The Philippine Biorepository Network (PBN), a DOST-funded program, aims to establish a central, coordinating network of institutions that will biobank indigenous medicinal plants of the Philippines. The program is implemented by five institutions namely, the Institute of Biological Sciences – University of the Philippines Los Baños (IBS-UPLB), College of Agriculture and Food Science, UPLB (CAFS-UPLB), Institute of Biology, UP Diliman (IB-UPD), DNA Sequencing Core Facility – Philippine Genome Center (DSCF-PGC), and the Marine Science Institute, UP Diliman (MSI-UPD). Each of the program’s four of 5 agencies focuses on specific biospecimen such as live plants (IBS-UPLB), seeds (CAFS-UPLB), plant extracts (IBUPD), and DNA/RNA (DSCF-PGC), while the 5th institute (MSI-UPD) deals with the network’s sample and data management system.
The PCHRD-DOST funded project establishes a garden that will showcase selected indigenous medicinal plants, including the 10 species recommended by the Department of Health; priority plant species shortlisted by the local herbal industry; selected plant species of the DOST initiatives for drug discovery and development); internationally known drug plants and other indigenous plant species with traditional medicinal use with published scientific studies. Also included in this project is the garden guide, the herbarium, GPS tagged medicinal plants in UPLB campus and the PBN display cabinet. Pharmacognostic study of selected medicinal plants will also be included to enhance proper botanical identification. Ca. 50 plant species are listed under the PBN. Additional plants with sound medicinal merits are also added to populate the garden. The project database is uploaded to the PBN program database managed by PBN Proj.5.
For more information, please see the following contact details:
Plant Biology Division
Institute of Biological Sciences
College of Arts and Sciences
University of the Philippines Los Baños
E-mail address: pbnproject1.uplb@up.edu.ph / lbcardenas@up.edu.ph
Phone Number: +63-49-536-2807
Contact Person: Lourdes B. Cardenas (Leader, Project 1; PBN Program Leader)
Lourdes B. Cardenas (Program Leader)
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