Isidro A. T. Savillo

Isidro Antonio Torte Savillo is a Philippine scientist specializing primarily in the study of lichens, fungi, and slime mould and a writer. One of his research studies has focused on the discovery of the impermanence of sexual phenotypes in both animals and plants. His finding on the use of Pyxine cocoes (Swartz) Nyl., a lichen as a bioindicator/biomonitor for atmospheric pollution has been practiced in the Philippines, Thailand, and India, where this is utilized for active biomonitoring (including transplant technique). He was also the senior author of a paper that introduced the proposed "Domesticity scale for wild birds".

He is the son of Dr. Isidro S. Savillo, a physician and a naturalized U.S. citizen, and Arcadia Torte Savillo, a pharmacist, both deceased. He has four siblings, namely, Julio, Ana Isabel S. Guevarra and Arcadia (M.D., RN), all living in the U.S.A. and Marchette S. Noble, a physician.

He is primarily a microbiologist and indulges in the study of lichens, presently working on the species of Graphidaceae and Arthoniales from mangroves; microscopic fungi; and eumycetozoans. He is also an ichthyologist, theoretical biologist, molecular and cellular biologist, and wetland scientist. Currently, he is invited to join the regular round table discussion group of the NCEAS of the University of California Santa Barbara. He is also a regular invitee to participate in various scientific events hosted by the Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate and the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine as well as that of the Atlantic Media's AtlanticLIVE.

One of his research studies has focused on the discovery of the impermanence of sexual phenotypes in both animals and plants. He has argued against specific guidelines to determine one's gender. The epigenetics article which includes topics about the "misspelled DNA" and that "only a small fraction [of the DNA] follows the Mendelian Inheritance" supports his 2002 publication on "The overpowering influence of the environment to gene expression", suggesting that environmental factors are responsible for this "revolutionary" stand. He also wrote an article entitled "Drawing the line between theoretical and basic biology" to emphasize their scientific delineation.

He also created a new terminology known as Foliimortuumous myxomycetes which means myxomycetes growing on dead leaves. He has argued that myxomycetes, like lichens, will have its own taxonomic world because the distinct individual characteristics (e.g. enzymatic functions) separating fungi from protists could both be found in myxomycetes. Having observed loopholes in DNA barcoding, he suggests that molecular taxonomy should not only focus on conserved genes for evolutionary lineages but include a package of genes representing the common phenotype (e.g. morphology) of at least 99.99% of the species to avoid production and weird placement of taxonomic orphans.

Organizations and research participation

He is engaged in the establishment of international societies/chapters in the areas of molecular and cell biology and biotechnology, personalized medicine, wetlands, taxonomy and recently, due to urgent need: resilience, adaptation and extinction. In particular, he helped organize the Asian and South American chapters of the Society of Wetland Scientists.

He is also the president of the International Society for Molecular and Cell Biology and Biotechnology Protocols and Researches (ISMCBBPR) and a board member of the International Society for Collaborating Scientists in Personalized Medicine (ISCSPM). From 2002 to 2012, the ISMCBBPR, has awarded an annual Molecule of the Year, recognizing molecules described in recent literature for their potential uses in biology or medicine. Savillo has participated in research at the California State University Retinal Cell biology laboratory, the molecular pathology laboratories, University of Southern California School of Medicine and the LAC+USC Medical Center. He was a DAAD research scholar at the Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum.

Editorial positions and scientific publications

He is on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Ecology and Conservation, and the Journal of Wetlands Ecology. He was formerly an associate editor of Wetlands (2010-2013). He was also on the editorial board of a book entitled Biorights: The Conservation Paradigm for Poverty Alleviation. He is also a reviewer and a member of editorial boards of International Journal of Marine Ecology, and various scientific proceedings. He has also written theoretical biology papers.

Other interests and awards

He espouses the environment and he is a member of the wildlife management committee in the region. He has concerns for climate change where he thinks that there is a failure to integrate academic interdisciplinary enrichment and practical preparedness/solutions in the educational system to combat climate change. As a naturalist, his studies include wild birds, birds of prey, ants, and other unusual species. He received a number of international awards and scientific appreciations: among those was a letter of appreciation from the former President of the Indian Society of Cell Biology, Veena Parnaik.

He has received awards from the Society of Wetland Scientists, the Global Diamond Award for Scientific Discovery (Singapore), and the Outstanding International Researcher Award for 2010. He is included in the Biographical Summaries of Notable People and a CBEST passer.

In 1996, Savillo wrote a novel entitled Yelwa-Yauri, a love story set in countries on three continents, drawing on the experience of his own travels. Yelwa-Yauri was submitted to the Writers Guild of America, West as a treatment, and as a screenplay adaptation with the title of "Beautiful Tears".

As a screenwriter/writer, he uses the pseudonym "Sid". He was a former student of the UCLA Professional Screenwriting Program.