Stories from the Lab: Merc Matienzo, A Medical Frontliner in the COVID-19 Pandemic

     

by John Dane Valdez (Allosyndesis)

He went on from serving his fellow resident members to serving the Filipino people, armed only with his intellect and passion for molecular biology.

Merc Emil Matienzo (Riboswitch) is an alumnus from The UPLB Genetics Society, who is a medical frontliner at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), working as a molecular biologist.

In his undergraduate years, Merc Matienzo was a BS Biology student, majoring in Cell and Molecular Biology. During his time as a resident member, he was the 32nd term’s Editor-in-Chief of GENEWS (The Official Publication of The UPLB Genetics Society). In the following year, he served as the organization’s President/Executive Committee Head. After graduating from the university, he applied and eventually got accepted at RITM.

“I joined RITM in 2017 because I wanted to follow the path of research endeavors in molecular biology,” Matienzo says. “When I finally got in, I realized that RITM is more than just a research facility—it is also a learning center, a biosafety powerhouse, and an unequaled treatment hospital all in one.” During his first few years in the institute, he became part of the laboratory technical staff at the RITM—National TB Reference Lab, which performed genotypic drug susceptibility testing (DST) for the Programmatic Management of Drug-resistant Tuberculosis (PMDT) patients all over the country.

All was well and good for Matienzo for his first two years at RITM, but he did not know that he was about to face his greatest challenge yet as a molecular biologist: COVID-19. January 30, 2020 marked the first case of COVID-19 in the Philippines, and the first death in the country occured only two days later. At the time, RITM was the only institute in the country capable of testing for COVID-19, since they have the means and the accreditation to procure confirmatory test kits.

“I can’t exactly remember where I was when the news broke out about the pandemic, but I was probably inside lab, facing the BSC, and handling TB specimens as part of my work routine,” Matienzo recalls. “Next thing I know, I was already one people manipulating this mysterious pathogen inside the RITM Outbreak Laboratory.”

Shortly after announcing the country’s first case of COVID-19, Matienzo became a laboratory staff augmenter for the RITM COVID-19 rRT-PCR testing. Currently, he is also a technical member of the Department of Health—McKinsey One Day Diagnostic Team that evaluates and assesses laboratory processes and recommends solutions to improve the operations of COVID-19 rRT-PCR labs in NCR.

A few months after the first confirmed case of COVID-19, President Rodrigo Duterte declared the entire island of Luzon under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the country. This led to a drastic change in the way of life for the people within Luzon, and with Matienzo and his colleagues at RITM, it was no exception.

“On a typical day in the ‘new normal’, you’ll lose the familiar identity of your coworkers because they all walk with their face masks and face shield while maintaining two meters apart from each other,” Matienzo notes. “Body temperature is a required ticket before entering the building premises, and we do it as frequently as having meals three times a day—not to mention the health declaration form that looks like a welcome quiz before being admitted to school. People are serious about proper respiratory etiquette and hand hygiene; you won’t see or hear anyone sneezing or coughing without feeling guilty. Getting sick or bearing any COVID-19 symptoms will send you out of the building. That’s a part of the rejection criteria right now.”

“This pandemic has brought us a 180-degree-change in our normal daily lives,” Matienzo adds. “I think one of the biggest challenges that some of my colleagues are experiencing right now is the limited transportation going to work. The time lost by waiting in the uncertain is almost equal to the time lost when you’re stuck in a traffic jam.”

As of now, most of the country is under Modified General Community Quarantine (MGCQ), while other regions in Mindanao such as Iligan and Lanao del Sur are still under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) and Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ), respectively. Despite this, confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country continue to increase, with recent reports stating that the number is already 334,770. Now more than ever, all of us Filipinos, from the government officials to the citizens, should do our part in order to completely eradicate the virus that has been plaguing our country since the beginning of the year.

As an individual well-versed in the science of COVID-19, Matienzo also shares the same sentiments. He asks for the leaders and lawmakers of our country to continue to listen to science. “These are crucial times, and we need piece of evidence from science to make informed and sound decisions before implementing community quarantine regulations, social distancing measures, health protocols, and the like,” he says. “Even more so, I hope that all research endeavors will be prioritized and supported. Research is very important because it adds to the body of existing knowledge and it helps us propel forward to our ultimate goal in trying to solve a problem.”

“We cannot just rely solely on intuition to address public health emergencies and natural calamities. A scientific approach should be basic.” Matienzo emphasizes.

Matienzo also has a message for his fellow citizens, wherein he stated that we, too, have a role in this crisis—that is, being responsible for sharing information through social media. “Fake news has been a recurring issue when it comes to politics; let us not breed them everywhere. Listen to science and stick to it,” he notes.

Finally, Matienzo imparts a few words to those who aspire to involve themselves in the field of biology. “The pandemic has opened the opportunity for the field of biology to be widely recognized, especially its branches such as molecular biology and genetics. Its immense contribution to the healthcare industry has been realized by many—molecular diagnostics, vaccine development, precision medicine, bioinformatics, among others. So, whether you want to be a doctor, a research scientist, or an educator, I hope that we continue to nurture this field and give justice to its revolutionary potential in our chosen professions.”

Just as Merc Matienzo continues to perform his duty at RITM, several of our frontliners are doing all that they can to combat COVID-19 and make sure that we all return to our normal lives. As Filipinos, we should be responsible enough to practice well-established health protocols and ensure that we inform ourselves with the correct knowledge about COVID-19 through science. Only by acting together as a nation can we really go back to how things used to be.

Only then can we truly return to what is known as our “normal.”