A PROFESSOR from the University of Santo Tomas is one of the recipients of the newly created Digital Cooperation Fellowship grant of the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation in Germany.

The grant will enable Dr. Allan Patrick Macabeo of the school’s Department of Chemistry to conduct a drug discovery project.

Macabeo’s “Drug discovery of biologically active natural products from Philippine Hypoxlon Species” seeks to find secondary metabolites with potent antibiotic properties.

The professor will receive 3,000 Euro per month for the project that will last from September 2021 to January 2022.

“The project will look into untapped fungal natural products from Philippine Hypoxylaceae, which when studied is seen to increase the chances of finding novel antibiotic compounds,” UST said.

“The need for new chemotherapeutic treatments has been highlighted by the rapid development of drug-resistant strains,” it added.

The project is a collaboration between UST and the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research in Germany represented by Prof. Dr. Marc Stadler.

AVHF is a foundation established by the government of Germany. It promotes international academic cooperation between excellent scientists and scholars from Germany and other countries.