From Swab to FInish

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Stories from the Lab

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,”

“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

Matienzo working in RITM.

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 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,”

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.”

From Swab to Finish: Shining a Light on UPLBCMDL's Genesis and Diagnostic Procedures

by CHRISTY ANN GO (Cypton)

The past months, swabbing has become the norm for most individuals with occupations requiring interaction with people. In the midst of the battle against COVID-19, have we ever wondered, “How do healthcare workers deal with the swab samples they receive? How do they diagnose which samples are positive and which samples are negative?”

GeneSoc’s alumna, Maria Genaleen Q. Diaz, PhD (F1), the head of the University of the Philippines Los Baños- COVID-19 Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory (UPLB-CMDL), expanded on how she and her team of professionals test and diagnose their collected samples. She discussed these topics on the Philippine One Health University Network (PHILOHUN)’s Webinar Series: Ensuring quality of Public Health communication, diagnostics, and infection prevention and control on humans and animals in response to COVID-19, held on September 23, 2020.

UPLB-CMDL’s Road to Accreditation

Facing her virtual audience, Dr. Diaz narrates how the call of service evoked UPLB to establish a laboratory for COVID-19 testing. Thus, the facility pushed through the establishment of the testing center and a committee for the stage two of the DOH validation of the immunology laboratory annex of National Institute of Microbiology and Biotechnology, thus, the accreditation process based on the guidelines of DOH and RITM. The facility went through the toiling of self-assessment on the capacity of the immunology laboratory to handle samples with high biosafety risk and compliance to all requirements to proceed with proficiency testing. None of these labor went for naught, as UPLBCMDL emerged as one of the leading testing centers of the Philippines. The facility forged a strengthened partnership with hospitals across the province of Laguna and reaches for its doubled testing capacity target.

The start of UPLB-CMDL’s journey

UPLB-CMDL started full operations in July 2020, after approximately 4 months of compliance to WHO and DOH guidelines. It was challenging- months of assessment, validation, and proficiency testing. Finally, the time came when UPLB-CMDL became a part of the laboratories working to fight COVID-19. CMDL received its classification as a biosafety level 2 plus