Ph.D. student of Universidad de La Frontera carried out internship at Synthetic Organic Chemistry Group of University of Potsdam

The student Víctor Marín Mosi, of the Doctoral Programme in Science with specialisation in Applied Cellular and Molecular Biology of Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO), carried out an internship at the University of Potsdam in Germany.

During his stay, he joined the Synthetic Organic Chemistry Group, led by the academic Bernd Schmidt, to deepen his knowledge in the search for natural compounds with neuroprotective effects.

“The aim of my internship was to elucidate the molecular structures of drimane sesquiterpenes isolated from Drimys Winteri (or Canelo tree), as part of the search for new bioactive compounds with protective effects against neuroinflammatory processes underlying neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s,” explained Víctor Marín Mosi.

The student added that his internship at the University of Potsdam was a central part of his doctoral thesis, which involves the search for natural compounds with neuroprotective effects. In addition, his stay allowed him to learn more about molecular determination methods, such as nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), and about the chemical synthesis of new molecular derivatives, which allow conclusions based on the relation between structure and function.
“I am happy that my university promotes and finances these stays for graduate students. The Ph.D. is a long journey, on which you have to make use of all tools and opportunities that come along on the way to enrich your professional development since it can be hard sometimes to find the support you need to materialise your ideas. With these scholarships, UFRO shows its interest in and commitment to the research developed here,” he commented.

According to Víctor Marín, it is very important to interact with international research groups, since these partnerships undoubtedly strengthen the cooperation of UFRO with the rest of the world, and in addition, the professional development of the students when they participate in these internships abroad.

ACCESS is a platform that seeks to promote and facilitate the academic collaboration between Chile and Sweden and will allow UFRO to establish important international partnerships for advanced research.

After diverse preparations, Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) officially confirmed its entry into the prestigious platform Academic Collaboration Chile Sweden (ACCESS), a network for international collaboration between Chile and Sweden.

ACCESS is a platform that seeks to promote and facilitate the academic collaboration between Chile and Sweden and will allow UFRO to establish important international partnerships for advanced research.

According to Dr. Rodrigo Navia Diez, the Vice-rector for Research and Graduate Studies, UFROs participation in this platform is a milestone and an opportunity for internationalisation and international mobility. “The opportunity to be part of ACCESS is a very important milestone, because this collaborative platform, consisting of eight Swedish universities and eight Chilean universities, allows a series of activities in the fields of student and academic mobility, research and graduate studies, which promote the internationalisation of our university. We hope that this platform will somehow strengthen our research and our work in the fields of graduate studies and internationalisation,” he commented.

The incorporation of UFRO into the platform ACCESS is the result of a cooperative work between the Vice-rectorate for Research and Graduate Studies, the International Affairs Office, and Dr. Iván Velásquez, an academic of UFROs Faculty of Engineering and Science, who initiated the conversations during a recent trip in order to materialise this impulse of development and collaboration.

“The idea is to expand and exchange knowledge between the universities’ researchers and to promote student exchange, visits, internships and graduate studies, as well as to develop joint doctoral courses,” explained Dr. Velazquez.

The ACCESS platform started in 2016, with the Swedish universities Lund University and Uppsala University and the Chilean universities Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and Universidad de Chile, with the aim of facilitating and deepening the academic relations between Chile and Sweden. At that time, the founding members of the platform collectively agreed on the framework and decided to create research seminars in Chile and Sweden.

The Department of Civil Engineering inaugurated its new building with classrooms, offices, and laboratories for research and the practical training of undergraduate and graduate students of the Faculty of Engineering and Science.

The inauguration of this new space for the Department of Civil Engineering of Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) is an important milestone for the development of the undergraduate and graduate students and researchers of the Faculty of Engineering and Science.

These new classrooms and laboratories target the fields of soil mechanics, geophysics, hydrology, transportation, and structures, and reinforce the university’s commitment to academic excellence, offering its students and researchers a top-quality training to be able to face future challenges in the field of engineering.
“We will use these new installations for both undergraduate and graduate training and research. For this reason, it is a significant progress for our university, especially for our students – for their training and technical competence,” the deputy rector, Dr. Renato Hunter Alarcón, emphasized.

The dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Science, Dr. Jorge Farías Avendaño, added that this infrastructure is a fundamental pillar for the students. “These new installations will allow them to better face new technologies in the field of construction and design, and to be successful in their future work environments,” he explained.

The project included the extension of the existing building’s second floor, with a workspace specifically for the administration of the department and offices for collaborative work of the department’s professionals and administrative staff; as well as the construction of an annex building with three floors. The first floor consists of laboratories for experimentation and analysis, the second floor offers spaces for research and academic development, with laboratories and classrooms for thesis students, and the third floor is designed to meet future academic needs, with an ideal environment for teaching, learning, and research.

This project started about ten years ago and was implemented under the leadership of Dr. Viviana Letelier González, who highlighted the work and support of the academics, professionals, and administrative staff behind this important initiative. “These new spaces position our Department of Civil Engineering not only at the regional level but also in the south of Chile. The new state-of-the-art equipment will allow us to provide high-quality training and research, thus contributing to the global state of knowledge,” she commented.

Undoubtedly, the most benefits are for the students, as for example Mariluz Huiriqueo Antivil, the head of the Civil Engineering Student Centre, who comments: “This magnificent equipment and the new installations are so important for our development as future professionals, and also for our practical training. We learn the theoretical part in the classroom and now, we can put that knowledge directly into practice. That is a great benefit that prepares us for our future work.”

“ATMOSPHERIC RIVERS: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY…”

During the inauguration activities, the civil engineer of Universidad de Chile with a Ph.D. in Meteorology from the University of Washington (USA), Dr. René Garreaud Salazar, gave a lecture on “Atmospheric rivers: the good, the bad and the ugly…”. In his presentation, he explained the phenomena of atmospheric rivers in Chile and their meteorological relevance, as well as the characteristics of beneficial rivers in terms of their water balance and snow cover, and of extremely dangerous rivers and their consequences.

The delegation of Universidad de La Frontera, with researchers of CIAM UFRO and students and graduates of the Physical Education, Sports and Recreation undergraduate program, participated in the International Conference, which took place at Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, in the city of Santiago de Chile this year.

The aim of the AIESEP (International Association for Physical Education in Higher Education) International Conference is to promote quality research on physical education, physical activity and the teaching of sports. This year, it took place for the first time in Latin America, under the theme “Emerging horizons: Bridging the borders between physical education research and practice”. At the important event, Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) had an outstanding active participation, with the largest delegation among the representatives of Chile, consisting of researchers of the Physical Literacy Research Centre (CIAM) and students and graduates of the Physical Education, Sports and Recreation undergraduate program, who presented their work in different modalities.

One of the highlights of the congress was the Symposium “Physical literacy in Latin America: towards a contextualised development”, presented by CIAM UFRO. In this Symposium, the researchers Dr. Jaime Cárcamo and Dr. Catalina Rivera from UFRO (Chile), Dr. Isaac Estevan from University of Valencia (Spain) and Dr. Joao Martins from University of Lisbon (Portugal), presented their projects, research and experiences related to the development of physical literacy, and discussed the need for a contextualised implementation in Latin America.

In addition to the symposium, other members of CIAM presented their work in different areas, such as Dr. Luis Henríquez, who presented his research on initial teacher training, addressing the issue “Didactic planning during professional internships”; and Nicolás Martínez, who presented the study “Motor competence and compliance with physical activity recommendations in Chilean schoolchildren”.

In the poster presentations modality, the graduated physical education teacher Paulina Candia and the students Javiera Fuentes and Javiera Parada of the Physical Education, Sports and Recreation program of the Faculty of Education, Social Science and Humanities presented their respective work related to Motor Competence.

The participation of the delegation of UFRO in the AIESEP International Conference 2023 allowed the international dissemination of the work of CIAM UFRO, the strengthening of their international partnerships, and a broader and more diverse view of their research and ongoing projects. It also demonstrates the commitment of the research team and the excellence of their work in the field of Physical Literacy, converting the Research Centre into a national reference in this field of knowledge.

“These important participations and contributions strengthen our research and promote the development of more contextualised and effective approaches in Physical Education and the promotion of active lifestyle habits,” Dr. Jaime Cárcamo, the director of CIAM UFRO, explained.

The next AIESEP International Conference will take place on May 13-17, 2024, at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland. It will be another great opportunity for the researchers, academics and professionals in the fields of Physical Education, Motor Competence and Physical Literacy to exchange knowledge and present the progress of their work in their fields of studies.