As part of his fourth engagement under the DOST-Balik Scientist Program, Dr. Gerard Dumancas opened the doors to strengthen scientific research in Western Visayas by determining the feasibility of establishing biobank, Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS), and Phenome Wide Association Studies (PheWAS) in the region which was the highlight in his Exit Report Presentation held via zoom webinar last April 26.

Associate Vice President of Office of Research and Global Relations of the University of San Agustin (USA) and former Balik Scientist Dr. Jonel Saludes mentioned “Dr. Dumancas engagement is not solely for the benefit of the university, it has toll order of ensuring that the community that we serve here in Iloilo and other partner agencies of the country including the National Center for Mental Health and the Philippines Genome Center benefit from this engagement.”

Dr. Romulo De Castro, Director of USA’s Center for Informatics and also a former Balik Scientist, cited that Dr. Dumancas’ previous engagement, prior to this most recent one focused on the region’s research for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes allowed the university to foster medical collaborations in the regions including different hospitals. Such engagement led to the identification of barriers and recommendations for establishing a cardiovascular disease and diabetes patient registry system in the country.

Complementary to Dr. Dumancas’ previous engagement and to further strengthen collaborations and research in the region, this fourth engagement examined the power and other resource requirements for conducting GWAS and PheWAS for potential Filipino genetic health determinants. This fourth engagement also investigated the feasibility of establishing a biobank center utilizing USA’s existing laboratory.

Regarding the feasibility of conducting GWAS and PheWAS in the country, Dr. Dumancas concluded that it may not be presently feasible to establish such technological platforms within the Western Visayas region due to the lack of resources. Nevertheless, collaborators are receptive to the idea of the GWAS and PheWAS research.

The establishment of a biobank center in the Western Visayas region, on the other hand has enough demand and acceptability to pursue such project. In particular, The Medical City Iloilo, Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, Western Visayas State University Medical Center, and Western Visayas Sanitarium together with the USA drafted a Memorandum of Understanding to enhance research related application of biomedical informatics.

During the open forum, Dr. De Castro suggested starting with a small biobank, specifically with 200 biorepositories using the COVID19 data from partner hospitals to move forward to genotyping and further the research conduct of GWAS and PheWAS.

Dr. Jaime Montoya, the Executive Director of the Philippine Council for Health and Research Development thanked Dr. Dumancas and encouraged more scientists to serve the country through the program, “the institutionalization of BSP is to further encourage our foreign-based scientists to return to our country and share their knowledge and actively participate in government’s effort to create better studies, develop better innovation and foster greater information exchange that will lead to advancement for the community, academe, and the whole Philippines society.”.

Watch the full Exit Report Presentation of Dr. Dumancas at https://tinyurl.com/BSPGDERP.