It is with great pleasure that we formally announce the newly elected KKP Board of Directors, set to begin their tenure in 2025.
We extend our deepest gratitude to the outgoing officers and board members for their exceptional service and unwavering dedication, which have significantly contributed to the advancement of our organization.
We would also like to thank Dr. Eric Punzalan, who chaired the Board of Elections, along with members Dr. Searle Aichelle Duay and Dr. Derrick Ethelbhert Yu. Their commitment to upholding the integrity and transparency of the election process is greatly appreciated.
The term of office of the current KKP BOD members will end in December 2024.
We will begin the election process for the new batch with the nomination of candidates. Per Article VI, Section 26 of the KKP By-Laws, any regular member in good standing is eligible to serve as a member of the Board. Nominators must likewise be a member in good standing.
To those who wish to nominate, the nomination form must be filled out, signed (e-signature is allowed) by both the nominator and the nominee, and saved in PDF format. Please take note that the signature of the nominee signifies acceptance of the nomination.
Kapisanang Kimika ng Pilipinas (KKP) in partnership with DLSU Department of Chemistry and DLSU Central Instrumentation Facility invite you to the 2024 Chemistry Graduate Student Conference in celebration of the Chemistry Week
February 15-16, 2024
Feb 15, 2024: De La Salle University – Manila Campus (The Verdure, 4th floor, Henry Sy Hall) Feb 16, 2024: De La Salle University – Laguna Campus (MPH, 4th floor, George Ty Building)
The conference is done face-to-face and is open to all.
Day 1 (DLSU Manila Campus)
Plenary Talks:
The State of Chemistry Graduate Programs in the Philippines
CMO15: Rationale and IRR on the requirement for graduate students to publish papers
Graduate Thesis Mentoring: An Experiential Account
Oral Presentations: Technical talks of MS/PhD students of Chemistry and allied fields Poster Presentation: Technical posters of MS/PhD students of Chemistry and allied fields Awards: Best Poster, Best Oral presentation, KKP Best Chemistry Graduate Student (based on publication)
Day 2 (DLSU Laguna Campus)
Workshops with hands-on operation of the machine. Maximum of 12 participants per session. The workshop sessions will be done in the morning and in the afternoon. A participant can attend 2 different sessions (one in the morning and another session in the afternoon). Participants are requested to bring laboratory gowns. Registration for the workshops is done on a first-come-first-serve basis when registering for the conference.
Technical Paper Presentation: Abstract submission is OPEN until Feb 1, 2024. Oral and poster abstract submissions should be the work of the graduate student. Initial/preliminary results are acceptable. Technical paper presenters must be current graduate students of chemistry and allied fields and/or recent graduates (2023 graduates) of MS/PhD programs.
KKP Best Chemistry Graduate Student: An award will be given to current graduate students of Chemistry based on the number of publications done. Self-nomination is allowed. Please nominate using this link: https://bit.ly/KKPBestGSCAwardNomination
Conference Registration:
Students: 1,000.00 (2 days); 600.00 (Day 1 only) Students must present proof of enrolment Non-students: 2,000 (2 days); 1,00.00 (Day 1 only) 2-day Registration includes lunch and AM/PM snacks for 2 days, transportation from DLSU-Manila to DLSU Laguna (vv), and 2 certificates. 1-day registration includes lunch and AM/PM snacks for day 1, and a certificate.
Registration payment methods: Over the counter, online banking, G-Cash Name of Bank: Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Branch: Katipunan Account Name: Kapisanang Kimika ng Pilipinas, Inc. Checking Account Number: 3081-1185-14 SWIFT code: BOPIPHMM Routing Number: 02100002
Registration link (please prepare the proof of payment): https://bit.ly/ChemGSC2024-RegForm
Contact us for more information: kkp.chemGSC@gmail.com
The KKP Award is given to practicing chemical researchers in their early career with the most meritorious and promising original investigations in chemistry and published results of those investigations. The award will be given annually to deserving members of the KKP.
A. Incentives and Obligation
The awardee will receive a medallion/plaque of recognition and a cash gift of PhP 25,000 and shall present an oral plenary lecture during the International Conference on Chemistry on February 15-17, 2023.
B. Selection
The awardee will be selected by the KKP Award Selection Panel appointed by the KKP Board of Directors and Officers from the submitted nominations.
C. Eligibility
Nominees should be an early career scientist, after 2 years of completion of their PhD, and typically with no more than 5 years of full-time equivalent professional experience
This should be experience gained as part of a scientific career excluding time spent in full-time education. Time spent as a postgraduate student should not be included e.g., Masters, PhD. Time spent as a post-doctoral researcher should be included.
The professional experience should also include work gained outside of country
Consideration will also be given to those who have taken career breaks.
The award will be granted regardless of race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity, presence of disabilities, and educational background.
D. Guidelines for Nominations
Duration Nominations will open on 05 January 2023 and will close on 20 January 2023.
Nominators Only KKP members can nominate for this award. Nominees may NOT nominate themselves. The identity of nominators is not made known to the selection panel. The KKP reserves the right to amend nominations if necessary to ensure the anonymity of the nominator.
Nominees 3.1 The award is open to KKP members only. This will be checked by KKP staff and the nominee’s KKP membership must be confirmed at the point of nomination. It is not sufficient to have a membership application in process. 3.2 The award is only open to KKP members who are currently working locally during the time of the award cycle. 3.3 Individuals named in any of the following roles during the nomination and judging period are not eligible to nominate or be nominated: a. KKP Division Presidents b. KKP Selection Panel members c. Officers and Board of Directors of the KKP
The Nomination Process The integrity and quality of all awardee selections should reflect the premier status of the KKP national award for recognizing excellence in contributions to the chemical sciences and society. The nomination process for KKP National Awards is done online and is simple to complete, if all the materials have been prepared prior to logging into the nomination in the application link (https://www.KKP.org.ph/awards). Logging in also requires the KKP member number. We strongly encourage the formation of a nomination team at your place of employment or within your local section or division to annually identify and nominate worthy individuals who exemplify the mission of the KKP and meet award criteria.
4.1 Nominators have five particular requirements to address. They are expected to: a. supply all the information requested in the application link (https://bit.ly/KKPEmergingResearcher); b. make certain the nominee meets the specific eligibility requirements of the award described on the national award website; c. clearly address how your nominee meets all set criteria for the award, including the criteria used for award selection; d. identify two individuals to provide primary and secondary support letters; and, e. submit a complete nomination by the January 20, 2023 deadline.
4.2 Nomination materials should be prepared using Word or PDF format before starting the online process. You may want to ask a colleague or others on the nominating team to critique the nomination materials. Please review the Awards Nomination details about each of the following nomination entries: a. The nominee’s full name, contact details, and KKP membership number. Please contact the KKP Membership Head Dr. David Peñaloza, Jr. (kkpcorpsec@gmail.com) if the membership details are not known. The KKP membership must be confirmed at the point of nomination as it is not sufficient to have a membership application in process. b. A suggested citation describing what the nominee should be awarded for if the nominee receives the award; this must be no more than 25 words and no longer than one sentence. c. An up-to-date CV for the nominee (no longer than one A4 side, 11pt text), which should include a summary of their education and career. d. Details (title, author/inventor list, publication year, DOI/reference no., abstract) of up to 5 or more relevant publications/patents. These details should not be included on the nominee’s CV but will be collected separately on the nomination form. Publications, products, patents, achievements, consequences, etc. are to be aligned with the award and selection criteria and other nomination materials. e. A supporting statement (up to 750 words) addressing the selection criteria. As committee members will carry out their initial assessments without full details of relevant publications, please ensure this supporting statement clearly sets out how the scientific content of supporting publications addresses the selection criteria. f. A recommendation or a required support letter of no more than 400 words that addresses the criteria and a second support letter (optional, but recommended) that addresses the criteria. g. A statement (up to 100 words) describing the nominee’s broad contributions to the scientific community.
E. Selection Criteria
The selection committee will base their evaluations on the overall quality of relevant contributions and achievements by nominees, in relation to the selection criteria listed below.
The selection committee will consider the following aspects of nominations for this award: a. Originality of research b. Impact of research c. Quality of publications and/or patents and/or software d. Innovation e. Professional standing f. Independence g. Collaborations and teamwork h. Other indicators of esteem indicated by the nominator
The selection committee in selecting the award winner may include these considerations in the criteria: a. alignment of work with the award’s purpose, eligibility, and/or criteria; b. significance and impact of this work on the field/discipline and on the chemical enterprise; c. excellence of the work; d. innovativeness of the approach used; e. potential or realized impact and benefits of the work on society; and, f. service to the scientific community.
Important considerations
Please remember to pay particular attention to addressing the specific award criteria and the additional criteria used by the selection committee in selecting award winners. This approach is crucial in all the nomination materials, including the brief biographical sketch. The selection committee will use only what is submitted in the nomination package in selecting the award winner.
F. Evaluation Process:
The KKP Board of Directors (BOD) Committee on Awards, after having the documents checked for completeness, shall forward the documents including the prescribed score sheet to the Award Selection Panel not later than three (3) working days after closing of nominations. The Committee will send a formal communication to each nominee that they have been nominated, and that they shall prepare for an oral plenary lecture in case they will be awarded.
The Chair of the Award Selection Panel will call a meeting through physical or virtual means and convene the members to screen and evaluate the nominations en banc not later than the three (3) working days upon receipt of the documents.
The Award Selection Panel members shall submit their recommendations, together with the accomplished score sheets of all the nominees, to the Chair of the Award Selection Panel not later the five (5) working days after the en banc meeting.
Upon receipt of the Award Selection Panel’s evaluation report, the Selection Panel Chair shall check the rated score sheets of all nominees and verify the recommendations submitted by the Award Selection Panel. The Panel Chair shall then endorse the evaluation report together with the recommendation of nominated awardee and all supporting documents of the nominees to the KKP BOD Committee on Awards not later than three (3) working days after receiving the Panel’s evaluation reports.
In case of a tie in scores, or a final recommendation still needs resolution by further discussion, the Panel Chair may call for another meeting by either physical or virtual means.
The KKP BOD Committee on Awards, upon receipt of the evaluation results from the Award, shall review the Panel recommendations and submits not later than 8th of February all recommendations for the awards to the Governing Board for final approval. The decision of the Board of Directors is deemed final and unappealable.
Once the BOD has made final approval, a formal notice to the nominee will be sent by the KKP President and the announcement of successful nominee will be made at the KKP website.
The citation of the award will be drafted based on the submitted proposed citation during the nomination.
The Kapisanang Kimika ng Pilipinas – Division of Analytical Science (KKP-DAS) organized a webinar “Chemical Sensors and Sensing Devices” on August 17, 2022 via Webex. The webinar was the 5th of a series of webinars this year in celebration of the 85th Anniversary of the Kapisanang Kimika ng Pilipinas (KKP) – Walumpu’t limang taon ng Kagalingan ng Kimikong Pinoy. The Chemistry Department of the University of Santo Tomas co-sponsored the webinar. It was well attended by about 170 participants all over the Philippines. There was good representation from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
Chemical sensors provide a convenient and rapid way to detect analytes in a wide range of applications – environmental samples, agriculture, food safety, and healthcare. They are relatively easy to fabricate using inexpensive materials. There is growing interest in producing sensing devices with improved sensitivity and selectivity. Incorporation of nanomaterials in sensing devices has greatly improved sensing efficiency.
The topic “Carbon-Polymer Composite Systems as Sensor Electrode for Various Electroanalytical Sensing Applications” was presented by Dr. Allan Christopher C. Yago, Associate Professor at the Institute of Chemistry, University of the Philippines-Diliman. The carbon-polymer composite system is a combination of a carbon source (carbon nanotubes, powder graphite, graphene) and a viscous polymer (polydimethylsiloxane, polyvinylpyrrolidone, polycaprolactone). Dr. Yago discussed the (1) preparation of the carbon-polydimethylsiloxane (C-PDMS) composite electrode by direct mixing, placing in a 1.00 mL syringe and putting a Cu wire, (2) activation of the electrode by potentiodynamic cycling (anodization), (3) characterization of the electrode (electrochemical – specific capacitance, EIS, cyclic voltammetry; and chemical – FTIR, Raman, SEM, bulk conductivity), and (4) optimization of conditions for target molecules detection by modifying surface or bulk composition. C-PDMS has been shown to have better electrochemical properties than the conventional glassy carbon electrodes. Carbon nanotube – polydimethylsiloxane (CNT-PDMS) composite electrode can be used to detect various organic and bio-organic molecules like ascorbic acid, dopamine, uric acid, pesticides (chlorpyrifos, fenthion), and methylene blue aqueous dye. Uric acid was detected using a uricase-metal oxide-modified CNT-PDMS biosensor. A Bismuth(III) – modified CNT-PDMS was used for simultaneous detection of inorganic metals Cadmium(II) and Zinc(II). Dr. Yago was able to develop a utility model (Philippines) – Carbon Electrodes for Sensitive Detection of Pesticides and Other Substances. CNT-PDMS can be used as screen-printed electrode format. The composite electrodes can be stored and reused.
The topic “Microfluidic Paper-Based Devices (mPADs) and their Applications in Food Safety and Environmental Monitoring” was presented by Dr. Lori Shayne A. Busa, Associate Professor at the Nueva Vizcaya State University in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya. Some of the applications of mPADs are in clinical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, veterinary medicine, bioterrorism, and food and nutrition safety. The advantages of mPADs include the use of inexpensive materials, cost-effective manufacturing processes, point-of-need applications, small amounts of reagents needed, little or no external supporting equipment or power, rapid detection, portable and easy to use device. Dr. Busa developed a simple horseradish peroxidase (HRP) assay system on mPADs for point-of-need testing in food monitoring. She fabricated mPADs by photolithography using paper substrate (FP41) and employed colorimetric detection for horseradish peroxidase (HRP) after its reaction with a chromogenic substrate such as 3,3’,5,5’-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB). The developed HRP assay system on mPADs was applied in competitive immunoassay for target antigens. Aflatoxin B1 was detected in food samples using competitive assay. Compared to ELISA kit (conventional method), mPAD uses less volume, faster assay time, and cheaper cost per assay. Dr. Busa was able to develop three mPADs by ink-jet printing using paper substrate (FP41) and colorimetric detection for diarrhea-causing pathogens like E. coli in water samples. Applications for IP registration for the three devices are being processed. The first device used paper-based chlorophenol red-β-D-galactopyranoside (CPRG) assay; the second device used biochemical-based (Rose-gal) assay system detection mechanism; and the third device used sandwich immunoassay using biotin and streptavidin. The three devices for E. coli detection compared favorably with UNICEF methodologies; analysis time was shorter, little or no training of personnel, and cost per assay was cheaper.
The topic “Recent Advances and Future Prospects of Sensing Devices” was presented by Dr. Rey Y. Capangpangan, Professor at Mindanao State University-Naawan. Dr. Capangpangan’s research incorporates nanoparticles in paper-based sensors for rapid sensing of analytes. On-site detection of copper ions was achieved by functionalizing silver nanoparticles on paper substrates. A sensor was developed for the determination of cyanide from mining samples by depositing gold nanoparticles on paper substrates and using colorimetric detection. Remote continuous monitoring of cyanide was achieved using a CYANanobot. A direct immersion process for immobilizing silver nanoparticles was also developed for the determination of cyanide. A paper-based sensor for mercury was developed using thiamine functionalized silver nanoparticles with colorimetric detection; automation of this sensor is in process. Paper sensors for lead, cadmium and nickel were also developed with modifications for gold and silver nanoparticles to increase the selectivity of the sensors towards these target analytes. Aside from environmental samples, Dr. Capangpangan is also working on rapid sensing kits for food spoilage monitoring. Fabrication of paper-based sensors is basically the same as that used in environmental samples. Plasmonic nanomaterials (gold, silver) will be deposited on paper substrates, ligands and probably aptamers will be attached to improve sensor selectivity. Dr. Capangpangan has patent applications for the finished paper-based sensors. Future perspectives involve collaboration with other research institutions. Project SMIDERM (Smart Multifunctional and Indigenous Dressings sterilized under an Electron beam as novel wound Repair Matrices) is in Phase I (Biomedical device development and characterization). Project TANIM (Transformative Agriculture through Nanotechnology in Mindanao) is intended to address important issues in Agriculture such as promoting sustainable agriculture, climate-resilient and high yield crops, pest control, precision agriculture, and disease-resistant plants. Project nano-ISDA (Innovative and Sustainable (nanomaterial) Design for Aquaculture) will address fish health, water quality (remediation), nutrient controlled release, biosensors, and toxicity evaluation. As part of the National Center for Sustainable Polymers R & D (NCSP-R&D), Dr. Capangpangan’s team is working on the production of polymeric materials from waste materials and development of polymeric-based sensors from indigenous sources.
