• According to official statistics, in Chile there are 34,000 people infected by the HBV, which is transmitted through exposure to infectious blood or body fluids. Worldwide, 240 million people live with this disease. This is the reason why Dr Camilo García, professor at the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, decided to study the feasibility of a more effective and economical method for detecting this disease, in the context of a Fondecyt Initiation project awarded in 2015.

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Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV) which affects the liver. It is transmitted through exposure to infectious blood or body fluids and it can cause both acute and chronic infections. Hepatitis B can be fatal and cannot be cured.

According to statistics provided by the World health Organization (WHO), 240 million people worldwide suffer from chronic Hepatitis B, which can develop into cirrhosis and liver cancer. In Chile, 34,000 people are infected by the HBV

In this context, and thanks to the funding provided by a Fondecyt Initiation project (11150434), Dr Camilo García, professor at the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology of Universidad de Santiago, seeks to develop a new method for detecting this disease.

Background

According to Dr García, he has an important reason for studying this disease. In Chile, there is a specific HBV genotype: genotype F.

“I decided to study Hepatitis B to explore a new field, because this is a terrible disease and the current detection methods are very expensive, in comparison to the one that we are studying. There is a type of Hepatitis B that has only been detected in Chilean people. So, it would be great to find a sensor that detects the strain that we want to identify,” he said.

“The human quality of the work team at the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology of Universidad de Santiago was another reason to conduct this study,” he added.

After completing the three-year project, he expects to have a new detection method that contributes to the patients’ well-being and comfort during medical procedures.

Methods

“We want to see if it is possible to develop Hepatitis B sensors based on electrochemiluminescence,” professor García explained.

Quantum dots –fluorescent nanoparticles- emit light when voltage is applied. This light signal can be absorbed by a DNA-binding molecule, like cationic porphyrins.

Dr García explains that the study will be based on the comparison between linear DNA sequences and molecular beacons for Hepatitis B virus to establish if the light signal is affected by the resonance, providing novel biosensors to detect the disease.

Translated By Marcela Contreras

 A research team led by Dr Claudio Vásquez Guzmán, professor at the Department of Biology of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, proved that Antarctic bacteria are able to resist tellurium when they are exposed to oxidative stress.

Dr Claudio Vásquez, professor at the Department of Biology of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, together with his research team, proved that Antarctic bacteria are able to resist tellurium when they are exposed to oxidative stress. 

Tellurium (Te) is one of the many elements in the Periodic Table. It belongs to the same chemical family as oxygen, sulfur, and selenium, which are considered essential to life. However, until now, we still do not know if this element has any biological function. For this reason, the research team of the Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology of the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, led by Dr Claudio Vásquez, has studied this element for years, trying to understand the molecular basis of its toxicity.

Since 2013, Dr Vásquez and Dr José Manuel Pérez, of Universidad Andrés Bello, have worked together in the Regular Fondecyt Project N° 1130362 “Tellurite-resistant Antarctic bacteria: Unveiling new toxicant resistance mechanisms,” which was recently completed.

“The hypothesis of our project was the following: As bacteria living in the Antarctica are resistant and adapted to oxidative stress, they should be resistant to tellurite. The idea was to find super-resistant bacteria that could help to establish the usefulness of tellurium to the cell,” Dr Vásquez explained.

The idea of the project came from the observation of isolated samples collected from different places in the Chilean Antarctica. They visited the Prat and Escudero Antarctic Bases, Deception Island and Fildes Peninsula and travelled on the Almirante Óscar Viel ice-breaker of the Chilean Army, where they were able to find, isolate and describe microorganisms resistant to oxidative stress and tellurite.

Tellurium is primarily used in the manufacturing of solar cells. According to Dr Vásquez, “It is an essential part of photoelectric cells that capture sunlight and transform it into electricity.” This is the reason why this element is a potential source of energy. “Now we need to create a system to remove tellurium from the environment, because it is very scarce,” he added.

In Chile, tellurium is produced as a byproduct of the copper refining process. It settles as anode slime and it is not recovered. “If we store it and control it well, we could contribute to prevent its potentially toxic effect on the flora and fauna,” he said.

Dr Vásquez concluded by saying that Universidad de Santiago has been really important during the conduct of this study for its support and constant collaboration.

• 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

The product, a particular type of rice, produced by a project of the Facultad Tecnológica in 2008, with the support of the Fundación para la Innovación Agrícola  (FIA), is in the process of obtaining its corresponding patent.

There was a high national and international impact in May 2008, because of this  new type of reconstituted rice obtained from by-products  of  the polishing process of this cereal, such as spikes, defective pieces, flour and others. The important finding is that it requires less time and only a quarter of water than the traditional rice usually used for cooking. It has also been developed with a variety of flavors, nutrients and fiber to make it competitive.

The leader of this project was Laura Almendares, researcher at the Department of Science and Food Technology, Facultad Tecnológica. She was supported by the Fundación para la Innovación Agrícola  and by  other researchers from the University and rice producers from Parral, in the Maule Region, and El Huique, in the O'Higgins Region.

Four years after this stage of research, Professor Almendares is now actively working in obtaining the corresponding patent for  her creation and in the generation of projects to achieve the commercialization of this innovative product.

In this context, the academic recently presented a paper in Brazil at the workshop "Potential and Qualities of Rice from the West Frontier area." This event brought together researchers, farmers and rice entrepreneurs from Santa Marta - where 80 percent of Brazil’s rice is produced- and   was organized by the Federal University of Pampa, with funding from the National Council for Scientific and National Development.

"With the support of Unipampa we generated contacts with businessmen with the aim of consolidating the business model of our rice, so that it can be produced industrially and enter the market" said the specialist Almendares on her visit to Brazil.

Efforts are also made in Chile. In this regard, this researcher of the Facultad Tecnológica explores different tools to market her product among consumers in a massive way, even at the Corfo level.

"It wasn’t easy because it’s unusual for a university to generate a patent for a product to be marketed (in a  massive way)", she said. However, she  recognizes that there is a large Chilean rice company interested in producing and distributing the rice created in the laboratories of our university. Thus, this kind of rice could be soon on Chilean and foreign supermarkets shelves.

• A research team led by Dr. Pedro Chaná designed an application for computers and mobile devices that helps people with Parkinson’s disease to follow an exercise routine and contact with their attending team of physicians.
• The researchers of this study that relates Psychology to Information Science are part of the Information Technology Innovation Center for Social Applications and the Center for Movement Disorders. Dr. Pedro Chaná said that this tool “facilitates patients’ rehabilitation, contributing to improve their quality of life.”

According to international data, there are about 40 thousand people with Parkinson’s disease in Chile, while about 2% of the world population suffers from this neurodegenerative disorder that affects the central nervous system and movement and, therefore, people’s quality of life.

In this context, researchers at our University developed an innovative application for computers and mobile devices that helps patients with their exercise routines.

By relating Information Science to Psychology, specialists of the Information Technology Innovation Center for Social Applications (Citiaps, in Spanish) and the Center for Movement Disorders (Cetram, in Spanish), both of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, designed the Rehabilitation Exercise Virtual Assistant (AVER, in Spanish).

This tool allows people with Parkinson’s disease to follow an exercise routine according to a calendar and to receive instructions from their doctors in their cell phones. At the same time, doctors will be able to monitor their patients’ progress and to communicate with them through texts, images and videos from their computers.

The principal investigator of the project and director of Cetram, Dr. Pedro Chaná, said that the application “facilitates patients’ rehabilitation, complements their workout routines and contributes to improve their quality of life.”

Dr. Chaná also said the AVER has already been implemented as a pilot project and is being evaluated in order to adapt the technology to users. “What follows is the field test, the last pertinent corrections and the implementation,” he added.

Besides, Dr. Chaná valued the work done together with young researchers of Cetram and Citiaps, “with whom we made up a multidisciplinary team and developed a different and very positive work culture.”

Contribution to patients’ quality of life

The Rehabilitation Exercise Virtual Assistant has been developed by a team mostly made up of young researchers. One of them, Álvaro Fernández (Citiaps), a post-doctoral researcher, shows himself “very pleased” with the work that they have done. Dr. Elena Herrera (Citiaps) shares his opinion, highlighting the contribution “to patients’ autonomy and quality of life” made by the application that they developed.

“Frequently, patients are not able to go to the physiotherapist on a regular basis or cannot afford it. This innovation will be of great help to them. Besides, it is a significant contribution to their autonomy, as they will be able to work out without needing to travel long distances or to interrupt their daily routines,” Dr. Herrera added.

The AVER tool developed at Universidad de Santiago is expected to undergo the last improvements to finally be implemented for the benefit of patients, the world of medicine and society in general.


Translated by Marcela Contreras

·         In 1859, Charles Darwin published the book “On the Origin of Species”, where he states that invading species with a high degree of evolutionary closeness to the invaded community (phylogenetic relationship), would be less likely to become established, because “struggle for survival” would be more intense between related species. However, experiments conducted by Dr Sergio Castro, researcher at the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology and CEDENNA, have shown something different.

“Many people have accepted Darwin’s hypotheses as incontrovertible facts due to his recognized status in science. However, many of these hypotheses lie on mechanisms that have not been evaluated. This is a common situation in science development: usually the observations made are tested afterwards,” Dr Sergio A. Castro, researcher at the Laboratory of Ecology and Biodiversity of Universidad de Santiago, says.

In order to test Darwin’s hypothesis, Dr Castro and his research team developed a Fondecyt project. In this context, their paper “Evaluating Darwin’s Naturalization Hypothesis in Experimental Plant Assemblages: Phylogenetic Relationships Do Not Determine Colonization Success” was published by the renowned journal PLOS ONE, currently the largest scientific journal in the world, with a high impact factor (Q1) for its citations.

“Different species can be introduced in an area and several of them can finally establish themselves as populations, as if they were native species, without depending on human action. These are considered naturalized species. In our experiment, we observed a colonizing plant in different vegetal communities. These communities had different degrees of phylogenetic relatedness with the invading species. If Darwin was right, a trend towards the establishment of the invading species would have been recorded, depending on the evolutionary relatedness. However, after three years, we evaluated the results and they did not support Darwin’s hypothesis,” Dr Castro says.

The experiment was conducted in Batuco (a place close to Santiago) and 15 species were selected. One of them, the native lettuce Lactuca, was used as a colonizing or invading species, while the other 14, like chamomile, broad bean, arugula, among others, were used as experimental assemblage communities. With these plants, five treatments were organized according to their different phylogenetic relatedness with respect to Lactuca. They showed that colonization did not depend on phylogenetic relatedness. 

“En nuestro estudio todas las plantas pudieron convivir, independiente de sus parentescos. Por esto, los resultados manifiestan que la hipótesis de Darwin no tiene un respaldo tan sólido o por lo menos no es tan general como él lo planteaba”, indica Castro.

“In our study, all plants were able to coexist, regardless of their relatedness. Therefore, the results show that Darwin’s hypothesis does not have a strong base or, at least, the hypothesis is not as generalized as he stated,” Dr Castro says.

The researcher has also evaluated Darwin’s naturalization hypothesis by analyzing the composition of Chilean flora and introduced exotic plants. This work not only disproved the hypothesis, but it yielded opposite results.

“We found that species from other environments can be introduced in Chile’s central zone and find relatives that survive well in this climate. These relatives can provide pollinators and seed dispersers, making naturalization more likely to happen, contrary to what is expected in Darwin’s hypothesis,” he says.

Having an impact on global change

In the past few decades, people have become more interested in knowing how the different human activities affect the environment. The focal point has been climate change, passing over other factors, like introducing foreign species, flora or fauna, in other places. These factors are considered as part of global change.

“Chile is a biogeographic island. It is surrounded by a mountain chain, a desert and an ocean; therefore its flora has evolved isolated for more than 180 years. However, in the past centuries some species have been introduced that are risky to native species,” he explains.

Chile’s central zone biogeography is so particular that it is considered one of the 35 biodiversity hotspots of the world. These places are characterized by a high level of species endemism, but at the same time, their preservation is in danger as a result of human impact.

“An introduced species can produce the extinction of a native one, damaging our biodiversity. Nowadays, our variety of exotic plants is wide if compared with the variety of our native flora. But, what can we do to prevent this situation? There is little we can do in a globalization context, but we can generate diagnosis to prevent some species from entering and becoming naturalized,” Dr Castro says.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Its first office in South America will be located at Universidad de Santiago de Chile, with name of Leitat Chile International Center of Excellence in Nanotechnology (CEN) and it will operate with all the experience in research and technology that the Leitat Technological Center has had in Spain since 1906.
• It will contribute to give added value to strategic sectors of the Chilean economy, like mining industry, fishing and aquaculture, food and agriculture, and forest industry, and to the industry of personal protection equipment. According to the President of Universidad de Santiago, Juan Manuel Zolezzi, CEN’s contribution “Will allow us to give qualitative leaps in innovation matters based on science and technology.”
• The Center will arrive in Chile thanks to the Attraction of International R&D Centers of Excellence program promoted by the Chilean Economic Development Agency (Corfo), Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Knowledge Innovation Market (KIM), and Universidad de Santiago.

On September 03^rd, the Leitat Chile International Center of Excellence in Nanotechnology (CEN) was officially presented. Universidad de Santiago de Chile is one of its partners.

In Chile, it will contribute to give added value to strategic sectors of the local economy, like mining industry, fishing and aquaculture, agricultural-food and forest industry, and to the industry of personal protection equipment.

This center will also try to transform technological research and development into concrete services and products that contribute to national productivity and competitiveness, which are currently based on natural resources.

This Center will become a reality in Chile thanks to the Attraction of International R&D Centers of Excellence program promoted by the Chilean Economic Development Agency (Corfo), and to the contribution of Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Knowledge Innovation Market (KIM), and Universidad de Santiago de Chile.

During the ceremony held at Club El Golf 50, Dr Joan Parra, General Director of Leitat, was the first speaker. He said that his project in Chile is based on three core ideas: people and their talent, the making of industrial policies and the value of the product or service.

“We want these core ideas to be the seed. We are absolutely convinced that societies require technology, that technology is affecting not only our work and our leisure time, but that it is an important part of the base for social stability and economic growth,” he added.

“We will spare no efforts to make this initiative a collective success and I would like to express my gratitude, again, to Corfo and the university (Universidad de Santiago),” he said. Dr Parra travelled from Spain to head this important opening activity.

Qualitative leaps in innovation matters

The President of Universidad de Santiago, Dr Juan Manuel Zolezzi, said that CEN’s contribution “Will allow us to give qualitative leaps in innovation matters based on science and technology.”

He said that, in order to collaborate in this process, our university will accommodate the center in the campus, so that it brings its laboratories, equipment, and advanced human capital to develop technological and innovation collaborative scientific work.

“For us, Leitat is an international strategic partner with significant experience in outreach and engagement and technological transfer and innovation. These aspects are very important for our university, as it is stated in our Institutional Strategic Plan,” President Zolezzi said. 

Dr Zolezzi highlighted that “At becoming partners, we seek to broaden our capabilities to plan and to use the knowledge and technologies generated at our university to reach other important agents of the country, like industries, the government and the society. This is part of the clear commitment that we have made as a state and public university to contribute to people’s welfare.”

As Dr Zolezzi explained, Universidad de Santiago will participate in three research lines: mining industry, fishing and aquaculture, and food and agriculture

The analysis of the industry needs and opportunities in these areas will be led by Dr Alejandro Gutiérrez (Mining industry), Dr Rubén Bustos (Fishing and aquaculture), and Dr Claudio Martínez (Food and agriculture).

Positive impact on the corporate sector

For his part, CEN’s manager, José Luis Checa, said: “Leitat’s strategy on arriving in Chile is to have a positive impact on the Chilean corporate sector, especially on those areas that have been defined as strategic ones. It is our firm belief that companies need innovation, as a sustainable mechanism to create value, what in turns becomes added value for the country. 

He invited all local agents in the nanoscience field to collaborate in joint projects that allow making the most of the knowledge and experience of this Spanish institution.

Needs of the productive world

Finally, in his speech, Eduardo Bitrán, Vice President of Corfo, said that we will have the opportunity of linking Leitat’s experience with the efforts made in research by Universidad de Santiago

“We acknowledge that our universities have progressed in the development of scientific research; but we still have essential challenges regarding to better relations with the needs of the country and the productive world,” he added.

“As a country, we want to move forward from an economy that uses natural resources as raw material to develop, to an economy that develops products and services with a higher added value by using its natural resources. For this reason, one of the results that we expect is the development of companies with higher levels of innovation and technology, to start developing business sectors with a higher knowledge-base,” he concluded.

Leitat Foundation in South America

This is the first office of Leitat Foundation in South America and it will focus on promoting research, development and innovation in the different economic sectors, contributing to the integral development of society and the territory, to innovation promotion and competitiveness improvement.

The Foundation defines itself as a “technological partner” constantly adapting to the market that promotes changes to strengthen technological ventures -supporting innovation in big companies- and to consolidate international collaboration as the value given by technological networking, linking research with the market.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• A research team at the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology of Universidad de Santiago de Chile is working on an ointment to combat melanoma, the most aggressive form of skin cancer

The study led by scientists Sofía Michelson and Claudio Acuña is currently at preclinical stage (animal testing). The cream’s active compound comes from a Chilean endemic plant and it has proved to be an effective solution for melanoma. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 2 and 3 million people are diagnosed with this type of cancer every year.

"We are fighting melanoma because it is the most aggressive skin cancer. Currently, there exist other ointments to treat skin cancer but they do not specifically treat this type," Michelson said.

The main challenge the researchers face is to find a mechanism that is able to boost the body’s response in the presence of a tumor, so that it can stop the progress of the disease.

“The problem is that the human body does not react to tumours because they make the body believe that they are normal. For this reason, the idea is to achieve an immune response similar to the one that is produced in case of bacterial, viral or parasitic infection,” Acuña said.

The cream developed by the researchers is applied topically every third day for about a month. During that period, the application zone should be protected.

The cream contains an extract of an endemic bush in Chile that is found between the regions of Coquimbo and Bíobío (central Chile) which affects the viability of the tumor cells. “We have already conducted other studies on melanoma treatments, so it was during that search that we found this substance,” Michelson said.

The effectiveness of the treatment has been encouraging. After using the ointment in animals, they more than doubled their life expectancy in comparison with conventional treatments.

"The ointment gives protection against tumor growth. If life expectancy was previously seven days, now it is up to 24 days. There are even some subsequent cases that were able to successfully eradicate melanoma," she added. The medication also allows to prevent the disease from recurring.

Another advantage of this product is its low cost. Therefore, it would give the patients more access to the treatment.

“Currently, there are many products available to treat general cancer, but many of them are expensive, so people cannot have access to them,” Michelson said. This is one of the reasons that led the researchers to study melanoma.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Dr Silvia Matiacevich and Professor Rosa Navarro, both researchers at the Technological Faculty of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, were able to concentrate quinoa proteins in liquid emulsions to then dehydrate them into a powdered product that could be an alternative to animal products.

After two years, a team of scientists at the Technological Faculty of Universidad de Santiago de Chile found that quinoa proteins can be concentrated to generate liquid emulsions and then, after being dehydrated, transformed into a nutritious healthy powdered product.

Dr Silvia Matiacevich, professor at the Department of Food Science and Technology, and Rosa Navarro, professor the Technological Faculty, are leading this study that has already shown significant results.

“We were able to produce shelf-stable liquid emulsions based on quinoa proteins. Without any additive, these proteins and oil with active properties can be kept stable for almost 25 days, with a good appearance and without getting contaminated,” professor Navarro says.   

Based on these emulsions, then the researchers were able to make a powdered product for people who do not eat animal products.

“We dehydrated these high-protein emulsions because we wanted to offer a powdered ingredient that can be added to any type of food to enhance its properties,” professor Navarro adds. The powder includes a bioactive component which is rich in antioxidant and antihypertensive properties.

“In this way, we can offer two versions of the product as a functional and healthy food, even for people allergic to quinoa,” Dr Matiacevich says.

The product idea

In 1996, quinoa was classified by FAO as one of humanity’s most promising crops, not only for its beneficial properties and its many uses, but also considering it as an alternative to solve the problems of human nutrition.

Quinoa is mostly grown in the Bolivian and Peruvian Andes. In Chile, quinoa crops are expanding in the northern and central regions of the country.

These were the reasons why the researchers decided to carefully study the properties of this pseudo-cereal.

“Quinoa has high protein content. However, people still do not consume as much quinoa as one may expect, so we asked ourselves if quinoa’s proteins are as functional as the proteins of soya or milk,” professor Navarro says. The researchers focused their work on a product that could be put in the market as an alternative to dairy products (or even meat) for people who do not consume animal products, like vegans, for example.

Other professionals collaborating on the project are Dr Rommy Zúñiga (Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana), Dr Javier Enrione (Universidad de Los Andes), and Dr Carolina Astudillo and Dr Fanny Guzmán (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso).

The project has been funded by means of contributions and Conicyt grants.



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