EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD Arlan Vincent German, a Grade 11 student of the Science and Technology Education Center in Lapu-Lapu City, does programming as a hobby.

This led him to win the Sibol Award for Outstanding Student Creative Research for high school.

German, the lone researcher for his brainchild “Project MeTus (Medical Tumor Scanner): Mask CT-CNN as AI-Powered Low-Cost Pre-Diagnostic Virtual Assist Machine Module for Skin Cancer Screening Technology” will represent Central Visayas in the National Invention Contest.

“It is an initiative and basically my life advocacy because people with personal relationships with me died of the disease. And according to a recent study, statistics from the World Health Organization in 2018, cancer ranks second in the world’s deadliest disease so it’s a prevailing problem not just in our country but also in the world,” he told SunStar Cebu.

German created an algorithm that will allow medical devices to detect cancer cells at its most vulnerable state.

“To address this problem, why not use modern advancement in technology to actually detect the disease at its weakest state. Early detection is a potential solution to cancer,” he said.

“Being an algorithm, the deep learning model could be integrated within the X-ray and magnetic resonance imaging machines as a virtual-assist module. It can help cancer screening facilities and hospitals of the country to detect and pre-diagnose the disease at great accuracy. Hence, saving more lives in the process by promoting early detection and cheapening it,” the award-winning research stated.

German was one of the champions hailed during the 2019 Regional Invention Contest and Exhibits (Rice) initiated by the Department of Science and Technology (Dost) 7.

Other winners

For 2019, Dost 7 received 90 entries for five out of the six categories of the contest, which were later trimmed to 82 regional finalists.

Award-winning sustainable manufacturers Pedro and Cathy Delantar, founders of Nature’s Legacy Eximport Inc., emerged as winners in two categories as Outstanding Utility Model for their colored simulated stonecast and earthenware product and under the Industrial Design for their creation, armchair.

A research entitled “The development of Ecobangku from Upcycled Plastic Sheets” by researchers Angeline Baldapan and Jefferson Elegio from Bohol Island State University in Tagbilaran City bagged the Likha Award for Outstanding Creative Research for high school.

The Sibol Award for Student Creative Research for college was given to researchers Samantha Reyes, Cristina Malicay, Agnes Sabijon from the Velez College for their research entitled “Eco-based Fiberglass from Alternative Materials: Implications to Solid Waste Management in Cebu City.”

Rice is a nationwide biennial activity conducted in different regions to highlight the creative innovations of inventors, researchers and students in the country. (JOB)