THREE graduate students from the University of Santo Tomas bagged awards for research poster and oral presentations in a conference organized by the Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute.

They are MS in Chemistry majors Gabriel Luis Neri, Hannah Joy Drapisa and Zaira Fe Castañares.

Neri won first place in the research poster award for his work “Synthetic Electrophilic Cyclopent-2-enone Conjugates Modulate Nrf2 Release and Inhibit NF-κB/IL-6 In Vitro.”

On the other hand, Drapisa placed second for her study on “Isolation and Structure Elucidation of Anti-staphylococcal Secondary Metabolites from the Endophytic Fungus of Uvaria grandiflora, Epicoccum nigrum.”

For the oral research presentation, Castañares ranked third for the paper “Isolation, Structure Elucidation and Biological Assessment of a New Isochroman Compound from the Endophytic Fungus, Hypoxylon lividipigmentum.”

They were mentored by Prof. Allan Patrick G. Macabeo.

Themed “Resilient, Unified, and Sustainable Philippines,” the event was held during the 11th DOST ASTHDRP Graduate Scholars Conference.