MANILA, Philippines – Bioinformatics services, DNA sequencing, cutting-edge health and environmental research: all of these are now a reality at the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Center (UP-PGC).

On Tuesday, September 11, the UP-PGC opened its new building located inside the UP Diliman campus in Quezon City.

Founded in 2009, the PGC aims to be a center of excellence in gene discovery and genomics research. It combines mathematics, science, technology, and statistics to study living things at a molecular level.

Through rigorous research, it hopes to produce applications in the fields of health and medicine, agriculture, forensics and ethnicity, industry, and the environment that will benefit the country.

According to its website, initiatives of the center are formed based on priority needs of the Philippines. They are also assessed to ensure the center remains competitive both within the region and worldwide.

In addition to this, the UP-PGC also aims to train more students to become future genomics and bioinformatics experts.

Take a look at the facility in the photos below:

– Rappler.com