Researchers from Uruguay and Mexico carry out an internship at the Center for Integrative Biology to study cell aging.

09-04-2019

Sofía Ibarburu, Andrés Cawen and Daniel Moreno were interested in the work done by the unit's director, Dr. Felipe Court.

Two Uruguayan researchers and a Mexican do an internship at the Center for Integrative Biology (CIB) of the Universidad Mayor, with the aim of studying cell aging.

Sofía Ibarburu, who works at the Pasteur Institute in Montevideo on neurodegenerative diseases, arrived in Santiago interested in the work of the center's director, Dr. Felipe Court. “He went to present a job to Uruguay and a project on exosomes caught my attention and I contacted him,” he said.

The young woman said that her idea “is to study the senescence of a population of cells that we isolate from animal models to investigate amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. I brought the cells there and the goal is to characterize them and see if they are capable of generating senescence in other cells. ”

Regarding his stay in the laboratories, Ibarburu commented that "I have felt very comfortable, they have received me very well and I have all the materials to work for."

His partner, Andrés Cawen, was also motivated after a Court talk at the Pasteur Institute, where “we try to characterize axonal degeneration in aging and brain trauma. There arose the possibility of coming to work with him. ”

For a month, the biologist has worked in senescence and necroptosis. "It has been a good experience, a lot of learning."

Meanwhile, Mexican Daniel Moreno won a scholarship granted by the publishing house "The Company of Biologists" to doctoral and postdoctoral students to carry out research stays in any laboratory in the world.

"I was struck by the research carried out by Felipe, who is an expert in axonal degeneration and necroptosis and is also one of the most productive researchers in Chile," said the young man.

In these weeks, Moreno has studied the regeneration of axons in senescent neurons. "In the CIB there are several researchers and laboratories on the same floor, so we can interact," he said.

For the director of the center, having foreign interns “reflects that the studies we are doing are recognized worldwide. This international impact means that undergraduate students, doctoral students or postdoctoral researchers from other countries are interested in applying what we have investigated in the CIB in their own research projects ”.

The neurobiologist stressed that these instances "are an excellent experience for lab researchers, as it allows us to exchange work techniques, discuss scientific issues and promote the internationalization of the research we are conducting."