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Clearly, Pope Francis made quite an impression on Pinoy Catholics.
“Dr. Grecebio Jonathan D. Alejandro of the UST Graduate School and the Research Cluster for the Natural and Applied Sciences has named after Pope Francis a new flowering plant species with potential medicinal properties: Hedyotis papafranciscoi, sp.nov,” reports InterAksyon.com.
The report noted: “Alejandro is among the other scientists at the pontifical University of Sto. Tomas (UST) Graduate School and the College of Science naming their discoveries in honor of Pope Francis and in gratitude to his visit at the UST campus last January 18.”
The report added that “the newly discovered plant species found in Mt. Madia-as, Antique could be used in treating cancer, fever, rheumatism, and malaria.”
If you want to see the Pope Francis plant, UST is holding a papal exhibit that will run until Mar 28 at the UST Main Building lobby.
Meanwhile, researchers are Thomasian scientists Dr. Thomas Edison de la Cruz, Carlo Chris Apurillo, Donna May Papa, Paola Bianca Buiser, and Delia Ontengco of UST’s College of Science found two other newly characterized Philippine organisms that they also named after the Pope.
They are the following: Phyllostica francisci, sp. nov. (a fungal endophyte with potential bio-active metabolites that can be useful in drug discovery) and vBE-popefrancis (a bacteriophage isolate, which is a potential alternative to conventional therapy in bacterial infections).
Photo: UST (via InterAksyon.com)
