PGC to open facility for bioinformatics

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Genome Center (PGC) will launch its Core Facility for Bioinformatics to provide genomics researchers and scientists with resources, hardware and software needed for biotechnology research and development.

Science Secretary Mario Montejo and University of the Philippines president Alfredo Pascual will attend the event to be held at UP Diliman’s National Institute of Physics Auditorium on April 14.

With the opening of the facility, PGC executive director Carmencita David-Padilla said local scientists can now efficiently analyze and manage data derived from next generation sequencing research.

She said the facility will help address the lack of local experts in bioinformatics and computational biology.

The facility will also offer workshops and training to fill the gap in genomics and biotechnology in the Philippines.

The PGC opened in September last year its DNA sequencing core facility.

The PGC is a multidisciplinary institution that combines basic and applied research for the development of health diagnostics, therapeutics, DNA forensics and improved crop, aquaculture and animal varieties.