ISSUE Feb 2011

Research Fair: A Decade to Infinity

Research Fair cele-
brated its decade of existence
last January 28-29, 2011 at
the Melchor Hall with a theme,
Research 2011: “Ideas Im-
mortalized: A Decade to Infini-
ty”.
The Research Fair is
an annual research competi-
National High School, Pam-
panga High School, Philippine
Science High School- Bicol
Region, Philippine Science
High School- Main Campus,
Ramon Magsaysay High
School, Regional Science
High School III, Rizal High
School, St. Mary’s University
mon Devibar of Navotas Na-
tional High School garnered
the third place for their entry
“Determination of the Potency
of Crude Ethanolic Extract
of Talisay (Terminalia
catappa) Leaf against Vibrio
harveyi in prawns compared
to standard antibiotics”.
RF 2011 was organized by UP
ALCHEMES, headed by Mi-
chael Vicente, and co-
presented by Nestle Philip-
pines, Inc. ( Myla Marquez)

ChE Summit 2011

tion that serves as a venue for and UP Rural High School
students from high schools in competed in the fair and at-
Luzon to showcase their origi- tended the workshop.
nal scientific researches. The research entry
There was also a Research “The Utilization of Calcium
Workshop for junior high Carbonate from Perna Viridis
school students in preparation and Sawdust in the Produc-
for the next RF. tion of Concrete Blocks” of
This year, RF reached Kaisy May Bual, Keanne Lew-
not only schools from NCR is Vidallo, and Eula Mae Awa
and Region III, but also of Rizal High School was
schools from Region II, IV and hailed as the 10th Research
V. 67 research entries of high Fair champion. The second
school students from Batan- place is the entry “Wood
gas College of Arts and Sci- Shavings and Karael (Albizia
ences, Caloocan City Science procera) bark As Components
High School, Caloocan High of Artificial Wood” of Patricia
School, Learning Circle Nicole Valena, Patricia Ka-
School, Manila Science High reena Israel and Mara Mara-
School, Marikina Science non from Regional Science
High School, Navotas Nation- High School III. Lastly, Neris-
al High School, Olongapo City sa Deyniel de Asis and Rich
!!!!! Election Results !!!!!
President: Joy Marie G. Jalotjot
Academic Affairs: Jodel Cuasay
External Affairs: Krisha Kerr
Finance: Van Mintello Galman
Secretariat: Zoranah Eigne Mendoza
LSR: Kenneth Arandia
Internal Affairs: For re-election
The Purged! Staff would like to congratulate the new set of leaders
of our organization. Together, we shall make history and establish
our legacy. UP UP ALCHEMES!
Last January 22, 2011 Committee of the ChE Summit
(Saturday), UP ALCHEMES committee was able to gain
held The Chemical Engineer- roughly 45,000 peso worth of
ing Summit 2011: Trailblaze- funds and 10,000 worth of x-
Exploring the Trends of deals, making it possible for
Chemical Engineering in the the event to shoulder all ex-
Philippines at the College of penses on its own.
Science Auditorium, College
All members of the committee
of Science Library and Admin-
were also given task delega-
istration Building, University of
tions and it was evident that
the Philippines, Diliman, Que-
ChE Summit 2011 is a prod-
zon City. The event was head-
uct of team effort and not just
ed by Mr. John Russel Cano-
the hard work of the heads.
za.
This is what made this year’s
The speakers were: Chemical Engineering Summit
Engr. Bryan Alamani who a success. (Jelle Malimata)
talked on Nanotechnology,
Engr. Jeannie Dy who spoke
on Energy, Mr. Alan Sienes
who held a company talk for
San Miguel Corporation, and
Dr. Analiza Rollon who gave a
talk on Biofuels. Registration
was free and catered lunch
was served.
Attendees were
around 100 mostly from UPD.
There were 4 participating
schools all in all: TIP-Manila,
UPD, UPLB and Mapua Insti-
tute of Technology.
Another remarkable
fact is that the Marketing

Issue # February 2011 CENTI PURGED! NEWSLETTER | 1

 ALCHEMES Month Special
Last January 13,
2011, the University of the
Philippines Academic League
of Chemical Engineering Stu-
dents (UP ALCHEMES) cele-
brated its 12th year anniver-
sary. With the anniversary
theme “UP ALCHEMES
Strikes XII: Excellence beyond
Time,” the organization started
its two-week-long celebration
by sponsoring a thanksgiving
mass at the Parish of the Holy
Sacrifice last January 13.
The exhibit, starred by
a 2-meter diameter extrava-
gant modernist clock was set
up at the Engineering Lobby
last January 18, with the rib-
bon-cutting ceremony done by
U.P. ALCHEMES president
Ms. Camille Rivero and the
opening remarks delivered by
the organization’s adviser, Mr.
Cyril Jose Bajamundi . The
exhibit was later on transferred
to the College of Science, Atri-
um come January 22 for the
ChE Summit guests to see it.
Several events were
also held by the organization
in its two-week-long anniver-
sary celebration. One is The
ChE Summit 2011 which was
co-presented by McCormick
Philippines Inc., and which
had the theme TRAILBLAZE:
Exploring the trends of Chemi-
cal Engineering in the Philip-
pines. In this event, ChE stu-
dents from different colleges
and universities were invited to
listen and participate as
speakers specialized in differ-
ent researches and fields gave
their talk. Another is the flag-
ship event of the ALCHEMES
Month, Research Fair, which
was already on its tenth year.
This event focused on giving
opportunities for high school
student-researchers to present
and defend their projects to
the scientific community. RF
2011, was co-presented by
Nestle Philippines Inc., and
had a vast number of around
200 participants catering not
only to schools in the NCR but
also in other regions in Luzon.
Aside from these two
major events of the AL-
CHEMES month, the organi-
zation still has two other
events lined up for it. One of
these is the most awaited
team building activity of mem-
bers and applicants, the X-Day
which will be held on February
12, 2011; while the other is the
annual medical mission which
will be held on February 19,
2011. With this, the executive
committee expects the full co-
operation of the members on
the said events of the AL-
CHEMES Month and other
upcoming events of the organ-
ization. (Jei Bagonoc)

SPIDERMAN and A Cloak and A Dagger

His Silk Iced Frapp

Spiderman is some-
what a mythical character that
showcases the power to pro-
duce spider web at his whim,
and many has been admiring
this character. Sad to say,
Spidey is not the only one
who can produce this spider
silk because recently last Sep-
tember 2010, engineers have
already devised a process for
mass-producing artificial silk
the same as the spider silk’s
properties.
The natural spider silk
has already been tested to be
stronger than steel and even
tougher than Kevlar. It is also
biodegradable and biocompat-
ible which could open up limit-
less possibilities in the fields
of industry and in medicine. It
captured the scientists’ minds
due its immunity from microbi-
al attack and its strange com-
bination of softness and
strength. Of course, the scien-
tists and the manufacturers
can’t catch all those spiders to
harvest silk from them, neither
finding Spiderman to do the
job.
Issue # February 2011
The artificial produc- Sunset, crickets and a velvet horizon
tion of silk was made possible
by Professor Sang Yup Lee,
Signals an upcoming happiness
Professor Young Hwan Park, When the night breeze meets the swaying tree
and David Kaplan by bioengi-
neering using an Escherichia Dancing under the hazy, night sky
coli, which is commonly found Whispering sweet words while they’re free.
in the lower intestine of warm-
blooded organisms, and made The cold breeze embraces the tree
it to imitate and express the With warm branches, it is welcomed
silk protein which later on was
made to produce the artificial Tree kisses the breeze fervently
spider silk. With a raging gust, the breeze kisses back
The product was test-
ed to evaluate the properties. Savoring the moment while they’re free.
According to the research, it A hug… tick-tock, tick-tock… then a kiss…
has a tenacity (ultimate tensile
strength) of 508 MPa, elonga- tick-tock, tick-tock
tion of 15% and a Young’s Then sunrise, morning bells and a golden
Modulus of 21 GPa which are
very comparable to the natural sky
spider silk. Sun rays streaming down, swaying tree wel-
This discovery will open up
great things for the military, comes it back
infrastructures and most im- And breeze quietly says goodbye.
portantly, in the fields of medi-
cine. For Spiderman swinging
in his spider silk, I bet he nev-
er thought of these would be
great advancements before.
(Renz Corpuz)
CENTI PURGED! NEWSLETTER | 2