By: Theo Manambit | Argonaute
On July 22, 2026, Charles Fuller Baker Memorial Hall gathered under a theme that doubled as a promise: Lingkod UPLB: Parangal sa Dedikasyon at Kahusayan. Among those honored was Cyrene D. Estrellana of Batch Amplicons, recognized posthumously as a former University Researcher I at the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. The recognition, The UPLB Genetics Society (GeneSoc, 2026) says, remembers her passion and dedication to scientific innovation.
Her name is one thread in a larger weave. Across this year's #TatakGeneSoc features, alumni in labs, lakes, and clinics live out the society's motto, Replicate Passion. Transcribe Excellence. Translate Brilliance. (GeneSoc, 2026), in ways no single bench could contain. Here is how seven of them are doing it.
Transcribe excellence. For Assist. Prof. John Vincent R. Pleto of Batch Replisome, honors came in threes. His PhD in Biology at UP Diliman earned him Most Outstanding PhD Graduate and Best PhD Dissertation from the Institute of Biology, plus Excellence in Graduate Studies from the College of Science (GeneSoc, 2026). In July he added third prize at the 2026 National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) Talent Search for Young Scientists, awarded during the 48th NAST PHL Annual Scientific Meeting in Metro Manila. His winning study took the pulse of the Seven Maar Lakes in San Pablo City, assessing their ecological condition through the Phytoplankton Index of Biotic Integrity (Newsbytes.ph, 2026).
Translate brilliance. For Hannah Corinne T. Cantaros of Batch Resistome, brilliance has a target: the sweetpotato weevil, Cylas formicarius. At the Insect Vector-Plant-Pathogen Interaction Laboratory, her team achieved the first molecular characterization of the laccase gene involved in the pest's cuticle formation (GeneSoc, 2026). It is a quiet technical milestone with a loud implication. It lets scientists design double-stranded RNA templates, a critical step toward RNA interference-based pest management that promises targeted, sustainable solutions for Filipino farmers (Cantaros et al., 2026). Work on a close relative, the African sweetpotato weevil, hints at the payoff: silencing laccase2 disrupted the hardening of the exoskeleton and eventually killed the insects (Prentice et al., 2015).
In Diliman, the DNA Analysis Laboratory of UP's Natural Sciences Research Institute pursued a different kind of precision. Ma. Leana Patrice N. Lazo of Batch Inosine, Jae Joseph Russell B. Rodriguez of Batch Ribozymes, and honorary member Dr. Maria Corazon A. De Ungria co-authored the first forensic evaluation of 101 identity-informative SNPs in a representative Filipino population, using two massively parallel sequencing kits. Sixty-four markers emerged as potentially universal (Salvador et al., 2026). The study echoes an earlier PCHRD-funded project, led by De Ungria, to build frequency databases for Filipino populations using next-generation sequencing (Philippine Genome Center, n.d.).
Between lab and clinic stands Rufus Thomas Adducul, MSGC, of Batch Enhanceosome. He earned his Master of Science in Genetic Counselling from the UP College of Medicine under the National Graduate Office for the Health Sciences. Today he is National President of Volunteer Youth Leaders for Health-Philippines and Project Development Officer at the Institute of Human Genetics, National Institutes of Health, UP Manila (GeneSoc, 2026). Genetic counselling, after all, is where sequence data meets real lives.
Back at Baker Hall, the ceremony's theme still holds: dedikasyon at kahusayan, dedication and excellence . Estrellana's recognition came last on the calendar of these features, yet it may be the one that explains the rest. A trophy, a paper, a title: each is a copy of something that began with someone's passion, and the society's promise is that the copying never stops. That is the tatak. It is not a mark that ends with a name, but one that is replicated in the next batch.
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