A SENIOR high school teacher from the University of Santo Tomas was elected as president of the Philippine Society for Development Biology.

Dr. Dino Tordesillas, who also serves as an academic researcher of the Research Center for the Natural Applied Sciences, will hold the position for a year.

The university said Tordesillas will focus on leading the society’s transition from the pandemic to the new normal.

“The resumption of in-person activities is something Tordesillas is looking forward to, but the annual webinar series and master classes the PSDB sponsors will continue. An innovation they will work on this year is the ‘Dev Bio Caravan’, with the goal to reach developmental biology researchers, instructors and students in other parts of the country,” UST said.

Tordesillas said that the goal of PSDB is to provide a Filipino context to development biology.

“Ang salin ng salitang “development” sa Filipino ay paglilinang, na may kinalaman sa salitang pag-unlad. Nawa’y sa pag-aaral natin ng paglilinang, tuloy din ang pag-unlad ng ating kaalaman sa ating espesye at sa mundong ating ginagalawan,” he said.

Moreover, he said the leadership wants “PSDB to become a medium for networking among our members, scientists, and educators in the field of Developmental Biology.”

The PSDB aims to elevate the standards of biological studies in the country to help address key scientific problems. The Society believes that this can be achieved through the promotion of best practices of scientific teaching and research.