MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Genome Center (PGC) Agriculture Program will be launched at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños on November 28.

PGC executive director Dr. Carmen Padilla said the core of the PGC will be plant genetics and breeding laboratories and facilities at the Institute of Plant Breeding of UPLB.

In preparation for the formal launch, Padilla said PGC actually had a soft launch on October 20 via a symposium and a general discussion on the operations of PGC.

Padilla stressed PGC is envisioned to be a "world-class center of excellence in gene discovery and genomics research that effectively translates knowledge into applications beneficial to society."

Thus, the center will work on basic research that has strong applications on Philippine commodities, including traditional crops and biotechnology products, she added, in addition to pharmaceuticals, forensics and other issues of social and economic impact.

PGC’s five programs cover agriculture, health, biodiversity for drug discovery and bioenergy, forensics and ethnicity, and social, legal, and ethical issues, Padilla revealed.

All of these programs will be launched on November 21, said Dr. Rita Laude, Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension of UPLB and Director for the Agriculture Program of PGC.

Laude said that crop genomics, particularly in abaca, saba, and pili will be a priority of PGC’s Agriculture Program.

The three crops, she said, are endemic to the Philippines.

In her message, Dr. Padilla admitted that PGC will require a lot of hard work and capital, but she asserted that a lot more can be gained.

“If you know how to use it (resources) wisely, the returns are actually huge,” she said on the outputs of researches on genomics.

The Department of Science and Technology (DoST) has initially provided funding to support PGC health research efforts and considers genomics as one of its priority programs.

Moreover, the Department of Agriculture-Biotechnology Program Office (DA-BPO) provides research funds for ongoing crop genomics studies.

During the pre-launch mini symposium, scientists and researchers from UPLB and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) presented conducted and ongoing studies involving genomics in agriculture.