US-based scientist shares expertise with UP Cebu studes

CEBU, Philippines - A homegrown US-based scientist has signified interest in returning to the country to teach and help improve Philippine universities especially in the field of research science.

Professor Galileo Encabo was invited by University of the Philippines - Cebu Dean Liza Corro as guest lecturer on a Gene Therapy Seminar last Wednesday under the Balik Scientist Program of the Philippine government.

Encabo, currently working as senior biological scientist at the University of Florida, College of Medicine, Department of Opthalmology, said he has been considering this option as a way to give back to his home country.

“I’m very interested in availing of the program. I have a lot of friends who went back to the country under that program. But the problem is we have a hard time in getting a host university that will shoulder all the expenses of our stay in the country,” Encabo said.

Prior to being a research scientist in the United States, the Cebuano native scientist was a professor in UP Cebu where he recalled was different from the current state of the university.

Encabo explained in detail some of his research endeavors in University of Florida specifically gene therapy, which he explained as the introduction of new genes into human cells for the purpose of treating a disease.

This is done by replacing, correcting, and removing an abnormal gene followed by introduction of a new gene that allows the affected cell to overcome its inherent defect.

He presented the cases that his university has conducted including the successful clinical trial on gene therapy for red-green colour blindness in adult primates specifically on Dalton, a monkey whose disease of color blindness was corrected in 2009.

Another case that he presented was that of a dog named Lancelot, whose visual problem was also addressed through gene therapy which sparked government support after visiting US Capitol in Washinton D.C.

The Cebuano scientist was on a personal trip to the Philippines when former UP Cebu dean, Dr. Jesus Juario, also a Cebuano scientist based abroad, asked him to conduct a lecture in the university that they had previously worked for and coordinated with current Biology department officials realizing the seminar on gene therapy. (FREEMAN)