• Dr Bernardo Morales Muñoz, director of the Laboratory of Neuroscience of Universidad de Santiago, is leading a project that seeks to reverse the effects of this type of disorder and enhance the memory and learning process. The chemical derives from the alkaloid sauroine synthesized by Huperzia saururus and it would allow to combat disorders like Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease.

Neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by cellular aging and neuronal death. This has led scientists to study different possibilities to reverse or reduce their effects on patients. One of these studies is being conducted at the Laboratory of Neuroscience of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, as Dr Bernardo Morales Muñoz explains.

A research group is working on a chemical compound that helps to enhance the memory and learning process, which therapeutic use would reverse the effects of neurodegenerative diseases. “For example, in the case of Alzheimer’s, when there are little neurons left, this compound could activate them and counteract the memory loss,” Dr Morales says.

The compound is derived from sauroine, an alkaloid synthesized by Huperzia saururus, a plant popularly known as cola de quirquincho that grows in the Andes, in Argentina. Its benefits could be applied to other disorders like Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease.

Side effects and environmental considerations

The study is part of a joint project with Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina, where they started modifying the compound chemically. “In Argentina, an excellent research group chose us to continue with the following research stage because we have specialized in memory and learning,” he says.

One of the main problems in the process to develop drugs is that large amounts of raw material are required, having an impact on the environment. “The idea is to isolate the compounds, understand them and be able to modify them chemically in order to enhance their effects. Then, we should be able to synthesize them, leaving behind the environmental concerns.”

Another aspect that should be considered is that people prefer more natural drugs, because they think that artificial drugs can have more serious side effects in comparison to drugs derived from natural compounds.

National and international patents

In Chile, Universidad de Santiago de Chile has already filed a patent request to protect the rights and future commercialization of the product. “We pretend to file patent requests abroad too, particularly in England, where some companies have shown interest in the project,” Dr Morales explains.

Although Dr Morales recognizes that more tests are required, the study has progressed well. “There are mouse models of Alzheimer, so the next step is to test the compound in them,” and then, the compound will be tested in human beings. The researchers think that they will produce an oral drug, as it would be more comfortable to use.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The implementation of this new research instance was announced by the University’s President, Juan Manuel Zolezzi, on December 3rd, during the launching of a Program for Institutional Improvement (PMI, in Spanish), funded by the Ministry of Education. The purpose of this new Information Technology Innovation Center for Social Applications (Citiaps, in Spanish) is to be an intermediary between research and its viability as software products that could be commercially developed, based on the premise of integrating innovation and science.

The PMI was created by this Corporation as a strategy to achieve world-class excellence in an innovative way, integrating three research areas to develop science- based innovation: Information technology, psychology and neuroscience. The University was awarded a grant from the Ministry of Education’s contestable fund to finance the program through a performance agreement.

“With this project we intend to improve our international competitiveness, increase the University’s scientific productivity in a significant way, and reach higher levels of teaching and scientific discoveries. All this will be done through the highly specialized and interdisciplinary research centers that we already have and through others that we are committed to create,” said President Zolezzi.

In the program’s launching ceremony, held on December 3rd in the University’s Salón de Honor, the University’s President said that the PMI will outline the future of applied research and that a significant share of this goal will lie on this new Information Technology Innovation Center for Social Applications.

Applied innovation for society

“The Citiaps will integrate the work done until now and it also considers the technological origins of this University and the great development of social sciences during the last years,” President Zolezzi said, emphasizing at the same time the center’s efforts to develop strategic partnerships among researchers, entrepreneurs and companies, doing a state-of-the-art interdisciplinary work.

“The PMI will strengthen the Vice Presidency of Investigation, Development and Innovation (Vridei, in Spanish) and to consolidate a technology transfer platform to do research in association with companies and to transfer and commercialize the R+D results,” the President added.

Oscar Bustos, Vice President of Investigation, Development and Innovation said that, although the Citiaps will be focused on three main areas (Information technology, psychology and neuroscience), its goal will be to cover all disciplines. “We want our students- who are very creative- to channel their ideas through the center, so that researchers develop these ideas and create products which are useful to society.”

“The idea is to generate innovation based on high-impact science. We have set ambitious but real goals,” the Vice President said.

Contributing to the country

Alberto Vásquez, Head of the Ministry of Education’s Higher Education Division, referred to the excellent assessment that the PMI had during the contest, which meant being granted the funds, and to the significance of contributing with new knowledge for Chile. “We would like to congratulate and support this initiative and say that for our country is good, important and relevant to award this performance agreement to Universidad de Santiago.”

John Fraser, American expert and professor at the Florida State University, who was a special guest at the ceremony, valued this interdisciplinary initiative from an international point of view saying that this was the best moment to invest in knowledge and to promote creativity, considering the economic success of the country.

Finally, Luis Magne, Head of the Vridei’s Technological Management Department awarded the winners of the First Patent Contest for Students: Roberto Santiago, from the Department of Chemical Engineering; Jaime Lagos and Álvaro Espejo, from the Department of Physics; Camila Manfredi, from the School of Architecture, and Loreto Acevedo, from the Department of Food Science and Technology.

Fernando Vial, Head of the Ministry of Education’s Institutional Financing Department; Mauricio Marín, PMI and Citiaps’ Scientific Director; Pablo Vera, Citiaps’ Deputy Scientific Director; Ramón Blasco, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering; Rafael Labarca, Dean of the Faculty of Science, Augusto Samaniego, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, and other authorities, also attended the ceremony.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The Food Science and Technology Research Center of Universidad de Santiago was awarded a public bid called by Junaeb to evaluate the quality and safety of food rations provided by schools at the Metropolitan Region. According to Claudio Martínez, the Director of the Center, “this shows that our accredited laboratories and our professionals are able to face challenges that involve high responsibilities.”

In December 2013, the laboratories of the Food Science and Technology Research Center of Universidad de Santiago (CECTA; in Spanish) were accredited by the National Institute for Standardization.

On August 1st, for the first time after this official certification, CECTA was awarded an important bid called by the National Board of Student Aid and Scholarships (Junaeb, in Spanish). As a result of this, CECTA will be in charge of analyzing the meals that are daily delivered to public schools, preschools and nursery schools in the Metropolitan Region.

Katy Yáñez, the Chief of the Physical and Chemical Analysis Laboratory and project leader, explained that samples of the food rations served for breakfast and lunch at 55 educational establishments of the Metropolitan Region and samples of 40 raw- material storage facilities will be analyzed over three months.

“At our Microbiology Laboratory and Physical and Chemical Analysis Laboratory (both with ISO 17025 accreditation), and together with an external laboratory that was subcontracted for the sample collection work, we will analyze the samples collected from food suppliers and schools in order to establish if these foods have the nutritional value and calories required and, in general, if they meet the microbiological parameters set by Junaeb,” she said.

A higher challenge

According to Claudio Martínez, Director of CECTA, the fact of being awarded this public bid called by Junaeb is “an important step for our University and for our Center, because, just to bid on this tender, being accredited as a high-scientific standard laboratory was required.”

“For a long time, CECTA has been working in strengthening its professional quality by implementing relevant policies and developing several improvements. Therefore, having been awarded this bid shows that our accredited laboratories and our professionals are able to face higher challenges that involve high responsibilities,” CECTA’s Director pointed out, adding that the following step “is just doing the high-quality scientific work that characterizes us.”


Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The Regular Fondecyt Project “Mapping underlying genetic variants in nitrogen assimilation in different natural yeasts” led by Dr Claudio Martínez, researcher at the Food Science and Technology Research Center of Universidad de Santiago, proposes a new wine fermentation method that will not depend on nitrogen levels in the must. The study will last until 2019 and it involves the participation of researchers at the Department of Food Science and Technology of Universidad de Santiago and foreign experts from the CNRS in Nice (France) and the Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos in Valencia (Spain).

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Yeasts are essential for wine fermentation as they turn grape sugar into alcohol. However, current industrial yeasts do not guarantee the completion of the fermentation process, resulting in economic losses for the national wine-making industry.

“It is estimated that about 40 per cent of the fermentation processes are interrupted, with a very strong impact on the industry. If you interrupt the process, thousands of litres will not ferment, so you need to spend more money to complete the process by adding more yeast or nutrients. This affects the wine properties and the quality expected,” Dr Claudio Martínez, director of the Food Science and Technology Research Center of Universidad de Santiago (Cecta, in Spanish), said.

To solve this problem, Dr Martínez and researchers at Universidad de Santiago are currently conducting the Regular Fondecyt Project “Mapping underlying genetic variants in nitrogen assimilation in different natural yeasts,” that will last until 2019.

“For yeasts to develop and work well, the abundant presence of some nutrients, like nitrogen, is required. As some musts have low levels of nitrogen, yeasts there do not grow well and the resulting product is not good. We will study the genes of Chilean native yeasts and foreign yeasts, searching for the ones that allow the yeast to assimilate nitrogen without considering its levels, and ferment the must efficiently,” he explained.

The yeasts described have been collected by the researchers at Cecta during the past decade, what allowed obtaining the most complete yeast strain collection of the country. With this register and through a previous Fondef Project, the Cecta developed a yeast strain, Fermicru XL, which has already been patented and commercialized worldwide.

“This new study has the purpose of identifying the genes with the features previously described to genetically improve industrial yeasts, something that has not been done before in Chile. First, we will search for the genes with the features we want in native yeasts and then, we will enhance an industrial strain, without using transgenic techniques,” he said.

The project will have the collaboration of Dr Amparo Querol of the Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA), in Valencia, Spain and Dr Gianni Liti, of the National Center for Scientific Research, (CNRS, in French), in Nice, France. Both centers will work on the genetic enhancement of yeast and the development of procedures for genetic investigation. Besides, they will allow access to their own collections of yeast native strains.

“They have yeast strains that they have collected from all over the world, representing more than 70 per cent of the world’s genetic varieties of yeasts. This is a very important genetic source that we will have available when conducting our study,” he added.

Dr Angélica Ganga, professor at the Department of Food Science and Technology; Dr Francisco Cubillos, researcher at Cecta; Dr Álvaro Díaz, of Universidad Católica de Valparaíso; and Dr Cristián Araneda, of Universidad de Chile, will also be part of the research team.

“It is important to study native yeasts. We assume that they have adapted to some environmental factors, so their properties can be potential solutions for the industry. This opportunity to study them allows us to progress in solving some issues, to develop genetic enhancement, and if everything goes as expected, to patent future yeasts based on native strains of our country,” Dr Martínez concluded.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The new therapy involves the development of a vaccine that provides the immune system with the tools needed to “attack” cancer cells, improving the antitumour response of the body. The therapy was announced to foreign media correspondents accredited in Chile.

• The study is funded through a Fondecyt Project and it is at preclinical stage. It considers a significant decrease of more than 70% in the overall cost of therapies for this disease.
• The leader of the project, Claudio Acuña, Dr in Biomedical Sciences, researcher, and Head of the Department of Biology of our University, gave us some details on this new technology, which is applying for a patent in USA with the support of Corfo.
• Dr Acuña said: “We are generating a quite effective therapy for cancer through which we could make immunotherapy more available to people. We are doing this in a university which is known for its social responsibility signature. In this context, I would like to highlight the talent of my students involved in this project.”

In order to optimize cancer therapy and contribute to public health in our country, an innovative and significant treatment developed at Universidad de Santiago has recently been presented.

This project involves the development of a vaccine that will allow destroying cancer cells in the body by enhancing its immune response.

This scientific development- funded by the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development, Fondecyt- considers a significant decrease of more than 70% in the overall costs of cancer therapies and it has shown an efficacy of 50%.

Dr Claudio Acuña, Head of the Department of Biology of Universidad de Santiago, is leading the project. “We want to have a vaccine available to protect us from the disease, just like in the vaccination process for measles and other diseases when we are children. In the case of cancer, our idea is to get people vaccinated so that they are able to eliminate cancer cell in their bodies, he said.”

Quality of life

According to the researcher, the project “Seeks to improve the quality of life of patients in the long term and generate a supplementary therapy to conventional treatments to resist cancer in a non-conventional way, which is currently treated with chemotherapy.”

“We have completed the preclinical stage (trials in living animals) which showed that the vaccine does protect from the disease. The next step is the clinical phase, in which it will be tested in human subjects. There was not any negative effect on animals, so we could extrapolate that there will be not any effect on patients,” he added.

“The ultimate goal is to generate a vaccine for people with cancer that will allow enhancing their immune response to tumours,” he said.

“We are generating a quite effective therapy for cancer in which we could make immunotherapy more available to people. We are doing this in a university which is known for its social responsibility signature. In this context, I would like to highlight the talent of my students involved in this project,” the scientist said.

“We were able to make it because the University enables, favours and promotes these innovation processes, besides providing the confidence to conduct high-level research,” he added.

Dicyt project

Dr Acuña’s meeting with foreign media correspondents was in the context of the activities of a Dicyt Public Opinion Project of Universidad de Santiago, led by Gabriela Martínez Cuevas, professor at the Department of Journalism.

Professor Martínez highlighted the interest of Fundación Imagen de Chile in contributing to promote the significance of this study among a group of accredited correspondents in Chile.

“Due to the strategic partnership that we developed with Fundación Imagen de Chile last year in a similar project, we have been able to arrange the first of a series of conferences with foreign accredited correspondents, during 2015,” professor Martínez said.

“This body has the purpose of managing the “nation branding”, so we have joined efforts to strengthen our “U de Santiago brand” around the world through our scientists,” she added.

Gabriela Martínez, who is also Director of the Communications Department and the institutional radio station said: “Today, the interest of the international press for learning about this study led by Dr Claudio Acuña was evident, and he insisted on the importance of the contribution made by the young researchers that he is training.”

She said: “There were correspondents of all the agencies in Europe, China and Latin America. We expect to see how they inform the world about this new contribution made by our state and public University, which is committed to the country progress and gives solutions to urgent demands beyond our borders. This was specifically demonstrated with this cancer vaccine.”

The project- which is at its preclinical stage- is based on effects of Polymixin B. It has already shown its first results in lymphoma, melanoma and breast, with an effectiveness of almost 50%. Besides, it is worth to mention that this technology could decrease the cost of current traditional cancer therapies by up to 70%.

With the support of the Chilean Economic Development Agency (Corfo, in Spanish), this technology is in the patenting process both in Chile and USA, to then continue to the clinical stage and to exporting the treatment.

Fundación Imagen de Chile

According to its web page, Fundación Imagen de Chile is an autonomous institution funded by public resources, created in 2009, with the purpose of coordinating and organizing the efforts to promote the image of Chile abroad.

Its responsibility is to mange the “nation branding”, by coordinating the work of the main sectors that contribute to build this image, such as culture, sports, exportations, investments, tourism and international relations, among others. For this purpose, the foundation develops strategic partnerships with public and private agents to coordinate the image of the country and actively position the distinctive features of our identity.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The study suggests that stress in fish may be causing economic losses for the country due to its impact on the production of salmon farming industry.

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According to the Chilean Undersecretariat for Fishing and Aquaculture’s report of October 2015, exports last August reached 93 different countries, likes USA, Japan, Brazil, Rusia, China and others.

The importance of this strategic productive sector to Chile's economy, led Dr Claudio Acuña Castillo, Head of the Department of Biology and researcher at the Aquaculture Biotechnology Center (CBA, in Spanish) and his colleagues at Universidad de Santiago and other institutions, to conduct a literature review to understand the stress-generating mechanisms in fish, in comparison to mammals. 

The analysis entitled Neuroendocrine mechanisms for immune system regulation during stress in fish was published on the Fish and Shellfish Immunology journal. The article has had a high impact on the scientific community and has been cited in other scientific works, allowing to go deeper in an insufficiently studied subject. “It has contributed to understand some aspects of stress in fish and to help other researchers who are interested in the same subject,” Dr Acuña said.

According to the researcher, major causes of stress among farmed fish are overcrowding, relocation, vaccines and transitions between freshwater and saltwater. The latter process happens normally in nature, but in productive contexts, it causes stress and affects the immune system of fish.

Chronic stress and acute stress

When analyzing stress in fish, Dr Acuña emphasizes that we must consider that fish are not mammals, therefore, they have a different behavior. They have different regulation mechanisms, different anatomy and a lonely life, as they are not gregarious animals.

All living organisms need some stress to develop. “Chronic stress is dangerous and harmful. When it becomes permanent, it affects the immune system. However, acute stress is necessary and useful, as it contributes to decision-making in conflict situations,” he explained.

When stress becomes chronic, it can be perceived in different ways. “Fish show physiological and behavioral changes, aggressiveness, and, sometimes, loss of appetite and increased susceptibility to contagious diseases,” he said.

Impact on aquaculture production

According to Dr Acuña, “It is highly probable that stress in fish may be having an impact on the production losses of salmon farming industry. When stress is too much, fish become susceptible to sea lice, for example. So, when all the produced fish die, as it is happening now, maybe there are not only genetic causes but stress-related factors.”

The researcher is also very worried about the side effects of production losses: lack of jobs and unemployment. He thinks that, if we begin to understand the process, we will be able to provide solutions. 

Besides, Dr Acuña expects to reduce the stress effects in fish by using natural solutions, like plants or natural elements.

The article was also led by Dr Ricardo Fernández, researcher at the Faculty of Biological Sciences and the Faculty of Medicine of Universidad Andrés Bello. Dr Gino Nardocci, Dr Cristina Navarro and Dr Paula P. Cortes, of Universidad Andrés Bello, and Dr Mónica Imarai, Dr Margarita Montoya, Dr Beatriz Valenzuela and Dr Pablo Jara, researchers at the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology and the CBA of Universidad de Santiago, collaborated with the study.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The system will allow sending text, audio and video messages over long distances and at high speeds in underground mining operations. The project is led by Dr Ismael Soto, director of the Getic Laboratory of the Department of Electrical Engineering, and Dr Carolina Lagos Aguirre, alternate director of the project.

The system consists of a new device about the size of a cell phone that will enable good communications in underground mining operations by sending text, audio and video messages over long distances and at high speeds. 

Tech-Lifim (communication technology through visible light in mining operations) is a LED light-based device that transmits and decodes data through light pulses. The project is one of the research works conducted by the Department of Electrical Engineering of Universidad de Santiago de Chile.

The study is being developed by the Getic Laboratory of Universidad de Santiago (which is focused on digital signal processing for wireless communications), led by Dr Ismael Soto and Dr Carolina Lagos Aguirre, with the participation of graduate and undergraduate students at the university.

Exploring new needs

The project was started in 2010, when links were established with the Chuquicamata Division (the largest open pit copper producer in the world) of de Chilean’s National Corporation of Copper (Codelco, in Spanish), with the purpose of conducting studies on copper mining. “We gathered information about their needs and one of the issues they mentioned was the lack of communication devices, particularly for underground mining operations,” Dr Lagos says. “They asked us to develop a device able to transmit data at high speed and under adverse conditions, like high temperature, high humidity, dust and smoke.”

The research team established a strategic partnership with the company Control & Logic and started to work on the device. For a year and a half, they have continued with the research work, performed some tests and given presentations in Chuquicamata. “The device can be placed on the workers’ helmets, on underground tunnels’ walls and on trucks, to guarantee a simultaneous communication,” she says.

Global impact

According to the researchers, the system, which is currently at the production stage, is very efficient and meets the workers’ safety requirements.

Universidad de Santiago de Chile has already filed a patent request in Chile for this product. The next step will be filing a request abroad, because of a global underground mining project led by Codelco that will be started in 2019, based on the systems being implemented in Chuquicamata now,” Dr Soto explains.

In this context, they have created a company supported by the Innovo Usach business incubator. “We have the goal of placing the product in the market and start its commercialization in January 2017. Although we have worked with Chuquicamata for now, the device will be available for everyone who needs it,” the researcher says.

Other studies

This communication device is an example of the many studies that this research team intends to conduct. “We are also developing a lighting system for underground mining operations that will be available in the years to come,” Dr Soto says.

Besides, the research team is working on other projects in collaboration with foreign institutions like Northumbria University (England), the Oil and Gas University of Ploiesti (Romania) and the University of Lorraine (France).

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The project, funded by CORFO, is led by Dr. Claudia Ortiz, researcher at the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology, and it focuses on developing a biological filter using brown algae, enhancing copper and arsenic recovery from the water used in the mining process. The filters can also be used as desalination agents. This involves the real possibility of using seawater as an alternative to mining production processes.

Water consumption in Chile’s mining industry is now a multi-faceted problem. Water shortage in large deposits of minerals located in the center and northern part of the country, the disadvantages of the systems available for water treatment, and the figures, show that 95 percent of the recourse that enters the plants ends up as waste.

Given this reality, the project led by Dr. Claudia Ortiz, researcher at the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology, aims to obtain a biofilter prototype (biological filters) based on Chilean brown algae, which are chemically modified for the absorption of large concentrations of elements such as copper and arsenic.

In words of the researcher, "the direct recovery of copper, by using biofilters, will cause productive benefit and also an increase in the life cycle of the water process, resulting in more efficient resource usage. Also, the content of elements, such as arsenic and copper, will decrease. Their presence in the environment is a global problem because of the persistence, bioaccumulation and toxicity to living organisms. "

This project corresponds to one of the six initiatives of the Applied R & D project funded by CORFO, which the University will run.

Because of its high efficiency at low concentrations of heavy metals and its low cost, the filters may also be used as desalination agents and this means the real possibility of using seawater, as an alternative to mining production processes.

"The project involves a comprehensive solution, which is efficient and cheap to industry. Currently, this field faces three problems: access to water resources, optimization of copper production, by recovering this metal from the waste, and the use of sea water in the process," Dr. Ortiz says. She adds that in a first phase, the project includes the development of laboratory-scale biofilter prototype and then the project scaling to industrial level.

The project is conducted by: the Department of Biology of the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology; the Department of Geographic Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering, and the Department of Mechanical Engineering, as hydro-specialized support, as well as Good Harbour Technologies a Canadian company specialized in process scaling, and División Codelco Chuquicamata, as associated with the project.

• A plastic bag takes 1,000 years to break down. In light of this situation, biodegradable materials have become a good option. This is the context in which the study led by Dr Ana Carolina López Dicastillo, a member of the Center for the Development of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology of Universidad de Santiago, is being conducted. Thanks to the electrospinning technique, her research team will produce nanoparticles able to enhance the properties of biodegradable materials in order to obtain, in the long term, more eco-friendly packaging.

It is widely known that a plastic bag takes 1,000 years to break down, causing harm to the environment. Biodegradable materials are an alternative to solve this problem, because they are highly beneficial to the environment when they are adequately discarded. However, these materials do not have the same barrier and mechanical properties that petroleum-based products do, so they become fragile and highly permeable.

Thanks to the electrospinning technique, the research team will produce nanoparticles able to enhance the properties of biodegradable materials in order to obtain, in the long term, more eco-friendly packaging. The study is led by Dr Ana Carolina López Dicastillo, a member of the Center for the Development of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology of Universidad de Santiago, (Cedenna, in Spanish).

This Regular Fondecyt project, which is in its second year, seeks to improve the properties of a biodegradable material by incorporating nanoparticles produced by electrospinning to eventually use this material for food packaging. The electrospinning technique has not been frequently used in our country.

The electrospinning process allows obtaining fiber by means of the coaxial stretching of a viscoelastic solution. The diameter of the electrospun fibers ranges from microns no nanometers and they may have unique features.

Due to its interesting properties, this technique has been widely studied in the past few years for a wide variety of applications, like tissue engineering, the creation of special membranes and medical applications like dental implants and bone replacement. In this case, the project is oriented to enhance the properties of biodegradable materials for food industry applications. “Besides developing and working with nanoparticles and nanofibers, this technique allows encapsulating active compounds for their further release, what is also important in the food industry,” Dr López said.

The study seeks to enhance the essential properties of a biodegradable polymer and to create a biodegradable packaging with antioxidant and antimicrobial properties to protect food and to extend its shelf life.

Dr. López Dicastillo, who is responsible for the study, explains that “one of the expectations that we have with this work is trying to implement the concept of reducing plastic products in daily life, replacing traditional materials with biodegradable ones and the awareness of recycling and sustainability.”

She has the goal of making people aware of the problem posed by the plastic waste buildup and the need for replacing petroleum-based products with biodegradable materials, as petroleum is not a renewable resource.

“However, these (biodegradable) materials do not have the properties that the market demands yet. This is why we propose to enhance them and one of the solutions to this problem is nanotechnology. In our project, we are developing a type of nanoparticle that can make biodegradable materials properties to be similar to the ones of traditional plastic products in the market,” she said.

“We also intend to disseminate this study at different levels: from teaching children the importance of these existing biodegradable materials, emphasizing the need for recycling, to scientific conferences and presentations,” the researcher concluded.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Plastic containers have caused an out-of-proportion environmental crisis all over the world. In this regard, Dr Alejandra Torres, professor at the Food Science and Technology Research Center is developing new containers with lower environmental impact through the Fondecyt Initiation Project (11140404,) “En la impregnación supercrítica de compuestos naturales en biopolímeros utilizados como envases de alimentos.”

The purpose of the study led by Dr Alejandra Torres is to inquire about new elements to produce new containers with lower environmental impact, by enhancing their properties through a novel process that involves the incorporation of substances that reverse the microbiological damage. Dr Torres is a professor at the Food Science and Technology Research Center (Cecta, in Spanish) and is member of the solid research team of the Packaging Laboratory of Universidad de Santiago (Laben, in Spanish).

The study was funded by the Fondecyt Initiation Project (11140404), ‘En la impregnación supercrítica de compuestos naturales en biopolímeros utilizados como envases de alimentos’.

According to the expert, through this initiative they will try to improve the production of food containers in three different areas: environment, new properties and new attributes.

The project addresses three essential aspects of research and development of new food packaging: the use of vegetal antimicrobial active compounds, the process to incorporate theses substances into the plastic material, and the material used to produce containers.

Currently, most of the plastic packaging used for food is made from petroleum-based raw materials. This causes a huge environmental impact for the plastic waste build-up.

“In the project, we will work with a biodegradable plastic material called polylactic acid, which is derived from renewable resources, such as corn. However, this type of material has some disadvantages. For example, it is highly permeable to water vapour, reducing the shelf life of products and/or increasing the risk of food-transmitted diseases,” Dr Torres says.

Incorporation of natural substances

A second important aspect addressed in this project is the incorporation of natural substances into packaging. These compounds come from essential oil extracts based on herbs, like oregano and thyme. They have antioxidant and/or antimicrobial properties that could extend the shelf life of the packed product and could keep its quality.

There are several ways of incorporating these substances into plastic containers. “One of the most common processes in food industry is the extrusion process. However, it usually requires high temperatures, resulting in the loss of the properties of the substances in the natural compounds,” the researcher says.

For this reason, this project intends to use the supercritical impregnation process as incorporation method.

This method has long been used in the field of medicine and one of its main advantages is that it does not require high temperatures, preventing the thermal degradation of the natural substances and, consequently, the degradation of its activity.

Regarding the expectations for this study, Dr Torres says that the results that they have obtained up to know are very interesting and promising for the development of new food packaging using more eco friendly materials.

Translated by Marcela Contreras