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.