•     Physical Review Letters (PRL) will publish an article about this important development in the control of chemical reactions using quantum optics. In simple terms, Dr Herrera, researcher at Universidad de Santiago, explains that they proved that these reactions or electron transfers can be accelerated or reduced.

At the end of the month, the renowned American journal of Physics, Physical Review Letters (PRL) of the American Physical Society (APS), will publish an important discovery in this field made by Dr Felipe Herrera, professor at the Department of Physics of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, and Dr Francis C. Spano, professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, USA.

The article (“Cavity-controlled chemistry in molecular ensembles”) will highlight the development made by these researchers in the control of chemical reactions by means of quantum physics. In simple terms, Dr Herrera explains that they proved that these reactions or electron transfers can be accelerated or reduced.

Graphically, the model consists of an optical cavity surrounded by two mirrors that do not allow light to go through, “so the amount of energy is the minimum possible in an electromagnetic field. That is to say, there is cero or one unit of light energy, which is also called photon,” Dr Herrera explains.

Dr Herrera remembers that, at a first stage, they asked themselves about “the effects that the optical cavity could have on chemical reactions or electron transfers: if the cavity would accelerate them, suppress them or if nothing would happen at all.”

In this context, the researcher says that they finally “found a mechanism through which this quantum optical cavity can dramatically accelerate the reaction and electron transfer in molecules.”

The basics

With regards to this theoretical discovery, Dr Herrera explains the process: “First, there are two players: the electron that is going to be transferred and the vibration of the molecules that, in a way, affect how this electron is going to be transferred from one place to another. If there is too much vibration, the electron will be disturbed and the transfer will be inefficient.”

“When you add another factor, like the optical cavity, there is a third player: the photon, which will now interact with the electron inside the cavity,” he says.  

“We discovered that quantized light plays a game in which the electron becomes a photon and the photon turns again into an electron and vice versa. The game only occurs inside the cavity and it makes the electron to stop interacting with the vibration, eliminating or blocking vibrations,” he explains. 

With regard to what material inside the cavity accelerates or reduces the electron transfer, Dr Herrera says that they have tested organic materials or organic molecules, like the ones that form the human body. “This organic material could also be a protein, according to the experiments conducted by other researchers that have based their studies on our discovery,” he adds.

Physical Review Letters

The article about this development was first published in the online edition of Physical Review Letters and, at the end of June, it will be published in the print edition. Dr Herrera says this is a great honor for them, as this journal is the most prestigious one in the field of Physics.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The Academic Vice President, Fernanda Kri, said that after testing the pilot program in more than a thousand students of the Faculty of Engineering, the system that combines on-line learning opportunities with face-to-face sessions, proved to work in a similar way to a traditional course. “The goal is to implement this system for all our undergraduate programs in the first semester 2014, according to our Institutional Strategic Plan, which stipulates the promotion of the English language among our students,” Vice President Kri said.

In April this year, our University’s Academic Vice Presidency, together with the Consejo Superior de Docencia (the consulting body to the Academic Vice Presidency) and the Educational Innovation Unit started implementing an English language B-Learning pilot program for students of the Faculty of Engineering in order to evaluate the system’s operation and extend its application to other undergraduate programs of Universidad de Santiago.

The B-Learning method combines on-line content delivery with face-to-face sessions. It was implemented with the support of our University’s Department of Linguistics and Literature for one thousand and fifty students during one semester.

After concluding this first evaluation stage, the results proved to be very positive; hence, the academic authority started promoting its implementation in all undergraduate programs, according to one of the goals of the Institutional Strategic Plan, which stipulates the promotion of the English language among the students.

On November 27th, the Academic Vice President, Fernanda Kri, had a meeting with the academic community to inform about the results of this first B-Learning experience. She described it as “successful”, both logistically and academically.

“We confirmed that students who participated in B-Learning lessons acquired and English language knowledge similar to the one acquired in one semester of face-to-face sessions,” she said.

Due to this positive evaluation, the Academic Vice President invited all undergraduate programs to be part of the initiative.

“The purpose of the meeting (held on November 27th) was to show these results to the different faculties, hoping that most of them will join in this project and include it formally in the programs’ curricula as of March 2014,” she said.

“We expect all students at the University reach at least an intermediate level of English and for that to happen, they need to take four consecutive English courses, lasting one semester each, as this is the only way of having continuity in learning,” she added.

Vice President Kri concluded by saying that, besides the good results, “Students showed themselves very motivated for using technological tools and for learning English early in their programs. All this gives us good expectations about the contribution that this project may be to our community once it is extended to all undergraduate programs and, in the future, to graduate programs.”
 
The details about a successful program

Ricardo Úbeda, professor at the Department of Linguistics and Literature, who is in charge of the program, informed that out of one thousand and fifty students who took the B-Learning course, 182 passed the initial diagnostic test and were exempt from the final test, while 744 students totally passed the course.

Another announcement was the implementation of more mechanisms to allow the interaction between students and teachers, like Skype, that can help to solve questions in a direct way.

“Finally, with this course, all our expectations were met and we were able to see the high level of commitment that the students of our University have with their integral learning process,” professor Úbeda stressed during the presentation of the results of this B-Learning system.

Translated by Marcela Contreras.

• The candidacy of the renowned electrochemist for the highest scientific award of the country is supported by our University and different associations and representatives of the national and international scientific world.

With the support of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, through its highest authority, President Juan Manuel Zolezzi, the candidacy application of the University’s renowned researcher was submitted last week. He has been recognized by his peers and has been honored by international scientific societies that validate the experience and contributions made by this researcher of the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology.

The National Award is the maximum prize given by the State to acknowledge the work made by Chileans who stand out by their excellence, creativity and significant contribution to culture and the development of different areas of knowledge and the arts.

In the University’s scientific community nobody has been awarded this prize yet; for this reason, Maritza Páez and Jorge Pavez, both academics at the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology, did not hesitate to promote Doctor José Zagal’s nomination to the National Award of Natural Sciences 2014, who has been honored both in Chile and abroad.

Contribution to education

Jorge Pavez, a researcher, and Maritza Páez, the Director of the Department of Chemistry of Materials of Universidad de Santiago, were both among Dr. Zagal’s students and they highlight his enormous contribution to teaching, as well as his scientific career. At an academic level, they stress the work he has done directing Master’s degree and doctoral dissertations.

“Dr. Zagal’s contribution is notable, because it has positioned Universidad de Santiago and the country in the electrochemistry research world scene,” Dr. Pavez said. He added that Dr. Zagal’s nomination is based on his career throughout these years contributing to this field, both at a scientific and at an educational level, at training new generations.”

Also, professor Pavez said: “His contribution to electrochemistry has gone beyond the country’s borders and the region. Proofs of this are the two international prizes that were awarded to him this year by the world most renowned scientific societies in this field: the Electrochemical Society (ECS), in the United States, and the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE), in Europe, that record the highest-impact publications on electrochemistry.”

In April and June, both societies, ECS and ISE, sent Dr. Zagal letters of recognition appointing him “Fellow”, “for his exceptional contribution to electrochemistry” and “scientific achievements.” The ISE has scheduled its awarding ceremony for September, during its annual meeting in Switzerland, while the ECS has scheduled its ceremony for October, during its bi-annual meeting that will be held in Mexico.

Valuable work

According to the candidate for the National Award of Natural Sciences, this year 2014 has been especially meaningful due to the recognition of his work. On the one hand, he received the recognition of the societies mentioned above, and on the other, he received the support from the University and his peers.

“Curiously, this year I have been honored by two international associations and I think this is important, because they are external organizations that recognize that, at Universidad de Santiago, our work is valuable,” Dr. Zagal said.

In addition, renowned scientists of other universities support him too and so do the editors of noted international publications in which he is part of the editorial board, like the Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry, Electrochemistry Communications, International Journal of Electrochemistry, Electrocatalysis, International Journal of Biotechnology & Biochemistry, ISRN Electrochemistry, Electrochemistry Communications, Journal of the Serbian Chemical Society and Electrochemical Energy Technology.

At present, Dr. Zagal is working in two lines of research at Universidad de Santiago: The development of electrodes for energy conversion systems and the development of sensors for detecting substances in fluids.

“There are prominent scientists at our University, but none of them has been honored with a National Award and I believe that sometime one of them should be awarded a prize like this; this would be very important for the prestige of our University, because it is one of the universities that conducts more research in Chile,” Dr. Zagal said.

The jury that will decide on the National Award 2014 (according to Law 19.169) is made up by the Minister of Education, Nicolás Eyzaguirre; the President of Universidad de Chile, Ennio Vivaldi; the President of the Chilean Academy of Science of Instituto Chile, Juan Alfonso Asenjo; the President of Universidad de Antofagasta (on behalf of the CRUCH), Alberto Loyola Morales; and the previous award winner (2012), Bernabé Santelices González

Translated by Marcela Contreras

•  Carolina Aliaga, professor at the Department of Environmental Sciences of the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology of Universidad de Santiago was appointed representative in Latin America by her peers during the last meeting of the Inter-American Photochemical Society. “It is a recognition for the work we have done at the university, the place of birth of Photochemistry in our continent, where several generations have been trained in this field,” she said.

During the 25^th Meeting of the Inter-American Photochemical Society (I-APS), Carolina Aliaga, professor at the Department of Environmental Sciences of the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology of Universidad de Santiago, was appointed representative of this society in Latin America. She is the first Chilean to hold this position.

The meeting was held in Chile, for the first time, between May 24^th-27^th, at the Centro de Extensión of Universidad Católica, in Santiago. Carolina Aliaga and Alexis Aspee, both professors at Universidad de Santiago, were part of the organizing committee.

“All the participants were so glad about the high level of the meeting. It was beyond their expectations,” professor Aliaga said. “They all appreciated the level of the works presented.”

The organizing committee had the collaboration of researchers at Universidad Católica, Universidad de Chile and Universidad Andrés Bello. More than 150 people attended the activity: undergraduate and graduate students, professors and researchers from USA, Spain, Germany and Argentina, among other countries.

The meeting, which focal point was Photochemistry, included works related to bioenergy, nanocatalysis, photoluminescence, photodynamic therapies, basic chemistry and others.

“I feel glad because everyone can contribute to science development through cooperation and generate new collaboration opportunities among researchers,” professor Aliaga said. “This is a recognition for the work we have done at the university, the place of birth of Photochemistry in our continent, where several generations have been trained in this field,” she added.

Regarding her new position, she will act on behalf of the association suggesting speakers for future meetings, awards for experienced researchers and young researchers, among others.

“I think the first challenge I have to face is to position the names of researchers who are just starting in this field and support good students,” she said.

The Inter-American Photochemical Society has more than 600 members in academia, industry, and government throughout North and South America. It promotes collaborative networks among its members, so that they can share their experiences and knowledge.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Dr. Renato Chávez and biochemists Luis Figueroa and Javiera Norambuena were honored at the 5^th Congress of European Microbiologists, in Leipzig (Germany) for their research on bioactive compounds from Antarctic marine sponges, which present a high microbial, antitumor and antioxidant activity.

The study’s innovation and impact and the results shown were the reasons for giving the Best Poster Presentation Award to the study conducted by a team of researchers from Universidad de Santiago and Universidad de Chile in one of the most important events worldwide in the field of Microbiology: the Federation of European Microbiological Societies Congress, FEMS 2013.

The research team is composed of Dr. Renato Chávez, researcher from the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology, Universidad de Santiago, and the biochemists Luis Figueroa and Javiera Norambuena, also from Universidad de Santiago, together with other specialists from Universidad de Chile. They conducted the study for three years.

The study is based on the analysis of new bioactive compounds, present in filamentous fungi of Antarctic marine sponges. These compounds show a high microbial, antitumor and antioxidant activity.

Discovering these new species and their properties, supported by the required laboratory research, could lead to potential applications in Biotechnology, especially in the field of Pharmacology.

Regarding the study’s development, biochemist Javiera Norambuena says that, in order to find these bioactive compounds, it was necessary to search poorly explored places, as in those places there are more possibilities of finding non-cultured organisms. “That is the reason why we isolated fungi from Antarctic marine sponges, which usually have chemical compounds containing secondary metabolites; that is to say, they are not required for the organism’s survival, but they give it advantages over other members of the population”, she adds.

Regarding the study’s results, biochemist Luis Figueroa notes, “a high percentage of the isolated fungi could not be identified, which suggested the existence of new genera in the microbial community from Antarctic marine sponges; therefore, we can conclude that the fungi community in the Antarctic marine sponges studied is completely different from the one in common marine sponges.”

“We are on the right track”

Dr. Renato Chávez, researcher and professor of Faculty of Chemistry and Biology, says, “The honor awarded confirms that our work with fungi from Antarctic sponges is of international interest.”

“The award confirms that regarding the study of Antarctic marine eukaryotes (fungi and yeasts), we are on the right track, what encourages us to continue in this line. We are aware that we are dealing with new species that have not been described yet, so describing them is among our next goals. Also, we know that these species produce chemicals with very interesting properties that could be used in the Biotechnology field. As for the students participating, this award is most certainly an incentive for them as young researchers,” Dr. Chávez adds.

The full research team that took part in the poster presentation is made up by undergraduate and graduate students from Faculty of Sciences, Universidad de Chile: Marlene Henríquez, Ivanna Araya, Andrea Beiza and Karen Vergara, while the work presented at the Congress is supported by Fondecyt Project 11090192, conducted by Dr. Inmaculada Vaca, from Universidad de Chile.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

•     Physical Review Letters (PRL) will publish an article about this important development in the control of chemical reactions using quantum optics. In simple terms, Dr Herrera, researcher at Universidad de Santiago, explains that they proved that these reactions or electron transfers can be accelerated or reduced.

At the end of the month, the renowned American journal of Physics, Physical Review Letters (PRL) of the American Physical Society (APS), will publish an important discovery in this field made by Dr Felipe Herrera, professor at the Department of Physics of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, and Dr Francis C. Spano, professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, USA.

The article (“Cavity-controlled chemistry in molecular ensembles”) will highlight the development made by these researchers in the control of chemical reactions by means of quantum physics. In simple terms, Dr Herrera explains that they proved that these reactions or electron transfers can be accelerated or reduced.

Graphically, the model consists of an optical cavity surrounded by two mirrors that do not allow light to go through, “so the amount of energy is the minimum possible in an electromagnetic field. That is to say, there is cero or one unit of light energy, which is also called photon,” Dr Herrera explains.

Dr Herrera remembers that, at a first stage, they asked themselves about “the effects that the optical cavity could have on chemical reactions or electron transfers: if the cavity would accelerate them, suppress them or if nothing would happen at all.”

In this context, the researcher says that they finally “found a mechanism through which this quantum optical cavity can dramatically accelerate the reaction and electron transfer in molecules.”

The basics

With regards to this theoretical discovery, Dr Herrera explains the process: “First, there are two players: the electron that is going to be transferred and the vibration of the molecules that, in a way, affect how this electron is going to be transferred from one place to another. If there is too much vibration, the electron will be disturbed and the transfer will be inefficient.”

“When you add another factor, like the optical cavity, there is a third player: the photon, which will now interact with the electron inside the cavity,” he says.  

“We discovered that quantized light plays a game in which the electron becomes a photon and the photon turns again into an electron and vice versa. The game only occurs inside the cavity and it makes the electron to stop interacting with the vibration, eliminating or blocking vibrations,” he explains. 

With regard to what material inside the cavity accelerates or reduces the electron transfer, Dr Herrera says that they have tested organic materials or organic molecules, like the ones that form the human body. “This organic material could also be a protein, according to the experiments conducted by other researchers that have based their studies on our discovery,” he adds.

Physical Review Letters

The article about this development was first published in the online edition of Physical Review Letters and, at the end of June, it will be published in the print edition. Dr Herrera says this is a great honor for them, as this journal is the most prestigious one in the field of Physics.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Universidad de Santiago’s interdisciplinary research team, led by Dr. Silvia Matiacevich from the Technological Faculty, is focused on developing an edible film that could increase the shelf life of fresh foods by 30%.

Improving the way of preserving foods has been a permanent concern in food industry. This is the reason why packaging is essential for the quality and shelf life of the product. But this packaging should be in harmony with the environment.

In light of this situation, a sustainable alternative for food packaging has been developed: food covering edible films, which are being widely used and have become a world trend nowadays. At Universidad de Santiago, an interdisciplinary research team is trying to replicate this development, giving value added to different national byproducts.

This initiative will be viable thanks to the Associative Dicyt Project called “Bioactive Coatings for Foods”, which gathers together experts from different faculties of the University.

“We will use food industry byproducts which are considered as dispensable or waste material. We are going to give them a value added by adding antioxidant and antimicrobial components to them in order to increase the shelf life of fresh food products,” Dr. Daniel López says.

Academics from three different faculties gathered for this purpose: Dr. Rubén Bustos, from the Faculty of Engineering (Department of Chemical Engineering); Dr. Diego Venegas and Dr. Marlén Gutiérrez, from the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology (Department of Materials Chemistry); and Dr. Daniel López and Dr. Silvia Matiacevich, from the Technological Faculty (Department of Food Science and Technology), being Dr. Matiacevich the leader of the project.

During the two years scheduled for the project, the researchers plan to study the synergistic effect of this combination of products and they expect to increase food shelf life by over 30%.

Interdisciplinarity

Most of the academics related to this project are part of a larger group created by the end of 2013 called Indi, Asociación de Investigadores por el Desarrollo e Interdisciplinariedad of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, a group of researchers that promotes development and interdisciplinarity at the university.

“All of us have participated in some of these initiatives at some point, seeking for this interdisciplinarity. This is how we have met other people and created contacts. What is good is that more than just admiring the work of others, we have the real possibility of conducting studies together. For this reason, we value this type of projects, as they promote the integration and interdisciplinarity that define a university,” Dr. Matiacevich says.

Translated by Marcela Contreras
 

• The candidacy of the renowned electrochemist for the highest scientific award of the country is supported by our University and different associations and representatives of the national and international scientific world.

With the support of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, through its highest authority, President Juan Manuel Zolezzi, the candidacy application of the University’s renowned researcher was submitted last week. He has been recognized by his peers and has been honored by international scientific societies that validate the experience and contributions made by this researcher of the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology.

The National Award is the maximum prize given by the State to acknowledge the work made by Chileans who stand out by their excellence, creativity and significant contribution to culture and the development of different areas of knowledge and the arts.

In the University’s scientific community nobody has been awarded this prize yet; for this reason, Maritza Páez and Jorge Pavez, both academics at the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology, did not hesitate to promote Doctor José Zagal’s nomination to the National Award of Natural Sciences 2014, who has been honored both in Chile and abroad.

Contribution to education

Jorge Pavez, a researcher, and Maritza Páez, the Director of the Department of Chemistry of Materials of Universidad de Santiago, were both among Dr. Zagal’s students and they highlight his enormous contribution to teaching, as well as his scientific career. At an academic level, they stress the work he has done directing Master’s degree and doctoral dissertations.

“Dr. Zagal’s contribution is notable, because it has positioned Universidad de Santiago and the country in the electrochemistry research world scene,” Dr. Pavez said. He added that Dr. Zagal’s nomination is based on his career throughout these years contributing to this field, both at a scientific and at an educational level, at training new generations.”

Also, professor Pavez said: “His contribution to electrochemistry has gone beyond the country’s borders and the region. Proofs of this are the two international prizes that were awarded to him this year by the world most renowned scientific societies in this field: the Electrochemical Society (ECS), in the United States, and the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE), in Europe, that record the highest-impact publications on electrochemistry.”

In April and June, both societies, ECS and ISE, sent Dr. Zagal letters of recognition appointing him “Fellow”, “for his exceptional contribution to electrochemistry” and “scientific achievements.” The ISE has scheduled its awarding ceremony for September, during its annual meeting in Switzerland, while the ECS has scheduled its ceremony for October, during its bi-annual meeting that will be held in Mexico.

Valuable work

According to the candidate for the National Award of Natural Sciences, this year 2014 has been especially meaningful due to the recognition of his work. On the one hand, he received the recognition of the societies mentioned above, and on the other, he received the support from the University and his peers.

“Curiously, this year I have been honored by two international associations and I think this is important, because they are external organizations that recognize that, at Universidad de Santiago, our work is valuable,” Dr. Zagal said.

In addition, renowned scientists of other universities support him too and so do the editors of noted international publications in which he is part of the editorial board, like the Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry, Electrochemistry Communications, International Journal of Electrochemistry, Electrocatalysis, International Journal of Biotechnology & Biochemistry, ISRN Electrochemistry, Electrochemistry Communications, Journal of the Serbian Chemical Society and Electrochemical Energy Technology.

At present, Dr. Zagal is working in two lines of research at Universidad de Santiago: The development of electrodes for energy conversion systems and the development of sensors for detecting substances in fluids.

“There are prominent scientists at our University, but none of them has been honored with a National Award and I believe that sometime one of them should be awarded a prize like this; this would be very important for the prestige of our University, because it is one of the universities that conducts more research in Chile,” Dr. Zagal said.

The jury that will decide on the National Award 2014 (according to Law 19.169) is made up by the Minister of Education, Nicolás Eyzaguirre; the President of Universidad de Chile, Ennio Vivaldi; the President of the Chilean Academy of Science of Instituto Chile, Juan Alfonso Asenjo; the President of Universidad de Antofagasta (on behalf of the CRUCH), Alberto Loyola Morales; and the previous award winner (2012), Bernabé Santelices González

Translated by Marcela Contreras

•  Carolina Aliaga, professor at the Department of Environmental Sciences of the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology of Universidad de Santiago was appointed representative in Latin America by her peers during the last meeting of the Inter-American Photochemical Society. “It is a recognition for the work we have done at the university, the place of birth of Photochemistry in our continent, where several generations have been trained in this field,” she said.

During the 25^th Meeting of the Inter-American Photochemical Society (I-APS), Carolina Aliaga, professor at the Department of Environmental Sciences of the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology of Universidad de Santiago, was appointed representative of this society in Latin America. She is the first Chilean to hold this position.

The meeting was held in Chile, for the first time, between May 24^th-27^th, at the Centro de Extensión of Universidad Católica, in Santiago. Carolina Aliaga and Alexis Aspee, both professors at Universidad de Santiago, were part of the organizing committee.

“All the participants were so glad about the high level of the meeting. It was beyond their expectations,” professor Aliaga said. “They all appreciated the level of the works presented.”

The organizing committee had the collaboration of researchers at Universidad Católica, Universidad de Chile and Universidad Andrés Bello. More than 150 people attended the activity: undergraduate and graduate students, professors and researchers from USA, Spain, Germany and Argentina, among other countries.

The meeting, which focal point was Photochemistry, included works related to bioenergy, nanocatalysis, photoluminescence, photodynamic therapies, basic chemistry and others.

“I feel glad because everyone can contribute to science development through cooperation and generate new collaboration opportunities among researchers,” professor Aliaga said. “This is a recognition for the work we have done at the university, the place of birth of Photochemistry in our continent, where several generations have been trained in this field,” she added.

Regarding her new position, she will act on behalf of the association suggesting speakers for future meetings, awards for experienced researchers and young researchers, among others.

“I think the first challenge I have to face is to position the names of researchers who are just starting in this field and support good students,” she said.

The Inter-American Photochemical Society has more than 600 members in academia, industry, and government throughout North and South America. It promotes collaborative networks among its members, so that they can share their experiences and knowledge.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Through a Fondecyt Initiation into Research Project, Dr. Luis Lemus, professor at the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology, has studied the interaction between new molecules called “helicates” and DNA, in order to evaluate the development of more specific drugs to fight cancer, avoiding the destructive effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

According to Globocan, a worldwide survey on cancer conducted in 2012; there are 14.1 million new cases of this disease. At present, the most widely used treatments are chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Their purpose is to stop cancer spreading in the body by killing malignant cells that divide rapidly, one of the main properties of most cancer cells; however, in the process healthy cells are killed too: hair follicles, gastric mucosal cells, blood cells, etc. These side effects make these non-specific treatments very destructive:

Something that could help to change this situation is the development of new compounds with a higher selectivity towards a specific biological target, the line of research of Dr. Luis Lemus, professor at the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology of Universidad de Santiago, who leads the Fondecyt* Initiation into Research Project named “Study on Helicates as DNA coordinators”. Its results could lead to developing more specific anticancer drugs.

“These molecules (helicates) are able to bind to DNA strands by means of specific and strong interactions, modifying its structure, what prevents the genetic material from replicating inside the cell. What should be noticed is that cancer cells are the ones that produce the largest amount of DNA; therefore, these molecules could be a potential treatment against cancer progression,” professor Lemus stresses.

To make progress in the treatment of this disease, first it is essential to deepen the knowledge about these compounds, which started to be studied less than 30 years ago. According to professor Lemus, nowadays there are a few groups in the world dedicated to study the use of helicates as anticancer drugs and the way in which this type of interaction affects the DNA structural modification has not been studied yet. This is the line of research that Dr. Lemus intends to develop.

“Helicates are inorganic chiral molecules with a helical shape similar to the one of DNA, in which each molecule has a helical twist sense defined according to its structure. These positive molecules interact with negatives ones, in this case, DNA. After this electrostatic attraction occurs, the DNA is able to recognize and selectively establish secondary interactions with helicates with better twist sense than others. Here, documenting this phenomenon is essential.

This project will be implemented in two stages. First, by performing the structural study and synthesis of different types of helicates with different transition metals; and second, by doing DNA tests to evaluate the affinity between the molecules and DNA, and the extent to which helicates could modify the latter.

Regarding the projections of the study, professor Lemus says that in the future, “it would be ideal to evaluate these compounds against cancer cells and therefore, to prove if they are able to kill these cells. However, today we are trying to build a very basic knowledge, because it does not exist. Acquiring this knowledge will be very helpful for us and for other groups.”

A field to explore

Creating a research group dedicated to study inorganic complexes for biological applications is among the goals that Dr. Lemus has for this project. According to the academic, this area is little developed in Chile, so this study could start a new line of research both at the University and in the country.

“We have the facilities, equipment and experience in synthesis to meet the initial goals of this project; but we also need help from other researchers who could contribute with their knowledge in biology to make the study more valuable. This project is the first step for the expectations that we have as a group,” Dr. Lemus says.

*Fondecyt: National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development.

Translated by Marcela Contreras