a pure culture phytoplankton facility in the area helps to further support the conduct of more HABs and oyster studies. It facilitates the identification and classification of HAB species and also allows experimentation to determine which phytoplankton species can impact the growth and survival of oysters.
Finally, this facility will help in the conduct of research and projects that the partner institutions are working on together. Having this shared molecular lab and culture facility will allow researchers from UP MSI, BFAR, PCAARRD and other collaborators to work together in an environment essentially made for them.