Research Inspiration

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— Please tell us about the initial motivation for your research and what keeps you going.

After receiving my undergraduate degree in veterinary medicine, my first job was as a veterinarian in a feed distribution company. We are the ones who visit backyard farms, consulting farmers about any problems they have with their animals. Mind you, these farms are not big commercial operations; they typically have 1-5 pigs per household, and their livelihoods depend on their pigs. At that time, diagnosis relied mainly on clinical signs and history. Diagnostic tests, if done, are either expensive or take too long to process from field sampling to the lab results. By the time results are known, the pigs are either dead, have already recovered, or the disease has spread to other animals and/or other farms.

When swine disease epidemics hit the Philippines, including the African Swine Fever, many farms are affected, particularly those backyard farms. It made me wonder, if we had an accurate testing technique that could provide results within minutes and was accessible to the farmers, would we have the same losses? Although we may never know the answer to that question, what I do know and what I learned even during my undergraduate studies is that epidemics are easier to control if detected earlier than later. This has led me to my current research: to develop point-of-care testing for diseases affecting the industry. For those involved in epidemic control, this may be a screening test, and for the farmers, it is an opportunity to treat their animals and enhance their livelihood.

Now. I do believe that the project has a long way to go. There is a Japanese proverb, “千里の道も一歩から,” which roughly translates as “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Believing that I am taking those first steps is what keeps me going. I may or may not finish all the research needed before it can be truly operational, but I want to believe that I can make leaps so that we will achieve our aim faster. I commit myself to accomplishing something every day; for me, this is another step bringing me closer to my goal. Knowing that I am taking these steps keeps me going for the long road ahead. I consider victories as victories, no matter the size. I give myself a tap on the back when I publish a paper, and I do the same when an experiment is successful. Recognizing my achievements—even on my own—sustains me through this journey.

I don’t think researchers are ever satisfied—finishing one study opens up more research questions we are eager to answer, and the cycle of inquiry and study never stops. So if you ask me what satisfies me at work, it is when I have a new research question in mind. It means that I have answered my previous ones. But what is more satisfying is when other people, particularly students, reach out to me, asking me to further elaborate on my research. I think it means that I have ignited something within them to make them interested in my study. It means that there is a possibility that the road I am taking, I may not be taking it alone, but someone out there would like to continue the journey. Now, that is satisfying.

— How do you manage to overcome the challenges you encounter during your research?

I know that the road ahead is not as smooth as I wanted it to be; there may be bumps and stops. There have been times when the components that we put so much effort into designing did not work as we expected, and all we had worked for seemed to be for nothing. But I realized that it was not meaningless at all; it just meant that what we did was not working, and we had to redesign to make it work. I take it as a learning experience and try again. My PhD adviser, Dr. Tetsuya Tanaka, always tells me, “Nothing will work if you stop trying. But if you keep on trying and improving, eventually, something will work.” It is a matter of not giving up, learning from mistakes, and improving errors until eventually it works out. I followed that advice and continued to modify things until eventually, things did work out.

Societal Impact

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— How does your research help address the challenges in the current situation?

Diagnostic testing is a very important tool not only for veterinarians but, more importantly, for farmers and the country that rely on animals for their income and food source. An accurate diagnostic test allows veterinarians to make a timely and accurate diagnosis so they can design a proper treatment regimen for the diseased animals. An easy-to-use test informs farmers of their animal health status so that they can take appropriate measures to prevent the transmission of disease. Finally, a fast test alerts government veterinary services to a disease prevalence in an area, allowing them to quickly respond and make informed decisions to prevent disease spread within their areas of responsibility. It also guides them in developing policies to prevent epidemics from occurring and, in turn, protect the agricultural industry and food security.

Unfortunately, the diagnostic tests currently available are either expensive, require specific skills and equipment, or both. Testing is accessible for commercial farms, which have the resources to cover the costs. But for backyard farms, this becomes an issue. For them, access to diagnostic testing is even more limited than access to veterinary professionals. In this context, farmers turn to self-medication. This is quite dangerous, as improper selection, dosage, and administration of drugs may not improve conditions and may worsen the situation. The development of anti-microbial resistance (AMR), which may not only affect the animals but humans as well, is another potential consequence.

Our research aims to bridge this access gap to prevent such negative outcomes by developing a point-of-care (POC) testing mechanism that is cheap, accurate, reliable, and accessible. This is particularly important in developing countries such as the Philippines, where the scarcity of resources has led to the entrenchment and spread of disease, which has made implementing effective control measures difficult. In other developing countries, Loop-mediated isothermal amplification, or LAMP, has been validated for testing of pig herds for the African Swine Fever virus. This allows assessment of disease prevalence without the need to send samples to laboratories far from herd locations. This led to the discovery of a remote location that has been deemed to be free from disease that could serve as the source of pigs for other areas with the hope of reviving the livelihood.

I believe that our research should not be confined to the four corners of the laboratory, research papers, or conference presentations. As researchers, we must constantly ask, “Where is my research now?” In answering this question, we must pursue it in our doctors, who can use it to better treat diseases, in our farmers, who can use it to improve their livelihood, and in our government, which can use it to make informed policy decisions. The impact of our research should not be measured by our H-index, or by the impact factor of the journals we have published, but by the impact we make on people’s lives.

Life Beyond Research

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— How do you balance the demands of research with maintaining a fulfilling personal life, managing stress and well-being?

I still believe in life-work balance. I usually leave my laptop computer at the office so I am not tempted to do work-related activity at home. When I was still a PhD student in Kagoshima, I joined a volleyball circle at the university. Even with my limited Japanese skills, I managed to join their activities and gain friends, without minding that I was the oldest member. During my postdoctoral fellowship in Kanagawa, I also joined a volleyball club. Playing volleyball kept my mind off work, since I had to focus on what was right in front of me unless I wanted my face to get hit by a ball.

— What was the most difficult moment or challenge in your life?

One of the most challenging moments in my life was when I pursued my doctoral degree in another country with a different language. I was not used to living very far from my family, so I had to make many adjustments. I had to learn not only the skills I needed to run my experiments and the Japanese language I needed for my daily communication, but also simple chores, including cooking my food for my survival. There are times when I would like to give up, especially when my experiments fail, when I cannot express myself freely due to the language barrier, or when I just get homesick, but I remember what my professor says, that I should not forget why I came here. During the times when I think it is too difficult, I remember my goal—to finish my degree and produce meaningful research.

— If you were not a researcher, what do you think you would be doing?

If I were not a researcher, I think I would be working for a company in sales and technical support, explaining products and their benefits to customers in a way that they can understand. I have a passion for such work and, actually, teaching and research are not very different. In the end, we disseminate our findings to students and the public so that they may use what we have learned for their benefit.

Advice for the Next Generation

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— What advice or tips would you give to younger scholars or young people interested in pursuing a career in your field or in becoming a researcher?

When we are young, we ask our parents so many questions, such as “why the sky is blue,” “how do plants grow,” and “how can birds fly.” Our parents sometimes do not give us answers that satisfy us, so we ask the same question again and again until we get a satisfactory answer. My advice for the next generation is to continue being curious, continue asking questions, and continue seeking answers. It is when we seek answers that the researcher inside all of us is ignited. As adults, rather than our parents answering our questions, we seek answers through experiments, surveys, or examining previous work. But let us not stop until the answers we find satisfy us.

Dr. Emmanuel Pacia Hernandez is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Veterinary Paraclinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB). He teaches Veterinary Public Health and Veterinary Clinics courses, including Epidemiology, Zoonoses, Food Hygiene, and Animal Disease Diagnostics. He finished his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Degree at UPLB and obtained his Doctor of Veterinary Science (PhD) degree from Yamaguchi University under a MEXT scholarship. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Kitasato University School of Medicine under the JSPS International Fellowship Program. He completed the USDA Faculty Exchange Fellowship at the University of Tennessee, USA, to further enhance his teaching skills. His research and teaching interests include vector and vector-borne pathogen biology and control, arthropod gene manipulation, anti-parasitic drug resistance, and point-of-care testing development, on which he has published several papers. For his achievements, the National Academy of Science and Technology of the Philippines recognized him as one of the 2024 Outstanding Young Scientists. Currently, he serves as a technical editor for the Philippine Journal of Veterinary Medicine and has been granted diplomate status by the Philippine College of Veterinary Public Health.