• Damian Clarke, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Administration and Economics of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, together with Sonia Bhalotra, Professor of Economics at the University of Essex, conducted a study that relates maternal mortality to education.

In 2015, the World Health Organization estimated that 830 women died every day at childbirth. These numbers could have been prevented with timely access to contraceptive methods and obstetric care, as a result of the policies established by the Millennium Development Goal (MDGs) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The goal was to reduce maternal mortality by at least 75% over a 30-year-period. In spite of the progress in this field, the MDG was not achieved; therefore, implementing new policies is urgently required.

In view of this situation, Damian Clark, PhD in Economics from the University of Oxford and Associate Professor at the Faculty of Administration and Economics of Universidad de Santiago, together with Sonia Bhalotra, Professor of Economics at the University of Essex, decided to study the reduction of maternal mortality caused by education. They conducted the study “Maternal mortality and Education,” in which they established an empirical relation between both factors.

The World Institute Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), in Helsinki, prepared a video that summarizes this important study in order to disseminate it worldwide through different media. 

UNU-WIDER is a unique blend of think tank, research institute, and UN agency that provides a range of services from policy advice to governments as well as freely available original research coordinated by a core group of resident and non-resident researchers and undertaken by a global network of collaborators.

The study

In the study, the researchers suggest that together with the typical policies of birth attendance, prenatal care and the status of health services, an increase in the level of education of women reduces the probability of dying at childbirth.

“Policy papers on maternal mortality rarely suggest the lack of education as a cause for maternal mortality. Academic and public policy literature has little to say about this issue. But in Economics, there is living literature that documents a positive correlation between education and other health indicators,” Clarke says.

They analyzed cases in countries like Kenya, Nepal and Cameroon and considering the question why education reduces maternal mortality? they found that women who have received education are more likely to avoid pregnancy complications like pre-eclampsia, bleeding and infections by adopting simple and low-cost practices to maintain hygiene, reacting to symptoms like bleeding or high blood pressure and having qualified birth attendance.

Besides, women with more education are more likely to use public health services, they have delivered their children at an older age (not during adolescence) and have had less children.

These results suggest that the levels of education attained by women in any country have significant effects on maternal mortality rates.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The increase in cardiovascular diseases and the lack of reliable information, on the mechanical capacity of the arteries, became the engine of a promising research led by Claudio Garcia, professor  in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
• "Normally, engineers work with steel, concrete, industrial materials, and leave aside those materials with unknown behaviors," the expert says. He claims that his study of the aorta artery can become a tool for "predicting dangerous states in patients. We want to help physicians in taking decisions when performing an operation," he says.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the leading cause of death in the world is related to cardiovascular diseases. These pathologies do not distinguish gender and they affect mostly people in poor or developing countries.

In this context, he estimates that about 23.6 million people will die in 2030, due to cardiovascular complications; that is why the study led by Dr. Claudio Garcia –professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Santiago- is very relevant. He seeks to quantify the effects of the diseases and the age in the arteries, particularly the aorta, one of the main arteries of the human body.

This year, he presented part of his findings in an ISI publication, entitled "Mechanical Behaviour and rupture of normal and pathological human ascending aortic wall," which appeared in June in the Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing journal.

He explains that arterial mechanics defines the structural and functional capacity of the arteries, and it can be studied to obtain new information about their behavior and how the mechanical properties affect the diseases or the patients’ age.

"Our idea was to identify and assess the properties of the materials that make up this blood vessel and try to differentiate how it is affected by age or various diseases. We wanted to know how these factors alter the properties of the material that constitute the aorta,” Dr. Garcia says. He began this research in his doctoral thesis, a study about the properties of biomaterial at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, an organization that has provided resources for his research, which also has the support of a FONDECYT grant.

According to this professional, his interest in finding out about this health subject arose during his stay in the European country, where he felt motivated "by the permanent interaction with physicians who wanted to understand how the diseases affect this kind of biological materials. In their view, having an index to predict rupture states is important because, most of the time, the criteria used by doctors are only the arteries size or diameter. "

"Normally, engineers work with steel, concrete, industrial materials, and leave aside those materials with unknown behaviors." Research to establish and study how they behave is just starting," the expert says. Then, he refers to one of the main conclusions of his study, which released the mechanical properties of materials that were unknown. He points out that the main difference among patients is the age. As people become older, the arteries become less elastic and the mechanical resistance drops significantly, so they are more prone to rupture.

The importance of this information is to "predict dangerous states in patients. We want to help physicians in taking decisions when performing an operation," he says.

• As in previous occasions, in this fourth version, Universidad de Santiago proposes to hold a great academic gathering to share works and foster an interdisciplinary dialogue.

The next International Congress of Science, Technologies and Cultures will be held at Universidad de Santiago between October 9th and 12th, 2015. Our University has decided to continue with this important initiative, focusing on three objectives: contributing to dialogue and exchange between different disciplines; encouraging the debate on intellectual work looking towards the future of Latin America and the world; and generating a big coordination movement involving people and institutions that produce and spread knowledge to develop intellectual productive clusters.

The congress will be held as a product of preexisting intellectual networks, with the purpose of strengthening and widening them, ensuring the projection of a civil intellectual society that shall rise as a voice in contemporary debates.

The organizing committee invites you to present symposium proposals for this important activity. The deadline for the reception of proposals is June 30, 2014, and they shall be sent to grancongreso2015@gmail.com.

For further information regarding registrations, proposals and activities, check http://www.internacionaldelconocimiento.org/documentos/2015/convocatoria-IV-congreso-ingles.pdf

• Ethylene is a hormone able to accelerate the ripening and maturation of fruits. Through a Fondef project, Dr. Francisco Rodríguez, a researcher at the Center for the Development of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (Cedenna, in Spanish) of Universidad de Santiago, seeks to reduce the effects caused by this gas in two particular types of fruit, avocados and kiwis, and to develop more efficient packaging for the export process.

The Packaging Laboratory (Laben, in Spanish) of Universidad de Santiago organized a seminar that was held on November 28th, at Plaza San Francisco Hotel, with the purpose of informing on the current state of a study that seeks to develop an ethylene adsorber for producing packaging for climacteric fruit, like kiwis or avocados.

The activity was attended by representatives of different companies and by Valeska González, project executive of the Fund for the Promotion of Scientific and Technological Development, (Fondef, in Spanish); Dr. María José Galotto, director of the Laben; and Dr. Óscar Bustos, Vice President of Research, Development and Innovation of Universidad de Santiago.

During his presentation, Dr. Francisco Rodríguez Mercado, director of the project, said that the level of ripeness that fruits reach while they are being transported to different countries “requires finding new strategies to allow us to control some processes that affect the quality of our products.”

Dr. Rodríguez explained that, in order to reduce the effects of ethylene, they are working on a new adsorber based on local minerals, zeolites and clay, specifically. The first results showed that if zeolites are modified by some metals, they have a better response at ethylene removal, overtaking clay by 5% in effectiveness.

At a next stage, the study will focus on developing a suitable film that will be tested in the plant and then, in the selected fruits.

International point of view

Dr. Ramón Catalá, representative of the Institute of Agricultural Chemistry and Food Technology of the High Council for Scientific Research (IATA-CSIC), in Spain, also took part in the seminar and spoke about innovation and main trends in food packaging.

According to Dr. Catalá, Universidad de Santiago is on the right track “because they (researchers at the University) are working on completely relevant issues. Besides, the researchers are excellent and they have a clear policy with regards to incorporating qualified people to strengthen research activities on active packaging,” he said.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

•  A natural technological solution to manage Bortrytis cinerea- a phytopathogenic fungus that affects grapes and causes significant economic losses- was developed by researchers at Universidad de Santiago. The study conducted by a team that involved researchers at the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology and the Faculty of Engineering will provide a healthier and more eco-friendly solution to this problem. Dr Milena Cotoras explains: “It is a natural product that adds value to residues, something that is very important for the industry,” adding that Chile produces about 100 thousand tones of these residues.

A natural and biodegradable fungicide was the result obtained in the project led by Dr Milena Cotoras. The project was funded by the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (Conicyt, in Spanish) through the Fund for the Promotion of Scientific and Technological Development (Fondef, in Spanish) and its IDeA Program.

With this support, the project “Development of a fungicide derived from wine industry residues against pthytopathogenic fungus Botrytis cinerea (code CA12i10054) was conducted in order to find an innovative solution to a problem that commonly affects wine industry: the presence of the Botrytis cinerea fungus (grey mould).

This fungus affects more than 250 vegetal species; however, it is usually related to wine making industry for its negative impact on local vineyards that leads to significant economic losses.

An interesting aspect of this study is the fact that the team used grape pomace extracts to produce this solution which, until recently, was considered as waste. These residues were obtained thanks to the collaboration of Viña Miguel Torres winery during the study.

Dr Cotoras explains: “It is a natural product that adds value to residues, something that is very important for the industry,” adding that Chile produces about 100 thousand tones of these residues.

The results of this study also included the development of six undergraduate thesis, two publications, seven presentations in national and international conferences and one patent application.

The project closure ceremony was held on May 05^th in the Auditorium of the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology and was headed by the Dean of the Faculty, Dr Gustavo Zúñiga. Francisco Vargas, executive of Fondef; Edgardo Santibáñez, manager of the Department of Technology Management of Universidad de Santiago, and Dr Isidro González Collado, professor at Universidad de Cádiz (Spain), attended the ceremony. Some of the researchers, Dr Leonora Mendoza and Dr Rubén Bustos, were also present at the activity.

Eco-friendly solutions

During the activity, Dr Isidro González Collado gave the presentation ‘Síntesis, inspirada en la genómica, de moléculas hibridas como antifúngicos contra el hongo fitopatógeno Botrytis cinerea’ to inform about part of the work that he has been doing for 35 years with his research team. 

“The big current problem with most of fungicides is that they remain on the soil for a long time, causing environmental problems and toxicity to animals, birds and even to human beings, because they enter the food chain,” Dr González, an expert in organic chemistry, says.

According to the Spanish expert, the challenge taken on by Dr Milena Cotoras and Dr Leonora Mendoza is on the right track, because it is part of the current challenges in the field, where all the efforts are being made to find effective solutions, which are less damaging to people and the environment.

Dr González says that in the case of Chile, the fungus that causes “grey rot” (Botrytis cinerea) has a strong relation with oenology. “During the past years, the use of natural fungicides has been improved in Chile and I am aware that recent work has been oriented to a natural control of Botrytis to avoid toxic residues in wine,” he says.

Bringing industry and universities closer together

Francisco Vargas, executive of Fondef, who also participated in the activity, says: “We have tried to bring industry and universities closer together, as it is the only way we have to reach products, development and innovation.”

Besides, Mr Vargas announced that in August, the fourth call for the Fondef Technological Research contest will be opened. “In this way, the efforts made in research and in activities to get economic and social impacts that give sense to research, will be extended. In other words, it is necessary to generate industrial and government actions to give our society and our markets universal access to research results. And this will only be possible if there is a permanent cooperation and mutual benefit between universities and companies.”

Translated by Marcela Contreras

•  In the context of the second IDeA en Dos Etapas Contest of the Fondef Program of Conicyt, four projects of Universidad de Santiago with potential economical and social impact were awarded about US$800,000. 664 projects applied for the funding nationwide, but only 50 were selected.
• For Dr Luis Magne, Head of the Technology Transfer Department of Universidad de Santiago, “The projects that were awarded funds represent the efforts made by our university to develop applied research projects that respond to the main problems of the country.”
• Particularly, the funds will support the following projects: “Proyecto sensores Hall ultrasensibles para detecciones varias de la industria minera” (by Dr Dora Altbir); “Bases científicas-tecnológicas para generar una propuesta de regulación de envases plásticos reciclados post-consumo para su uso en contacto directo con alimentos” (by Dr María José Galotto); “Plataforma de apoyo a la gestión de emergencia y aplicaciones” (by Dr Mauricio Marín) y la “Investigación para la optimización de la producción de pellets hidrofóbicos de alta densidad energética a través de la carbonización hidrotérmica de diferentes mezclas de biomasa de relevancia nacional” (by Dr Luis Díaz).

Universidad de Santiago was awarded 551,662,728 Chilean pesos (about US$800,000) for the execution of four projects in the context of the second IDeA en Dos Etapas Contest of the Fondef (Fund for the Promotion of Scientific and Technological Development) Program of the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (Conicyt, in Spanish). These funds will contribute to scientific and technological research with potential economic and social impact.  

Khaled Awad, Director of the Fondef Program, highlights that in this second version, the IDeA en Dos Etapas Contest consolidates itself as a strong tool to support projects in different regions of the country.

“Fondef works to promote technological development based on scientific knowledge in all areas. This contest shows us this diversity and contributes to science and technology research work conducted all over the country,” he says.

For his part, Dr Luis Magne, Head of the Technology Transfer Department of Universidad de Santiago, says: “These results show, in the first place, the high competitiveness of local science.” “The projects that were awarded funds represent the efforts made by our university to develop applied research projects that respond to the main problems of the country,” he adds.

The funds awarded to the university will support four projects.

One of them is led by Dr Dora Altbir, who will develop ultra-sensitive HALL sensors for different detection works in mining industry.

Another project is led by Dr Mauricio Marín, who will develop a support platform for emergency managing and apps.

For her part, Dr María José Galotto leads a research group who will work on the scientific-technological bases to generate a proposal for regulating the use of post-consumer recycled plastic containers for direct food contact applications. 

Dr Luis Díaz will lead a study for optimizing the high-energy-density hydrophobic pellet production through hydrothermal carbonization of different biomass blends of national importance.

In this contest’s second call, 644 projects applied for the funds, almost 200 more than in the first version, but only 50 were selected nationwide. The projects are distributed in the following areas: Food (8), Fishing and Aquaculture (8), Energy (7), Manufacturing (6), Health (6), Social Sciences and Education (5), Mining Industry (3), Infrastructure (3), ICT (2) and Environment (1).

The selected projects will go into the Applied Science Phase, where I+D (Innovation and Development) projects are funded to validate proofs of concept, models or prototypes at small scale or under lab conditions.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Dr Daniel Serafini and Dr Álvaro San Martín, both professors at the Department of Physics, have developed an innovative solution that allows to store energy as hydrogen. One of the advantages of this technology is that it is not intermittent as current non-conventional energy sources (NCES), like solar and wind energy. This project is a contribution of Universidad de Santiago de Chile to the energy industry.

An innovative technology to store energy as hydrogen is being developed by Dr Daniel Serafini and Dr Álvaro San Martín, both professors at the Department of Physics of Universidad de Santiago de Chile.

According to Dr Serafini, one of the advantages of this technology is that it is not intermittent as current non-conventional energy sources (NCES), like solar and wind energy.

Hydrogen is generated during off-peak periods via water electrolysis. Then, depending on the needs, electric power is generated using the hydrogen stored in an electrochemical device called fuel cell. This system is very efficient and is environmentally friendly, because hydrogen combustion only generates water vapour, free of greenhouse gases and particulate matter.

Storing energy as hydrogen is a better solution in comparison to lithium batteries. “We compete with lithium batteries and they are much more expensive and heavier and they have technological problems regarding their size, i.e., at equal size, they have a more reduced capacity,” Dr Serafini says.

According to the expert, with current battery technology, lithium reserves in the world “are enough to cover only 40% of the cars in the Unites States.”

It is also worth to mention that this solution is particularly attractive to settlements in remote areas that do not receive power supply from the interconnected grid system.

The researchers implemented a demonstration module at the Minera San Pedro mining camp, in Til Til (at the north of the Metropolitan Region), where the pilot project has been working since mid-2015.

The CLP150 million project has been funded by the Innova Chile program of the Chilean Economic Development Agency (CLP132 million) and Minera San Pedro.

Greater involvement of the private sector

For his part, Dr San Martín stresses that the project has been well received by the Government and that now, a greater involvement of the private sector is required. “In developed countries, different public and private programs to develop hydrogen technologies have been funded with millions of dollars for a long time,” he says.

State-run bodies in Chile have already recognized the importance of hydrogen in the future for a clean non-polluting public transport. Both researchers agree that this is an essential starting point. 

Target market

One of the benefits of implementing this type of technology in Chile is that we have enormous ENCS resources of all kinds (solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric and tidal power), but they are intermittent, so the use of hydrogen would be highly convenient. 

The researchers say that this project “is not targeted at large companies for now, but remote places, like small settlements or fishing villages away from interconnected grid systems, little mine sites and road construction zones, etc.”

They expect to fully implement the project by mid-2016. Although they acknowledge that it is necessary to make this technology more price competitive, they say that costs have significantly fallen in recent times due to the huge development of fuel cell vehicles.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

•  The project gathers 15 institutions of Chile, USA and Europe, like Cedenna, and seeks to develop, analyze and test new therapies for treating colorectal cancer by means of magnetic nanostructures. The initiative also has the purpose of promoting human capital exchange, technology transfer and the creation of new knowledge.
   

15 organizations, including the Center for the Development of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (Cedenna) of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, joined to form the Magnamed consortium and respond to the call by the EU’s research grant program that will fund the project for at least four years. Other members of the consortium are the Complutense University of Madrid, the University of the Basque Country, the University of California, San Diego and IMG Pharma. The goal of this group is to work in collaboration and find new methods to treat colorectal cancer using state-of-the-art magnetic nanostructures to directly target and destroy tumor cells and avoid the side effects of treatments like radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

“Nanotechnology has a strong impact on different aspects of daily life. Its applications are expanding and being increasingly enhanced, reaching fields like medicine, where the search for new cancer treatments has gained interest and raised expectations, as conventional therapies are still expensive and complex and their side effects leave deep marks in the body,” Dr Dora Altbir, director of Cedenna, says.

The challenge is to create nanometric-sized disc-shaped structures that can be introduced in the body to destroy malignant cells thanks to their magnetic properties, without affecting healthy cells. This type of therapy has been studied for a while, but elaborating magnetic nanoparticles that effectively interact with biosensors and which are not derived from biotoxic materials has made the European Union to promote international cooperation among universities, research center and laboratories around the world to find new solutions and reduce cancer mortality.

“For Cedenna, the fact of participating in this project represents an opportunity to contribute with a potential solution to one of the most catastrophic and fatal diseases, to learn, and to work in collaboration with different institutions. This will give us the possibility of transferring that new knowledge and share with other scientists,” Dr Altbir says. The center was already awarded funds to collaborate.

Selective treatment

An effective treatment at an early stage of the disease is key to reducing mortality in some types of cancer like colon or rectal cancer. The challenge in clinical trials lies in that cancer cells are difficult to detect because of low concentrations of tumor biomarkers, which become perceptible at advanced stages. But the most common treatments are aggressive and non-selective.

Magnetic nanoparticles bind to malignant cells, contributing to early cancer detection. However, as their application is limited, Magnamed will explore the potential of emerging technologies based on magnetic nanostructures, which design can result in a better response.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• His paper deals with details about how a person's exposure to carbon dioxide affects cerebral blood flow. The information was provided by experimental British patients, as part of a collaborative work with the University of Leicester.

Dr. Max Chacón, professor at the Department of Informatics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, was awarded the 2011 Jack Perkins Prize by the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) of England, for his publication "Non-linear multivariate modelling Hemodynamics of cerebral hemodynamics with Autoregressive Support Vector Machines.”

 The award, which consists of  £ 250, is given annually to the best paper published during the year in the Medical Engineering & Physics journal, after a review carried out by a specialized committee that evaluates aspects such as the novelty and impact of the research.

 Dr. Chacon thanked the award and noted that this type of survey research confirms the good work being done in this University. "This is an important recognition for us, especially because our paper in the area of cerebral self regulation did not belong to the field of biomechanics, the journal’s strongest line of research, which could have been  the most possible winner”, he said.

The winner added that "all the profits for this recognition are indirect: for example, increasing the bonds of cooperation not only with the university we work with (Leicester), but also with other foreign institutions".

Significant contribution to medicine

The awarded paper is part of a specific area called cerebral hemodynamics. Professor Chacón  is working with two other researchers: Claudio Araya, former student of Master’s degree at the U. of Santiago, and Ronney Panerai from the University of Leicester (England).

 The cerebral hemodynamics acquires vital importance, because the estimates of international organizations involved in the field of health in Chile indicate that by 2025 more people will die from brain strokes than heart attacks. It is believed that the blood flow would be strongly linked to vascular accidents and also with a number of diseases, such as Alzheimer's, arteriosclerosis (carotid artery, mainly), head trauma, vascular dementia and diabetes, among others.

"Cerebral strokes are rising very strongly in the country and the causes are unknown. One thing that causes brain damage is the stronger flow in the arteries. It is known that the brain has a flow control system, and this means that, although the pressure varies in the body, the flow is almost constant in the brain. If there is little flow, one loses consciousness and, conversely, if there is a lot of flow an artery breakdown happens, “Chacón explained.

This mechanism, which constantly generates blood flow into the brain, is what researchers try to model through a data–based nonlinear system. This publication addresses one of the topics related to cerebral hemodynamics, because of the data given by the English researcher who provided the information based on 16 healthy patients who breathe in air with a small fraction (5%) of carbon dioxide (CO2) through a mask. The aim was to know how breathing in this gas affects the regulation of the blood flow in the brain.

"We proved that it is possible to represent changes in the inhalation of CO2 in a person by using this nonlinear model and this has metabolic implications, for instance. We know that breathing in a fraction of CO2 produces changes, which are equivalent to those experienced by people with diabetes, i.e. a metabolic problem, and these problems affect the blood flow in the same way as CO2 does it, “the researcher said.

Prize

The IPEM is an institution dedicated to joining professionals from the physical sciences, clinical engineering, the academic world, the health services and the industry, in order to share knowledge and advances in science and technology. Since 2000, it gives the Jack Perkins Prize in honor of his first journal’s editor, who died in 2000.

• 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