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, PerkinElmer, GrupoBios, Arquimed and Sax.

Dr. Ramírez is one of the founders of the Advanced Imaging and Bioinformatic Initiative, formed in 2019 with Jorge Toledo (University of Chile), Miriam Barros (Universidad Andrés Bello) and Nicole Salgado (P. Universidad Católica), and that seeks to create a network of professionals and equipment nationwide.

During the meeting, held at the University of Chile, participants agreed to develop a database of all existing teams and specialists in the country, a legal framework and a coordinated organization of all centers, among other points.

“For me, as a professional in the area of ​​microscopy, it is of great importance to unify efforts to achieve a common good at the national level, achieving a coordinated advance in the use of new technologies. The highest percentage of scientific publications nationwide focuses on work done by microscopy and it is vital for researchers to know the wide range of equipment and professionals in the country. In addition, generating these instances of conversation between the different facilities and microscopy centers serves to professionalize the field and create unified operating bases for the experiences of the different centers, ”said Dr. Ramírez.

For his part, the director of the Center for Integrative Biology, Dr. Felipe Court, commented that “this is an excellent initiative, which will allow generating interactions between many universities in the country around microscopy. The CIB and its Microscopy Core has focused on having state-of-the-art equipment, which is reinforced by the recent award in the Conondet Fondequip projects of a unique microscopy team in Chile."