Academic researchers Prof. Agnes Llamasares-Castillo, PhD, Prof. Ross D. Vasquez, PhD, Assoc. Prof. Oliver B. Villaflores, PhD, all from the Faculty of Pharmacy and the Research Center for the Natural and Applied Sciences, joined co-researchers from Singapore’s DELIGHTEX PTE LTD., namely Yutaka Kuroki, Aya Wada, Xinyi Zhu, and UST research assistants Kyle Andrei Cabatit, Jonah Joshua Garcia, and Janelan Martin.

The researchers were able to find thirty-nine plants with sleep-enhancing activities, such as Lactuca sativa, Nelumbo nucifera, and Ziziphus jujuba. The authors found that these plants “demonstrated consistent efficacy in improving sleep quality through interactions with the GABAergic system.” Though thirty-nine plants were identified in the reviewed studies, the researchers caution that “most studies are still preliminary, with the molecular mechanisms behind their sleep-enhancing effects remaining inconclusive.”

The researchers published on February 27, 2025 the review entitled “” in Phytomedicine Plus, indexed in Elsevier. The study is in line with phase 1 of the project funded by Singapore’s DELIGHTEX PTE LTD.

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Three program aims to produce an objective and comprehensive assessment of true mangroves, invasive plants, native trees, and protists (myxomycetes and oomycetes). According to Dagamac, who leads the team, the plant-based assessments that they will perform “would help build policy recommendations [for] sustainable resource development for mangroves and its associates, native trees, and protists.” The project may also lead to the crafting of conservation and risk communication plans and the implementation of related strategies by the local government units. Among the communication tools targeted for creation are educational info materials and local seminars.

The team will engage in field work, laboratory work, herbarium work, mapping/modeling, and diversity analysis in order to generate physic-chemical data, sampling protocols, risk perceptions, and economic valuation questionnaires. 

The project will officially commence in January 2022 and end in December 2023 and is funded by the National Research Council of the Philippines. Technical support was provided by the CENRO-San Fernando City, La Union.

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