What: Pinoy Scientist
Where: California, USA
When: December 24, 2011
Here is one UFO Sighting I truly admire. A Filipino scientist and academician in the United States has begun this year the process of commercializing "lunasin," an anti-cancer soy protein that he and a team of scientists discovered in 1999.
According to a report of the Asian Journal, Dr. Ben de Lumen, who headed the team that discovered the soy protein, was a professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology at University of California (UC)-Berkeley for more than 30 years.
He retired this year to focus on FilGen, a biotech company that he founded to commercialize lunasin.
De Lumen, a native of Taytay, Rizal, was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science last year for his “contributions to natural-products biochemistry,” especially lunasin.
The name “lunasin” was coined from the Tagalog word “lunas” or cure.
He earned his degrees from the University of the Philippines (agriculture chemistry), University of Missouri (master’s), and UC-Davis (Ph.D.).
Though he spent most of his life and career in the US, De Lumen told the "Asian Journal" that his "roots are still over there,” referring to the Philippines.
De Lumen, a part of the Pilipino American Academy of Science and Engineering, told the Asian Journal that “there were not a lot of Ph.D.s and mentors available” when he graduated from UP in 1965, which prompted him to move to the US.
Hopeful cure
In De Lumen’s page on the UC-Berkeley’s Nutritional Science and Toxicology website, Lunasin is described as” 43-amino acid peptide with 8 aspartic acid (D) in the carboxyl end, preceded by a cell adhesion motif RGD and a predicted helical region with structural homology to chromatin binding proteins” that has been found in “healthy” seeds like barley and wheat.
The team is “carrying out animal experiments to demonstrate further the efficacy of diet-administered lunasin against breast, prostate, and colon cancer,” the site added.
“We found that lunasin selectively kills the cells that are being transformed from normal to cancer cells and did not affect the normal cells. It’s only killing cells that transform from normal to cancerous,” De Lumen told the Asian Journal.
Though it’s still in its “very early stages” more than 10 years later—and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has yet to acknowledge it until further tests affirm its effect—De Lumen is confident that lunasin “will be proven effective in cancer prevention eventually,” especially since it is “something very sound scientifically.”
“I’m excited about this because the science is robust and sound and therefore we have a very good case for cancer prevention. I’m really excited about that because that is a major contribution to prevent a disease that is killing a lot of people,” he said. - Rose-An Jessica Dioquino, VVP, GMA
Where: California, USA
When: December 24, 2011
Here is one UFO Sighting I truly admire. A Filipino scientist and academician in the United States has begun this year the process of commercializing "lunasin," an anti-cancer soy protein that he and a team of scientists discovered in 1999.
According to a report of the Asian Journal, Dr. Ben de Lumen, who headed the team that discovered the soy protein, was a professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology at University of California (UC)-Berkeley for more than 30 years.
He retired this year to focus on FilGen, a biotech company that he founded to commercialize lunasin.
De Lumen, a native of Taytay, Rizal, was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science last year for his “contributions to natural-products biochemistry,” especially lunasin.
The name “lunasin” was coined from the Tagalog word “lunas” or cure.
He earned his degrees from the University of the Philippines (agriculture chemistry), University of Missouri (master’s), and UC-Davis (Ph.D.).
Though he spent most of his life and career in the US, De Lumen told the "Asian Journal" that his "roots are still over there,” referring to the Philippines.
De Lumen, a part of the Pilipino American Academy of Science and Engineering, told the Asian Journal that “there were not a lot of Ph.D.s and mentors available” when he graduated from UP in 1965, which prompted him to move to the US.
Hopeful cure
In De Lumen’s page on the UC-Berkeley’s Nutritional Science and Toxicology website, Lunasin is described as” 43-amino acid peptide with 8 aspartic acid (D) in the carboxyl end, preceded by a cell adhesion motif RGD and a predicted helical region with structural homology to chromatin binding proteins” that has been found in “healthy” seeds like barley and wheat.
The team is “carrying out animal experiments to demonstrate further the efficacy of diet-administered lunasin against breast, prostate, and colon cancer,” the site added.
“We found that lunasin selectively kills the cells that are being transformed from normal to cancer cells and did not affect the normal cells. It’s only killing cells that transform from normal to cancerous,” De Lumen told the Asian Journal.
Though it’s still in its “very early stages” more than 10 years later—and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has yet to acknowledge it until further tests affirm its effect—De Lumen is confident that lunasin “will be proven effective in cancer prevention eventually,” especially since it is “something very sound scientifically.”
“I’m excited about this because the science is robust and sound and therefore we have a very good case for cancer prevention. I’m really excited about that because that is a major contribution to prevent a disease that is killing a lot of people,” he said. - Rose-An Jessica Dioquino, VVP, GMA
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