3 Researchers from our center are awarded REGULAR AND POSTDOCTORAL FONDECYT.

22-01-2021

Our principal investigators, Dr. Leonardo Valdivia, and Dr. Gonzalo Ignacio Cancino won FONDECYT REGULAR. Likewise, our researcher, Dr. Génesis Vega Hormazábal, won her Postdoctoral FONDECYT.

Congratulations!!

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Outstanding panelists discussed the importance of quality aging in Chile

21-01-2021

The talk “Towards a healthy aging in Chile” was successfully held, a webinar organized by U. Mayor and the global company Abbott. The event brought together important figures from academia, the public and private sectors, to discuss the importance of generating a better quality of life for the elderly in the country. Relive the call here.

With the presence of prominent panelists, the discussion "Towards healthy aging in Chile" was held, an online event organized by the U. Mayor School of Sciences and Abbott, a multinational high-tech health Company.

In the call, which was attended by the Minister of Health, Enrique Paris, specialists on the subject met to discuss the public...

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Researchers from the CIB U. Mayor discover neural benefits in the consumption of murtilla

01-19-2021

Dr. René Vidal, together with Dr. Diego Rojas and Dr. Rodrigo Pérez, seek to discover the biomedical properties of this national fruit. To achieve this goal, they perform laboratory tests using cellular models of pathologies such as Huntington's disease. The first results showed that murtilla has neuroprotective properties that could prevent this type of case.

In Chile, the murta or murtilla grows in littoral forests and coastal mountains from the Maule Region to the Los Lagos Region, especially in the Cordillera de la Costa and part of the Andean foothills. In Argentina, it grows in the Andean foothills, and it's used mainly in jams, juices and chocolates. But the murtilla also has...

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Dr. Gonzalo Ignacio Cancino was invited to give a talk at the Department of Medical Genetics of the University of Alberta, Canada

01-13-2021

Our Principal Investigator, Dr. Gonzalo Ignacio Cancino was invited to give a talk at the Department of Medical Genetics at the University of Alberta, Canada.

It took place on 01-13-2021

Congratulations !! 👏

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Dr. Gonzalo Ignacio Cancino, participated in the IBRO Alumni Zoom Party 2021

01-11-2021

Our principal investigator, Dr. Gonzalo Ignacio Cancino, participated in the IBRO Alumni Zoom Party 2021 as a panelist representing Latin America. It is the virtual social event of the IBRO @ibro_insta (International Brain Research Organization) during the SfN (Society for Neuroscience) Global Connectome congress.

https://ibro.org/ibro-alumni-p...

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CIB academic led the first study on the importance of Vitamin D at the cellular level in Chile

01-06-2021

Dr. Carol San Martín and a team of neurologists worked with patients with cognitive impairment for two years. The gene for this receptor is important, since it modulates the gene expression of approximately 3% of our genome.

The researcher at the Center for Integrative Biology (CIB), Dr. Carol San Martín, led the first study on polymorphisms of the vitamin D receptor gene carried out in Chile in patients with cognitive impairment, together with neurologists from the Clinical Hospital of the University of Chile.

For two years, the team worked with patients with this disease, which is the period before Alzheimer's, and another group of controls of the same age, but with...

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CIB member investigates key treatment for a group of muscle diseases

12-21-2020

Dr. Julio César Cárdenas, who was recently affiliated with the University of California at Santa Bárbara, is part of a study on idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, which includes dermatomyositis, which still does not have an explanation about its origin. Thus, the academic participated in the first work on mitochondrial function in cells derived from patients, and the results could change the treatment of these pathologies.

For four years, Dr. Julio César Cárdenas, researcher at the Mayor U. Center for Integrative Biology, led a team together with Dr. Carla Basualto from the University of Aysén. Together, they investigated idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, a group of diseases of ...

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Mayor U. rises 29 places in the 2020 Research Quality ranking of La Tercera and is ranked 9

12-21-2020

Our house of studies managed to position itself within the top 10 of Chilean universities in the area: “We are very happy with the result. In recent years we have opted not only to deliver knowledge, but also to generate it ”, declared the Rector, Rubén Covarrubias Giordano.

As a reflection of the work that has been carried out in pursuit of academic excellence, the Mayor University made a significant leap in the 2020 Ranking of Universities prepared by La Tercera, going from 25th place in the 2019 measurement, to 18th place, within out of a total of 42 Higher Education institutions evaluated.

Likewise, our house of studies obtained an outstanding result in the area of ​​Res...

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Director of the Center for Integrative Biology of the U. Mayor is a member of the Latin American network for research on dementia

12-02-2020

Dr. Felipe Court is part of the Latin American and Caribbean Consortium on Dementia, whose objective is to carry out multicenter studies on aging and associated diseases in the population of Latin America and the Caribbean and to access national and international research funds.

Latin America has one of the highest prevalences of dementia in the world. One of the big problems for researchers is that most biomedical studies are carried out in the northern hemisphere, so there is a low representation of the Latin population. To reverse this situation, the Latin American and Caribbean Consortium on Dementia (LAC CD) was formed, made up of ten countries in the region.

From Chile, ...

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Scientists highlight a CIB researcher, who spoke at the main event on Neuroscience in Chile

11-30-2020

Dr. Leonardo Valdivia, principal investigator at the Center for Integrative Biology, was selected to present his line of work at the XVI Annual Meeting of the Chilean Society of Neurosciences. There he exposed how functional eyes are built in a vertebrate model during embryogenesis.

The Annual Meeting of the Chilean Society of Neurosciences is one of the most important congresses in the country in its area. Within this event, the Young Neuroscientists Symposium is organized, in which those who are in the early stages of their careers and are in the process of being (or have already become) independent are selected to present their work. Among them, this year's version featured a l...

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Talks // Center for Integrative Biology takes up talks on popular science for children in Huechuraba

11-26-2020

Led by the academic Joaquín Letelier, the initiative was born as an activity aimed at the commune's basic schools, but has now been extended to the community in general due to the pandemic. The main topics are related to the functioning of the brain.

During his doctorate at the Valparaíso Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Center (CINV), Joaquín Letelier visited several vulnerable schools with the aim of bringing science to children. In 2018 he joined the Center for Integrative Biology of the Universidad Mayor (CIB) as a researcher and his concern was kept alive. Thus, at the beginning of 2019, he contacted the Municipality of Huechuraba and the first scientific dissemination talks we...

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Parkinson's disease, dementia and the nervous system: This is how the GERO U. Mayor Center works

11-04-2020

The initiative, which aims to study aging in Chile, renewed its project for the next 5 years, which will allow U. Mayor researchers to continue investigating neurodegenerative diseases associated with this stage of life. "After 5 years we were evaluated and we had a very good rating," explains Dr. Felipe Court, director of the CIB.

Source: Radio Biobío, 1 de noviembre de 2020

https://www.litoralpress.cl/Ar...

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The Gero Center of the U. Mayor renews a project that has studied aging in Chile for 5 years.

11-28-2020

Through the Center for Integrative Biology, directed by Dr. Felipe Court, various researchers are working on projects that seek to anticipate the onset of diseases and understand how genetic, social and environmental factors influence the way Chileans age. The initiative, which also includes the U. de Chile, is part of the Priority Areas Fund (FONDAP) and will run for five more years.

GERO is a project of the Fund for Priority Areas of Chile (FONDAP), which in 2016 created a National Center of Excellence that brings together researchers from the Universidad Mayor and the University of Chile to study the biological bases of aging and establish genetic and environmental variables. an...

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How is the race for the covid-19 vaccine progressing?

09-28-2020

Paola Murgas, a researcher at the U. Mayor Center for Integrative Biology, explains that "Chile acquired 32 million doses to test part of phase 3 (the most advanced) being developed by the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech, which showed that the inoculation of 2 dose did not generate major side effects and managed to generate neutralizing antibodies."

https://www.litoralpress.cl/Ar...

Fuente: Diaro U.Mayor

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Covid // U. Mayor implements rapid testing system for covid-19 to restart Investigation efforts

09-23-2020

It is Zerocov, a technology that allows saliva samples to be taken and the result obtained in one hour, achieving early and timely detection. So far, and experimentally, more than 100 tests have been carried out on researchers who resumed their functions at the Huechuraba campus.

The Mayor University, together with the Center for Integrative Biology and Genoma Mayor SpA, implemented an experimental system for rapid testing of covid-19, with the aim of partially resuming the work in the Technological and Research Centers. It is the colorimetric RT-LAMP test (cLAMP), which they called Zerocov.

The director of the Center for Integrative Biology (CIB), Dr. Felipe Court, explai...

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U. Mayor researchers are part of a team that will seek to generate an early diagnosis to detect Alzheimer's.

08-25-2020

Professionals from the Center for Integrative Biology, led by Dr. Felipe Court, are part of the project that was awarded resources from the Fund for the Promotion of Scientific and Technological Development, Fondef IDeA I + D, with the aim of creating a new blood biomarker, based in artificial intelligence algorithms, to detect in early stages subjects at risk of developing this pathology, which would triple those affected in Chile by 2050.

Currently one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases among our population is Alzheimer's, to the point that it is expected that by the year 2050 the number of patients will be three times the current number (600,000 people approxi...

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CIB researchers lead a team that discovered a possible therapeutic target to fight various types of cancer

08-14-2020

Julio César Cárdenas and Alenka Lovy, members of CIB U. Mayor, lead a group that for 6 years worked to detect that the inhibition of the IP3-sensitive calcium channel reduces cancer cells, but without eliminating normal cells. The research was published in the journal Science Signaling, and academics from the University of Chile and the US universities of Pennsylvania, Tufts and California also worked on it.

Researchers from the Centro de Biología Integrativa U. Mayor, Julio César Cárdenas and Alenka Lovy, led the team that after 6 years of work, published the results of a study that could bring good news in the creation of therapies against cancer, the second cause of dea...

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Chilean scientists create and patent new and innovative therapy for deadly neurodegenerative disease

07-30-2020

Claudio Hetz and René Vidal from the Millennium Institute of Biomedical Neuroscience (BNI) of the U. de Chile took eight years to develop it and now they have managed to register it in the US and the Netherlands.

Huntington's disease is a hereditary genetic neurodegenerative pathology that occurs due to a genetic mutation that affects a specific group of neurons and that is caused by the accumulation in the brain of a protein called huntington.

Until now, it does not have an effective treatment and after the appearance of uncontrolled movements, cognitive damage, behavioral disturbances and finally death follow.

"Unlike other neurodegenerative diseases, Huntington is ...

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Three thousand Chilean volunteers and six hospitals would test the virus vaccine / Participation of Dra. Paola Murgas about the topic

07-23-2020

They will be the first to test the prototype of the Sinovac company. In this regard, Dr. Paola Murgas, researcher at the CIB U. Mayor Center, comments that "this vaccine, by the producer, has to comply with good manufacturing practices so that in Chile it can also be produced and marketed. In Chile we have that production capacity."

Link:

https://www.litoralpress.cl/Archivos/z.Z2.I.D.S.X.P.Ebavpith-.E7iug.%C3%96.%C3%96.mp4

Source: CNN Chile

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Vaccine developed by the U. of Oxford opens the hope of a cure for the virus / Participation of Dra. Paola Murgas about the topic

07-21-2020

Yesterday it was reported that the vaccine was shown to be "safe" and with signs of "inducing immune responses." Despite this, Paola Murgas, researcher at the U. Mayor Center for Integrative Biology, warns that "there are studies that mention that the response of our immune system would not be in the long term with this vaccine and it would be necessary to inject several doses."

Read the whole article here:

https://www.litoralpress.cl/sitio/Prensa_PaginaCompleta.cshtml?LPKey=28w2jkEr%C3%9C29d7jPQ87YN%C3%9CSUYxnbC23PIUQqPkQ/2HI0%C3%...

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U. Mayor scientists discover key mechanism in neuronal regeneration

07-20-2020

The team at th Center for Integrative Biology, led by its Director, Dr. Felipe Court, unveiled how glial cell transfer genetic material to neurons, enhancing their regenerative capacity. The research was on the cover of the lastest issue of the prestigious Journal of Cell Science.

For reading of the article:

https://www.litoralpress.cl/sitio/Prensa_PaginaCompleta.cshtml?LPKey=jshBRqg7vAVLc3dZlyPtUd0bpCGcWLmCYcgxrh35YEU%C3%96

Source: Diario Las Ultimas Noticias

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INVESTIGATION // U. Mayor scientists discover possible therapy that would decrease neurodegeneration in Huntington's disease

07-15-2020

Researchers from the Translational Neurobiology Laboratory, led by Dr. René Vidal, together with the support of laboratories from the University of Chile, the Netherlands, Israel and the USA, demonstrated the neuroprotective effect of a therapy based on growth factor IGF2. The work took 7 years and was published in the journal Acta Neuropathologica, specialist in diseases that affect the brain.

"Huntington's disease is the leading hereditary neurodegenerative disease worldwide. It has an incidence of 3 people per 100,000 inhabitants." This is how Dr. René Vidal contextualizes the finding he made together with the academics of the Translational Neurobiology Laboratory, belongi...

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U. Mayor researchers discover cellular mechanism that would be key to increase neuronal regeneration

07-10-2020

The team at the Center for Integrative Biology, led by its director, Dr. Felipe Court, unveiled how glial cells transfer genetic material to neurons, enhancing their regenerative capacity. The research was on the cover of the latest issue of the prestigious Journal of Cell Science.

"The study on the regeneration of neurons is of clinical importance, since regeneration is associated with the recovery of sentimental and motor functions in patients who have suffered damage to their nervous system, such as the spinal cord or as a consequence of neurodegenerative diseases associated with aging ".

In this way, Dr. Felipe Court, director of the Center for Integrative Biology ...

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Director of the CIB details the progress of his research on the reduction of neuropathies caused by chemotherapies

06-05-2020

Dr. Felipe Court, together with academics Bruno Nervi and Margarita Calvo, recounts the results of therapy where they use metformin, a drug used in diabetic patients, as a compound to reduce side effects that occur in cancer patients, among numbness, tingling, and pain in the hands and feet are counted.

The research began 6 years ago, when Dr. Felipe Court, director of the U. Mayor Center for Integrative Biology, began to collaborate with Dr. Bruno Nervi, who works at the Cancer Center of the Catholic University. They were later joined by Dr. Margarita Calvo, an expert in neuropathic pain.

Thus, after a time, the team that included doctoral students, medicine stud...

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U. Mayor signs research agreements with three top 70 universities in international rankings

05-11-2020

Our house of studies established framework agreements with the universities Princeton (USA), Heidelberg (Germany) and Queensland (Australia), which will allow the exchange of academics and students, apply for funds together and create collaboration networks.

Taking a further step in its internationalization plan, the Universidad Mayor completed the signing of three agreements with major world study houses, located in the top 70 of various academic rankings, such as the Times Higher Education.

It’s about, Princeton University (United States), Heidelberg University (Germany) and the University of Queensland (Australia), with whom structured framework agreements were establishe...

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About 100 undergraduate students have completed internships at the U. Mayor Research Centers

04-02-2020

Since 2018 to date, young people from different careers have participated in these instances, which seek to involve them in scientific projects or give them their first work experiences. The initiative, which is organized by the Research Immersion Program, has already been developed at the Santiago and Temuco locations.

Since 2018, nearly 100 students from different careers have participated in the internships organized by the Research Immersion Program, whose purpose is to involve young people in the research that takes place at the Universidad Mayor.

The Research and Teaching Link Coordinator, Victoria Paredes, commented that "the focus has ...

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"Coronavirus: How to face the pandemic?"

03-18-2020

U. Mayor researcher study suggests ketogenic diet may help treat a group of muscle diseases known as dysferlinopathies.

03-13-2020

The work of Julio César Cárdenas, from the Center for Integrative Biology (CIB), found a possible relationship between this regimen - low in sugars and high in fats - and dysferlinopathies, a group of muscular diseases that generate progressive muscle weakness and that have not yet They have no cure or medical treatment.

Since the researcher of the Integrative Biology Center (CIB) of the U. Mayor, Julio César Cárdenas, completed his Doctorate in Skeletal Muscle at the University of Chile, he was attracted to this organ and its ability to modify or generate reactions that impact to the whole organism.

This interest led him to work and collaborate with Dr. Jorge Bevilaqcua, who ...

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Felipe Court: "The lower the level of education, the greater the probability of having Alzheimer's"

03-10-2020

He is a neurobiologist and is dedicated to studying the aging process in order to preventively detect and treat neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and dementia. In addition to the results he monitors in his laboratory, he dedicates part of his free time to the violin and microscopic photography.

On a hillside in Huechuraba, overlooking the business city, is one of the Universidad Mayor's campus. There, installed in an office next to his laboratory, is Felipe Court (44) full professor and director of the Center for Integrative Biology (CIB) of this university. Before arriving here, his academic career has been as follows: he studied biology and art at the C...

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VIP Projects: the tool that fosters the link between undergraduate and research carried out in the U. Mayor.

03-03-2020

After a year since its implementation, this program of the Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies, which seeks that academics, researchers and students work together, has 14 projects underway.

A new type of subject that allows the link between undergraduate and research carried out at the Universidad Mayor, in a format that encourages work on highly challenging and motivating interdisciplinary projects. That is what the “Vertically Integrated Projects VIP” program is in charge of, in charge of the Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies of our house of studies.

This initiative was presented in September 2018 by Edward Coyle, an academic from the prestigious Georgia Tech, an Ameri...

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CIB Coordinator participated in the organization of the first meeting of Microscopy Units of Chilean universities

02-05-20

Dr. Ramón Ramírez is one of the founders of the Advanced Imaging and Bioinformatic Initiative (AIBI), which seeks to create a network of professionals and equipment nationwide.

The coordinator of the Microscopy Unit of the Center for Integrative Biology of the Universidad Mayor, Dr. Ramón Ramírez, was one of the organizers of the first meeting of professionals and specialists in the area belonging to different Chilean universities.

The activity was held on January 23 and 24 and 30 centers participated, in addition to institutions such as the University of Chile, Catholic, Austral and Andrés Bello, in addition to sponsoring companies such as Microsxchile, Micromundo, PerkinEl...

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CIB researcher presented at the international congress on aging held in Valdivia

01-27-2020

Dr. Felipe Court and Dr. Macarena Arrázola, postdoctoral fellow of the Center, demonstrated that by inhibiting a cellular pathway called necroptosis, memory loss can be delayed.

The director of the Center for Integrative Biology (CIB), Dr. Felipe Court, participated in the congress on aging and rejuvenation "ReBrain International Conference", which was held between January 22 and 24 in Valdivia.

The researcher presented the results made in his laboratory by Dr. Macarena Arrázola, who demonstrated that by inhibiting a cellular pathway called necroptosis, memory loss can be delayed in laboratory animal models.

“We discovered that a mechanism of neuronal degeneration par...

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Largest study of its kind in which 50 centers participated: Finding 102 genes associated with autism opens doors to better diagnosis and more therapies.

01-24-2020

Although it is estimated that cases of autistic disorder (ASD) have doubled in the last 10 years, their origin and causes are still unknown.

But research published yesterday in the scientific journal Cell delivers a sharper picture of this condition.

In a work carried out among 50 centers around the world, a group of scientists discovered 102 genes associated with the disorder, which means that there are clues of which vehicles would lead to the disease.

The finding is not minor if two data are considered: until 2015, there were only nine genes identified and, on the other hand, almost 50% of the cases are due to genetics, but how many of the 20 thousand genes are sti...

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Researcher U. Mayor describes gene associated with autism and regulating the formation of the cerebral cortex

01-14-2020

The research, led by Dr. Gonzalo Cancino of the CIB, was published in the prestigious Cell Reports Magazine.

They were approximately 4 years of work, since the idea was conceptualized until it was finally published in the Cell Reports Magazine, led by Dr. Gonzalo Cancino, principal investigator of the Center for Integrative Biology at the Universidad Mayor. The research was carried out by members of Dr. Cancino's laboratory; the postdoctoral researcher Dr. Francisca Cornejo and the doctoral student Begoña Aranda, in collaboration with researchers from the United Sta...

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Erick Riquelme, medical technologist: Scientist works to create the first Chilean cancer research network

12-23-19

The idea is to generate contacts between experts who study in isolation, to be able to share information, contribute to their projects and, in the future, generate a national center.

Erick Riquelme (43) returned to Chile six months ago after spending nine years working on cancer research at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas, one of the world's most important centers in this area. Now, back in the country, he works as a researcher at the Center for Integrative Biology (CIB) of the U. Mayor.

In the United States, together with a team of experts, he developed a research on pancreatic cancer that was published in one of the most prominent journals (Cell) and was...

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150 Years of Nature and Chilean scientists who have managed to publish in the famous magazine.

12-23-19

Founded by the Macmillan brothers in London, today the magazine is a benchmark of science worldwide, a place where several Chilean researchers have been part of their legacy.

In 2003, astronomers Mario Hamuy, National Prize for Exact Sciences of Chile (2015), and José Maza, National Prize for Exact Sciences (1999), discovered a novel method to measure the distance between stars. The research, named "An asymptotic giant branch star in the parent system of a type of supernova," and published in the journal Nature, served as inspiration and basis for astronomer Brian Schmidt to obtain the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011 to discover that the universe was expanding rapidly.

Th...

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U. Mayor CIB researcher traveled to the laboratory of Dr. Koichi Kawakami, one of the drivers of transgenesis in zebrafish

11-27-2019

Dr. Leonardo Valdivia did a transgenic line scan in the laboratory of this academic, in the National Institute of Genetics of Japan, with the aim of identifying the genetic basis of the formation of the visual system in vertebrates.

The researcher at the Center for Integrative Biology (CIB) of the Universidad Mayor, Dr. Leonardo Valdivia, was awarded a fund to visit the laboratory of Dr. Koichi Kawakami at the National Institute of Genetics of Japan, located in Mishima.

The academic of our house of studies made a positive evaluation of his stay of 10 days in the Asian country, both professionally and personally.

“Dr. Koichi Kawakami was one of the first people w...

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European Cancer Research Association selects the work of our researcher Erick Riquelme as one of the 10 most important works

11-27-2019

Pancreatic cancer is a highly deadly disease, with limited therapeutic options. However, a small group (9%) survives for more than 5 years. The reasons that determine this survival are unknown. In this work, the role of the intratumoral microbiome and its interaction with the immune system in determining this greater survival was determined. It was detected that tumors of patients who have a long survival have greater intratumoral microbial diversity and a greater density of intratumoral immune infiltrate (CD3, CD8 and Granzyme B + T cells). Suggesting that microbial diversity contributes to the anti-tumor immune response, favoring the recruitment and activation of T cells, increasing the...

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Medical technologists reward thesis work done by students of the U. Mayor

10-10-19

The College highlighted projects in the areas of Ophthalmology and Bioanalysis. The latter had the collaboration of researchers from the Center for Integrative Biology (CIB). The achievement is the result of interdiscipline and represents another step in the involvement of the centers in the undergraduate.

For the first time, the College of Medical Technologists of Chile gave recognition to the thesis work of students in five mentions. Thus, the Universidad Mayor obtained awards in two of them, corresponding to the areas of Ophthalmology and Bioanalysis.

Esteban Leyton and Diego Matus, who were guided by researchers from the C...

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