Leading practitioners in areas as diverse as business, academia and communications, agreed on the importance for our country to link more closely the world of science and business and acknowledged the need to invest more capital in research and development.
During three days eighteen opinion leaders dressed in Lab coats, performed molecular biology experiments, where, among other activities created a fluorescent-cell and listened attentively to the presentations by the researchers and directors of Fundación, Dr. Bernardita Méndez and Dr. Pablo Valenzuela. As usual, these talks led to interesting debates.
The participants agreed on the importance of the wide dissemination of science and technology for the development of our country. For Juan Andrés Camus, President of Celfin Capital, "it is fascinating to have a place like Fundación Ciencia para la Vida in Chile, where science and technology meet perfectly. A good educational system is needed in order to take countries like Chile into the knowledge economy. That is the way to a prosperous futre and Fundación is taking a key role in that”, he said.
María Elena Wood, Director of Programming at Televisión Nacional de Chile TVN, emphasizes that "this experience opened my mind to a field of knowledge that I knew it existed, but having done the workshop, my perception is now completely different. It is a great incentive to undertake projects that combine economic impact, science and communications".
For Nicolás Shea, Innovation Advisor to the Ministry of Economy, the discussions generated by this workshop are in line with "the ministry’s objective to make Chile a center of innovation, ie, a place where talented people can join our economy, from any part of the world and contribute to the creation of a knowledge economy" he said.
Ninth version of Genetic Engineering Workshop for Opinion Leaders at Fundación Ciencia para la Vida.
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The Encuentros Conferences aim to create spaces for collaboration among Chilean researchers residing abroad with investigators, businessmen, government authorities and Academics in Chile.
The talk of Dr. Valenzuela presented the history of Fundación as a model for innovation in the work of scientific research and biotechnology development. This year, Encuentros 2010 received more than 220 Chilean delegates that came from over 20 countries who are carrying out research in a wide variety of areas.
]]>Dr. Felipe Opazo, research fellow of the European Neuroscience Institute (ENI) in Göttingen, Germany, visited Fundación Ciencia para la Vida as part of the “Chile invita a Chile” program, which aims to promote scientific collaborations between researchers of Fundación and Chielan fellow investigators that are currently working at renowned foreign research centers of excellence.
On that occasion Dr. Opazo presented the seminar "Limited Intermixing of Synaptic Vesicle Components Upon Vesicle Recycling"
Dr. Opazo completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Chile where he graduated in molecular biotechnology, and later obtained a PhD in neuroscience at the International Max Planck Neuroscience Research School in conjunction with Georg-August-University in Göttingen, Germany.
Dr. Felipe Opazo, research fellow of the European Neuroscience Institute (ENI) in Göttingen, Germany.
]]>Dr. Maldonado has developed his career in research, both in Europe and in the USA. He left his native Venezuela, in the early 90s, to study biology in Brussels at the Université libre de Bruxelles where later continued with a PhD in Immunology. At present, he is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard´s Medical School (HMS). He joined HMS after conducting research at the School of Public Health from the same University.
Dr. Maldonado at Fundación Ciencia para la Vida
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Dr. Young during his presentation at Fundación Ciencia para la Vida.
This activity aims to promote science in the classrooms in an attractive and enjoyable way in addition to promoting and improving the education tools for science teachers in secondary schools, improving the educator’s competence in order to have better educated and motivated students.
The workshops took place during January and brought together more than 60 teachers from Valdivia, Osorno, Linares, Talca, Talagante, Viña del Mar, Arica and Santiago. They were able to interact with renowned national scientists. On Tuesday Dr. Mario Rosemblatt presented the interactive Immunologic System, “La Patrulla Celular”. On Wednesday Dr. Enrique Brandan talked about the interactive Muscular Dystrophy. The final presentation was given by the 2008 National Prize of Sciences, Dr. Nibaldo Inestrosa, who gave a seminar about his research into Alzheimer´s disease
At the end of the event teachers received an audiovisual set as teaching material support, to be used in their classrooms.
Over 60 attendees coming from different places in Chile participated in the Third Edition of the Multimedia Workshop for Teachers 2010, which took place in the Fundación Ciencia para la Vida.
]]>As recognition of his outstanding scientific career both nationally and internationally, Dr. Valenzuela was invested with the highest honor that universities can bestow: the degree of Doctor Scientiae Et Honoris Causa. In a solemn atmosphere full of symbolisms, Dr. Juand de Dios Vial, former Chancellor of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile introduced and presented the candidate. The main authorities of Universidad San Sebastian, headed by its Chancellor, Ricardo Riesco, honored Dr. Valenzuela with this degree.
Friends, family and prominent figures from the scientific, political and economic arenas of the country also accompanied Dr. Valenzuela during the ceremony, which ended with a heartfelt standing ovation. This appointment is the third Honoris Causa that Dr. Valenzuela receives. He has been distinguished by the University of Tarapaca, Chile in 2004, and by the University of Bordeaux, France in 2005.
Dr. Valenzuela did his undergraduate studies at the University of Chile where he graduated as a biochemist, to later continue his doctorate at Northwestern University, becoming a pioneer researcher in the biotechnology arena worldwide. He is renowned for his scientific contributions and discoveries related to the hepatitis B and C viruses. Dr. Valenzuela co-founded the Fundación Ciencia para la Vida, where cutting edge research, scientific training and research-based businesses are combined to drive Chile towards its economic and social development.
Dr. Valenzuela received the degree of Doctor Scientiae et Honoris Causa by Universidad San Sebastián last Thursday December 10th.
]]>This year Fundación Ciencia para la Vida welcomed a delegation of nearly 30 doctoral students and Faculty from UCSF, including prominent scientific figures such as the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1989, Michael Bishop. Dr. Bishop, together with Harold Varmus, won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of cellular oncogenes.
The objective of this conference is to promote a direct and friendly interaction between young researchers and faculty of UCSF with their counterparts from the Instituto Milenio MIFAB and Fundación. This is conducted via seminars, keynote lectures, poster presentations and social activities.
In this picture. Manuel Varas, PhD student in Biotechnology Universidad Andrés Bello, Alvaro Lladser, Post Doc in gene and immunotherapy at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, Pablo Valenzuela, Chilean Prize of Applied Science and Technology 2002; Mike Bishop, Nobel Prize in Medicine 1989; Consuelo Bruno, Engineer in Biotechnology at the University of Chile, Cristián Hernández, Executive Director of RedCiencia.
]]>The aim of the festival is to encourage the use of different tools to reinforce the continuing medical education for secondary students so they can improve their understanding of the scientific and technological advances in this area.
The Eureka Program aims to reach a greater number of school teachers in Chile who could use this material in their science classes. For that purpose, free training workshops will be held in January, not only to deliver all the necessary multimedia material developed by the Eureka team, but also to train Teachers on how to best complement their teaching curriculum with this material. For more information on the workshops please contact us.
This image belongs to the home page the program "Virtual Laboratory of Genetic Engineering".
]]>Dr. Elgueta received the award for best Ph.D. dissertation in the last twenty-first Annual Meeting of the Society of Cell Biology of Chile, held in the town of Pucon, during the first week of November.
Raul Elgueta is a Biologist of the Catholic University of Chile, PhD in Science with a major in Molecular and Cellular Biology and Neuroscience at the University of Chile. He has been carrying out research at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, NH - USA and soon will continue his career at Kings College London.
Dr. Elgueta during his presentation at Fundación Ciencia para la Vida.
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Dr. Holmes opening address at International EMBnet-RIBio Conference 2009
Also, at the conference the following students of Fundación presented posters:
- Jorge Valdés: “Assessing regulon diversity in the Acidithiobacillus genus by comparative genomics”.
- Amir Shmaryahu: “High throughput prediction of small regulatory RNAs (srRNAs) in extremophilic bacteria”.
- Francisco Ossandón: “High throughput, multigenome analysis using the AlterORF bioinformatics pipeline reveals both rampant misannotation and novel gene discovery”.
- Roddy Jorquera: “Intronless Gene Database”.
- Francisco Duarte: “Multigenome analysis of proteins from extremely acidic environments”.
During the conference the Iberoamerican Society for Bioinformatics (SoIBio) was formally created. Dr. Holmes was elected both to its Board of Directors and to be the Chilean representative to the Society, while Jorge Valdés was elected student representative to the Society. The next SoIBio meeting will be held in Chile, 2010.
Jorge Valdes at the Poster session
]]>Daniela is dedicated to the study of a special type of immune system cells and their role in cancer disease. In turn, Rodrigo is pioneering into a new field of research called neuroimmune biology.
For Fundación, these nominations are not new, Sebastián Bernales in 2008 and Cristian Hernandez in 2007, both members of Fundación´s Executive Team, were honoured with this recognition.
Rodrigo Pacheco Daniela Sauma
]]>Dr. Valdez and her team visited renowned research centers in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile looking for partners that could engage in scientific collaborations and strategic research alliances. The CENIBiot was recently opened in August this year, and aims to contribute to the overall economic development of the Costa Rican agribusiness sector by supporting bioprocessing research and development in harmony with the environment.
From left to right: Veronica Gonzalez -Technology Transfer Executive CENIBiot, Mariana Ramirez - Business Development Manager CENIBiot, Marta Valdez - Director CENIBiot, Cristian Hernandez-Cuevas-Business Development Director FCV, Mario Rosemblatt Executive Director FCV, Esteban Engel - Research Associate FCV.
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Dr. Dopson´s seminar at Fundación Ciencia para la Vida
]]>Nicolás Torres, a school student from the Merryland School in Puente Alto, knew little about science but was thrilled to visit the laboratories, "in addition to our regular science classes at school, all I know about science is what we can see through the cable TV channels, it is amazing what is done in Chile," he said.
Like Nicolás, much of the 100 students who visited Fundación on Wednesday 7th have a rather distant relationship with the national scientific events, and are unaware of the Chilean research institutions that develop high impact investigations aimed at improving the quality of life of the Chilean society. It was common to hear among the adolescents phrases like "I never knew this existed in Chile", "The world of science is really fun and exciting", "I never thought of becoming a scientist, now that might be an interesting career alternative."
During their visit, Dr. Vivian Wilhelm explained the research programs that are being carried out at the Fundación and later gave way to a guided visit of the laboratories where the students were divided into groups led by the following researchers of Fundación: Consuelo Bruno, Esteban Engel, Nicole Tischler, Erwin Krauspkof and Alejandra Loyola.
In this occasion the students interacted with a number of investigators and performed some basic laboratory experiments. "Pipetting was by far the most entertaining part of the visit, I felt like a real scientist for a few minutes," said Nicolás
Dr. Viviam Wilhelm giving a talk to school students at the Fundación's Auditorum.
Pablo Valenzuela and Cristián Hernández with major delegation of Biochemistry students.
]]>On Wednesday August 12, Dr. Denis Barkats gave a public talk at Fundación Ciencia para la Vida on his living experience at the US Amundsen-Scott South Pole station where he spent the whole 2006 winter season as part of his Postdoctoral studies on the "Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization Program (BICEP)".
Dr. Barkats, who started with him dressed with the winter gear he used at the South Pole, currently holds a Commissioning Scientist position for the ALMA project at the Atacama Dessert. As he explained, "that means that I am part of team of scientists and astronomers who will test all the complex subsystems of the ALMA observatory (telescope, camera, calibration devices, software, analysis tools), and develop new systems as needed to bring the whole observatory to a scientific functional state". This implies a wide variety of tasks from debugging all kinds of software to troubleshooting new hardware, writing data acquisition scripts, analysing data, giving public talks and preparing reports. "In addition, 25% of my time is dedicated to independent research in which I am continuing to analyse the BICEP observations", he concluded.
The President of Conicyt was accompanied by her CCTE Committee: Jani Brouwer (Basal Financing Program Coordinator), César Muñoz (Director of the Associative Research Program of Conicyt), Marcela Iglesias (Science-Industry Coordinator) and Juan Luis Soto (Coordinator of Center Evaluation).
The Basal Financing Program seeks to empower and strengthen Scientific and Technological Centers of Excellence (CCTE), that carry advanced research activities, development of human resources and technology transfer, and contribute to increase the competitiveness of the Chilean economy and the general development of our society.
Researchers of Fundación and Conicyt Committee
]]>Renowned professionals in areas as diverse as business, venture capital funds, academia and communications, shared three days of work experience as genetic engineers. They work with human and bacteria cells, manipulated DNA and created a transgenic fluorescent bacteria.
The participants agreed on the importance of this activity to bring together the business and the scientific worlds. They also agreed on the need to invest new capital by integrating biotechnology into business. "It's an endless topic that has important implications," said Claudio Maggi, Executive Director of InnovaChile of Corfo, stressing that "although we are a country rich in natural resources, our future as a nation, probably will require that we move towards a knowledge based economy. In biotechnology we have a promising opportunity as a country and we need to go for it”.
José Miguel Musalem, Management Director of Aurus Capital, was extremely motivated with the experiments in the laboratory, "the magic of this is that you realize what little you know. By doing the experiments is easy to imagine the potential of biotechnology. The Chilean investment in basic science required to support biotechnology developments in Chile is still low. For example, elsewhere billions of dollars are invested and in Chile the investment is around the hundreds. There is a tremendous potential and we must do something constructive about it”.
Opinion leaders stressed the important role of the Fundación in bridging the gap from natural resources to a knowledge economy. Pilar Vergara, Director of Diario La Segunda, indicated that she feels "extremely surprised and proud that in our country there is a place where science is at work trying to solve visionary problems. Here the scientists are facing the world of science in a more diverse way, along with the scope of basic and applied research, health care, entrepreneurship and economy", she concluded
On April 16th at the Concepción´s headquarters of Universidad San Sebastián, Alejandra Loyola PhD gave the talk, "Impact of changes in chromatin in the regulation of the human genome” and Nicole Tischler PhD presented the talk “Hanta virus infection and antiviral strategies". On the other hand on May 8th at Universidad San Sebastián´s Campus Pilauco in Osorno city, Rodrigo Pacheco PhD, gave the lecture entitled "Impact of Immunology on human health”. Doctors Loyola, Pacheco and Tischler are investigators of the newly created “Centro de Biomedicina”, a joint program between the Universidad San Sebastián and the Fundación Ciencia para la Vida.
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The principal investigator of the work entitled "Fusion activity of the hantavirus Gc protein” has been awarded a travel grant for Latin American Scholars worth $2,500 U.S dollars. The work has been accepted for an oral presentation in a Symposium on "Viral Cell Entry" together with several international experts.
The researchers and institutions involved in this project are: Nicole Tischler from FCV, MIFAB and Universidad San Sebastián, Gonzalo Barriga, Simón Vidal, Ignacio Muñoz-León, Pablo D. Valenzuela, Nicolás Cifuentes from FCV, MIFAB and Universidad Andrés Bello.
The American Society for Virology (ASV) was founded in 1981 to provide a forum for investigators of human, animal, insect, plant, fungal and bacterial viruses, whether the research involves the use of clinical, ecological, biological or biochemical approaches. The Society sponsors an annual meeting, designed to promote discussion and collaboration among scientists active in all aspects of virology.
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Corporación Biotec was established in 1995 with the primary objective of taking advantage of biotechnology and technological innovation to solve the needs of the bio-industry in Colombia and open new opportunities to farmers in the region. The corporation has become a real paradigm shifter in biotechnology, as one of its main strengths is the direct relationship with the farmers of the area who provide information to scientists and technicians, who after studying their requests in the laboratories recommend practical biotechnological solutions.
At present, Corporación Biotec is developing 13 projects. One of them is aimed at using the technology of "in Vitro Cycle Micrografting” in large plantations in the Cauca Valley of Colombia to increase the number and quality of Soursops, a tropical fruit produced in the region.
Cristián Hernández, Myriam Sánchez, Pablo Valenzuela
]]>Chile and Germany have been strengthening their ties in the field of science and have already signed four bilateral agreements to promote scientific cooperation, substantially increasing the number of scholarships available to Chilean students. A new program has been recently started to implement a “Chilean – German Postgraduate Plan” to carry out joint doctoral programs in strategic and priority areas at renowned universities in both countries in order to strengthen and broaden the basis of this bilateral cooperation.
Susana Maldonado (ICM), Mario Rosemblatt, Inge Lamberz, Claudio Wernli (ICM)
]]>Francke, an expert in genetics, explained her motivations and recent research. Her visit was within the invitation by Standford University to come to Chile and take courses at the venue that this house of studies has in the country.
Her research has ranged from human and mouse chromosome identification and gene mapping to the discovery of genes involved in heritable disorders, studies of their functions and of disease-causing mechanisms. Applying genomic technologies to mammalian genetics research, her current focus is on the development of mouse models for human microdeletion syndromes.
Uta Francke and young scientists at Fundación EcoScience
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In this meeting were involved leading figures of the national and international scientific environment. Ramón Latorre (Chile), National Science Award and Erwin Neher (Germany), Nobel Laureate in Medicine gave conferences that were simultaneously broadcasted through Nature.com’s virtual facilities in Second Life.
Erwin Neher, Nobel Laureate in Medicine and director of the Department of Membrane Biophysics, emphasized the value of this initiative. "We are happy that you are here. Young people active and involved with a project like this broadens the horizon”, noted in the opening session of this congress.
Encuentros 2009, gathered members of Bionexa.org, a network that was born from a group of Chilean students in Europe, including Cristián Hernández Cuevas, currently Business Director of Fundación. This initiative took much momentum when Nature Network - a network that aims to connect all the scientists in the world - offered a partnering with them in April last year. One key aim of Bionexa, says Hernandez, is to "accelerate scientific developments in Chile."
The National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT) has just bought Bionexa.org. The creator team of this project will continue to manage the network, but with more financial support and the validation of CONICYT.
Claudio Wernli(ICM, Chile), Erwin Neher(Nobel Laureate, Germany), Walter Stühmer (Max Planck Institute, Germany).
Members of Encuentros 2009
Pope, has been actively involved for more of 30 years in the environmental movement and has been on the board of other organizations related to ecology such as the National Clean Air Coalition, California Common Cause, Public Interest Economics, Inc., among others.
Sierra Club is North America's oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization with 1.3 million of members working together to protect the communities and the planet. Pope was accompanied by his wife Shanaz Taplin-Chinoy and enjoyed a helicopter tour of Santiago sponsored by Fundación Ecoscience.
To read the articles that Pope wrote about the south of Chile visit
http://sierraclub.typepad.com/carlpope/2009/02/chiles-ecotopia.html
http://sierraclub.typepad.com/carlpope/2009/02/letter-from-chile.html
http://sierraclub.typepad.com/carlpope/2009/02/where-the-fuschias-grow-like-trees.html
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In addition, the paper made with six Chileans co-investigators, "Regulation of dendritic cell migration by CD74, the MHC class II-associated invariant chain (Science. 2008 Dec 12; 322 (5908) :1705-10), was published by the prestigious journal Science and has the participation of Maria Rosa Bono and Mario Rosemblatt, both researchers from the Fundación. This work was also highlighted in Nature Reviews Inmunology (Impact index: 28). This research work describes a novel mechanism linking the immune response to intracellular movement.
RedCiencia’s main objective is to become a space of integration, exchange and development among Spanish-speaking investigators. The new web-based platform, will be available to the entire scientific community in early March. RedCiencia will welcome all areas of science and will be managed by the same team behind Bionexa’s success.
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With excellent positive feedback ended the second edition of the Multimedia Educational Workshops for Teachers of Science, carried out by Programa Eureka of Fundación in conjunction with Programa Explora from CONICYT. These workshops are aimed at enhancing and improving the educational tools of science teachers in high school so students are better prepared in current scientific issues and more motivated to undertake a scientific career.
On this occasion, three workshops were held at Fundación from the 13th to the 15th of January. Thanks to Explora, the National Network of Science for Schools, over 60 teachers across Chile registered and attended the course where they received training on the use of audiovisual materials for the classroom and heard lectures and interacted with leading scientists. Among those renowned researchers were Dr. Nibaldo Inestrosa (Chilean Science Award-2008) and Dr. Mario Rosemblatt (UNAB Science Award-2008). Both actively participated in the production of two interactive DVDs "Las Incomunicaciones del Alzheimer" and "La Patrulla Celular", repectively.
For Claudia Duran, teacher of biology and chemistry at Alma Mater School from La Granja, the workshop represented a "very important experience for the development of my profession, we received valuable teaching material that we can apply directly in the classroom. Bringing science to teachers in this way has a multiplier effect, because what we learn here, can be taught at the school straight away"
As Professor Mauricio Hernandez from the Geoerge Huneeus Zegers Educational Center at La Pintana pointed out, “we are impressed by the important work done by the Fundación and puzzled by how few Chileans are aware of this extremely important work”. He stressed that "It's very difficult to believe that in our country, Chile, there are scientists of the quality that we saw here and that they are doing first-level science”.
At the end of each training day, teachers were given a takeaway set of audio-visual material to use in their classrooms. This set consists of three series of interactive DVDs: Colección Eureka I and II (12 DVDs) and the Biotec Biomed Series consisting of 3 DVD and a book.
Programa Eureka of Fundación Ciencia para la Vida, will continue working on the development of this area, bringing science and innovation to our teachers and the community, and does not rule out the possibility of - in conjunction with Explora- new versions of these workshops with new items that bring in a new way of education to our youth.
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Dr. Holmes submitted the project “Application of Bioinformatics and Comparative Genomics to Investigate the Ecophysiology of Bioleaching Microorganisms" in order to carry out fundamental biological research into bioleaching microorganisms and to capture knowledge that can be applied to industrial copper recovery.
In the Biomedicine field, Dr. Alejandra Loyola got funding for her project “Characterization of the non-nucleosomal histone H3.1 and H3.3 post-translational modification patterns”, which aims to investigate the role of the non-nucleosomal H3 post-translational modification patterns in the regulation of gene expression.
On the other hand, Dr. Rodrigo Pacheco was awarded funding for the project “Role of dopamine receptors on the T-cell mediated immunity”, which aims to unveil the pathophysiology of certain neurological diseases and illnesses that involve an imbalance in the immune response as in autoimmunity, immunodeficiency and cancer.
David Holmes Alejandra Loyola Rodrigo Pacheco
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On Friday December 12th, Dr. Rodrigo Mora from Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital, gave a lecture on the mechanisms that regulate the lynphocyte homing In the recently inaugurated Multimedia Facility of Fundación Ciencia para la Vida . He presented unpublished data on the role that pathogens and stromal cells have in the induction of T cell homing to the intestine.
Dr. Mora is a former student and current collaborator of Mario Rosemblatt (FCV’s Executive Director) and María Rosa Bono (Immunology Lab., Universidad de Chile). Presently, he directs the main immunology lab at the Gastrointestinal Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital of the Harvard Medical School(HMS) where he was recently given the "Howard H. Goodman Award”, in recognition for his outstanding research. This award represents a substantial financial contribution to his research activities since it provides US$ 150,000 per year for two years to cover research and other expenses.
At the opening ceremony of the Workshop, led by La Pintana’s Mayor Jaime Pavez, Programa Eureka´s constant support and dissemination of science and technology was highlighted. Pablo Rosenblatt, director of Programa Eureka said that "the initiative of La Pintana is unique and worth noting, especially for a low income sector. At la Pintana, we need to motivate our children to be curious, as this triggers their knowledge development. "
The aim of this Workshop on Experimental Sciences is to give students tools which will allow them to live in harmony with their environment and to be prepared for scientific challenges, said Isaías Bolaños, director of the Museum for Science Initiative (ICM). In addition he explained that, “it is necessary to train our teachers on new techniques and methodologies that will allow our children to leap forward into a knowledge society".
Pablo Rosenblatt, Jaime Pavez, Isaías Bolaños
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Dr. William Green, Dean of the Medical School congratulated Dr Rosemblatt on his appointment and underlined the aspiration of the school that his appointment will help to “substantially strengthen our educational and research programs”. Dr. Rosemblatt has a long-standing research collaboration with Professor Randolph Noëlle of this University on the subject of control of the immune response. Several of his Chilean students are currently working in Dr. Noelle’s laboratory as part of an exchange program between the Fundacion and Dartmouth.
Medical School Science Building
]]>Professor Gluckman is one of New Zealand’s best known scientists. His research focuses on understanding how a baby’s environment between conception and birth determines its childhood development and life. His research has won him numerous awards and international recognition including Fellowship of the Commonwealth’s most prestigious scientific organization, The Royal Society (London). He is the only New Zealander elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science (USA) and the Academy of Medical Sciences of Great Britain.
Professor Gluckman met with Dr. Pablo Valenzuela and a team of senior scientists of Fundación in order to explore potential areas of collaboration. After an interesting and colloquial conversation, both Dr Gluckman and Valenzuela agreed to work together towards developing new scientific awareness initiatives that could be carried out between the Liggins Institute and Fundación.
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Last December 4th was the inaugurations of the biotech company The Tree Lab Chile at the Auditorium of Fundación Ciencia para la Vida. The New Zealand Ambassador, Nigel Fyfe, and the general manager of the new company, Erwin Krauskopf, headed the opening. Prominent guests from government and the industry sector attended the ceremony. Among them were Jean Jacques Duhart, Subsecretary of Economy, Vivian Heyl, President of Chile’s Science and Technology National Comission (CONICYT), Eduardo Bitrán, Chairman of Chile’s Innovation Council, Claudio Maggi, Executive Director of Innova Chile and many others.The Tree Lab Chile is a joint venture between a New Zealand biotech company and Chilean researchers. The purpose of The Tree Lab Chile is to micropropagate high-value plants for the flower and fruit industry, using state-of-the-art technology such as somatic embryogenesis. This technique is characterized by its high multiplication rate and a minimal somaclonal variation, thus achieving a homogenization of the plants produced. In addition, The Tree Lab Chile provides assistance with the regulatory documentation needed for the import/export of plant material anywhere in the world, allowing its clients to reach foreign markets though the company’s commercial service platform.
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In order to strengthen links between high school teachers and researchers, last Wednesday December 3, a group of over thirty teachers visited the laboratories of Fundación. They were guided by researchers who instructed them about the projects that are being developed at Fundación Ciencia para la Vida. The initiative is part of a series of lectures organized by the Chilean Academy of Sciences titled "The Wednesday in the Academy". This year the lectures were focused on the topic of transgenics and their importance in today's society. Such Laboratory visits are vital to foster the knowledge exchange between those who are doing science and those who are teaching it. The lectures were given by prominent scientists such as Dr. Pablo Valenzuela, Dr. Nibaldo Inestrosa and Dr. Romilio Espejo, among others.
Patricio Felmer, organizer of this activity and corresponding member of the Academy, stressed the responsibility of research centers to provide education in our country, "our education requires a big improvement in quality for a successful development in education and science, the support the research centers are giving in this matter is crucial”, concluded.
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Last Wednesday, November 26, Dr. Mario Rosemblatt was awarded the Premio al Mérito Universidad Andrés Bello 2008. The award was given by Universidad Andrés Bello, based on his countless contributions to the expansion and improvement of the scientific research and education in Chile. He has been described as an active facilitator of the implementation of a number of government initiatives that aim to foster science and technology development in Chile.At the ceremony, held at the Campus Casona de Las Condes, Universidad Andres Bello, Rosemblatt, an expert immunologist and fellow scientist at the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard University, noted that "this award marks a milestone in my career. With my work I want to contribute to the Chilean science and train the students that give me the energy to move forward and pursue further investigations".
Mario Rosemblatt is a Biochemist of Universidad de Chile, PhD in biochemistry from the University of Wayne State (Michigan, USA) and a Fellow of the Millennium Institute of Fundamental and Applied Biology (MIFAB). At present, his research has been focused on developing new vaccines and improving new organ transplant-rejection technologies.
Mario Rosemblatt, Manuel Krauskopf and Chile´s MInister of Economy Hugo Lavados.
Mario Rosemblatt with some of his students.
Daron Green, Jaime Puente, Juliana Salles and Felipe Veloso.
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November 10th, 2008, marked the beginning of the fourth Science and Friendship meeting. The meeting took place in the newly built auditorium at the Fundación Ciencia para la Vida. For the next two days, presenters and audience alike were inmerse in a scientific exchange worthy of top universities in the world. To a passerby, it would have appeared as if they were transported to another world, one without intellectual barriers and full of a collaborative athmosphere. The audience included four professors from UCSF (University of Californioa San Francisco): Charly Craik, Bob Farese, Jim McKerrow, and Jack Taunton, 20 students from UCSF, as well as professors and students from the Fundación and affiliated universities. The objective of this fourth meeting was to promote collaborations and the exchange of ideas. Besides providing a forum for presenting and listening to top-notch research, it provides ample time for informal discussions among participants, whether it be at the poster sessions, during coffee breaks, or at evening events. Overall, all participants go away with a sense of belonging to a scientific community, not only of their respective countries, but also of the world. Arguably, this would make them better scientists for the future.
Pre-fellow Program
To expand the current association between UCSF and Fundación Ciencia para la Vida, we have recently created a new exciting exchange program that we hace called the Pre-fellow Program. Through this program, we offered newly graduated UCSF students the opportunity to come to Chile and work in a laboratory for a minimum of six months. This year´s awardee was Alex Yick-Lun So, "I had a great experience in Chile working with Sebastián Bernales. I highly recommend the Pre-fellow Program for those who are considering it. From here, I will be moving to Los Angeles to start my post-doctoral studies in Caltech".
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A $10 million pilot program ($10 million per year, totaling $40 million over four years) from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute will now enable eight teams of scientists to devote substantial time and energy to pursuing collaborative, potentially transformative research. The Collaborative Innovation Awards represent a shift for HHMI because they represent the first time the Institute will provide direct funding for specific research projects. They are intended to encourage both HHMI investigators and scientists outside HHMI (like Dr. Bernales) to undertake projects that are new and so large in scope that they require a team of collaborators with a range of expertise.
The eight projects were selected from among 62 proposals submitted by HHMI investigators and will bring together a total of 33 researchers from 16 institutions in the United States and Chile. The Institute will evaluate the success of the eight projects selected in this pilot phase, and expects to expand the program in coming years. Each collaborator will receive funds from HHMI to cover their research budget, including the purchase of new equipment if needed.
The Unfolded Protein Response: A Good Target for Drug Design?
Cells have an elaborate system in place to ensure their protein-folding resources are always prepared to meet demand. That system is so influential that it can make life-or-death decisions for cells, and its impact on cell survival has been implicated in a variety of human diseases. Teasing out the precise effects of each component of this regulatory system is a daunting task, but could help researchers find new ways to intervene in disease. So, with a new Collaborative Innovation Award from HHMI, a team of scientists led by HHMI investigator Peter Walter is taking on the challenge.
Walter, will team with Frank McCormick, HHMI investigator Kevan Shokat, Marc Shuman, and James Wells, all at the University of California, San Francisco, and Sebastián Bernales, who is at the Fundación Ciencia para la Vida in Santiago, Chile, to develop those tools. The group will work together to amass a collection of drug-like molecules that they and other researchers can use to enhance or dampen each branch of the unfolded protein response in predictable ways. Then they plan to use those tools to test whether the unfolded protein response can be exploited to kill cancer cells.
Monthly videoconferences will ensure the continued exchange of ideas between the collaborators in San Francisco and Chile, and Walter is optimistic that a close and energetic collaboration over the next four years will allow the team to accomplish its goals.
As part of his visit, Dr. Hahn gave a seminar title “Molecular approaches to study infection mechanism and multiple fungicide resistance in B. cinerea”. During the last 2 years Dr. Hahn has been collaborating with Evelyn Silva and Pablo Valenzuela from the Fundación in the identification and expression analysis of B. cinerea genes involved in early stages of infection, especially germination, using “knock out” mutants and microarray technology.
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Clinica Santa Maria is actively pursing a more active role in clinical research with emphasis on basic and applied biomedical sciences.
]]>In addition, two Fundación´s junior researchers visited different schools in Santiago to deliver lectures. Nicolás Cifuentes visited the Terranova School in La Reina and lectured on “Viruses, friends or foes?” and Nicole Tischler lectured at the Palmares School in Quilicura on “Cells and their 1,000 wonders”.
Erwin Krauskopf during the lecture to the students.
Students at one of the laboratories
]]>For three days the seventeen participants dressed their lab coats to carry out laboratory experiments – such as the creation of transgenic cells - and to listened to the presentations of our scientists Bernardita Méndez and Pablo Valenzuela, followed by motivating debates.
The participants agreed on the importance for the development of our country of being exposed to the new scientific knowledge and technologies. Ivan Vera, General Manager of IGT emphasized that “ it is important to close the knowledge gap between society and science. A first step is for leaders to get hold of this knowledge and make it their own. Indeed I will be more proactive in the sense of think in the future of what we want for Chile. If we do not build it ourselves nobody is going to do it. This workshop has motivated me to do something”.
Jani Brouwer, Director of the Program for Basal Financing of Scientific and Technological Centers of Excellence of Conicyt, expressed that she feels a deep admiration about the work being done at the Foundation, “it is one of the eight Centers that I have to manage at Conicyt, I wish there were more initiatives like this one. It is very important that this kind of institutions integrate political leaders, businessmen, economists to national scientific work, because I think this is the future of Chile”. In addition, she stressed the importance that children in school- age and scanty resources have the chance “to know this world such as I know it now. For that we must continue to increase the amount of resources for these Centers”.
For the journalist Patricia Politzer, it was very important to have the possibility of knowing and experiencing more closely these topics, which are constantly in the public debate, “the truth is that it is very impressive to see how little we know about these subjects and the task that involves a workshop like this is fascinating, it opens your mind. There are many things that are changing because of all this scientific and technological development and we must make efforts to learn a little more” she concluded.
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The work of Dr. Darlix is dedicated to understand the structure and replication of the HIV and hepatitis C viruses and the searching for antiviral drugs that inhibit their replication. His work also includes the development of different lentiviral vectors, which are used worldwide to deliver genetic information into the genome of host cells.
During his visit Dr. Darlix gave a seminar on “Non-integrative lentiviral vectors and the impact of the viral protein VPX”. Furthermore, he agreed a collaboration with Dr. Nicole Tischler, Fundación’s leading Virologist, aimed at using lentiviruses for the characterization of the cell entry mechanism of hantaviruses. For this purpose a Ph.D. student of Universidad Andrés Bello, Nicolás Cifuentes –who is under Dr. Tischler’s supervision- will be trained at Darlix’s lab in Lyon for over a month.
María Rosa Bono, expert in immunology and the scientist in charge of running the sorter facility indicated that, “for the first time in Chile a purpose-built FACS facility will be available to the research community to conduct high-content functional experiments”. She also added that “soon we will launch a web page explaining the service and describing the equipment; people interested in using it will able to register and book the equipment online”.
The service is available to investigators outside Fundación Ciencia para la Vida, inquiries are welcomed at sorterfundacion@bionova.cl
Cell Sorter at Fundación
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After the lecture Dr. Huber had lunch with Senior and Junior members of the Fundación as well as other authorities of the academic world. At the end of his visit, Dr. Huber was given a helicopter tour of Santiago and environs courtesy of Mr. Eduardo Ergas, founder and President of the EcoScience Foundation.
From left to right: Eduardo Ergas, Cristián Hernández, Mario Rosemblatt, Bernardita Méndez, Jorge Gatica, Arturo Yudelevich, Robert Huber, María Inés Vera, Pablo Valenzuela, Manuel Krauskopf.
Robert Huber giving the Lecture.
]]>Sauma’s research aims to study the connection between Immunology and Developmental Biology. Her work is certainly unique in the country and seeks to ascertain basic and unexplored aspects that are related to the mechanisms that the immune system uses to "decide" the best biological strategy to eliminate the different types of pathogens to which we are exposed during our development. In addition to this recognition, in 2006, Daniela was honored by the Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Chile with the Dr. Hermann Niemeyer Medal for being the best PhD student of that year.
Mario Rosemblatt, Daniela Sauma and Maria Rosa Bono.
]]>The STCE responds to the government’s commitment to foster the country’s scientific and technological research and leverage and strengthen Scientific and Technological Centers of Excellence that pursue research, human capital training and technology transfer as a way to boost the economy’s competitiveness and the development of Chilean society.
According to Pablo Valenzuela, this funding is a fundamental step in the development of new projects because it “provides very important economic stability that we did not have before. We will now be able to reinforce a series of new projects and look into riskier areas that can be very relevant from a technological perspective, such as new salmon vaccine projects".
Mrs. Brouwer and her team in a guided tour given by Dr. Pablo Valenzuela
Dr. Vivian Wilheilm (FCV's Principal Investigator), Brett Glencross and Romela Marín (FCV's Research Asociate).
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Mario Rosemblatt, Executive Director of the Fundación and chilean diplomats.
]]>Andrew Protter, Medivation's Vice President for Preclinical Development, met last Wednesday 13th with the research group directed by Dr. Sebastian Bernales and visited the lab that this biotechnology company has at the Fundación Ciencia para la Vida.
Sebastian Bernales and Andrew Protter with Mediavtion´s team
]]>During the ceremony, attended by the Chilean Minister of Mining, Santiago González Larraín and CORFO’s Executive Vice President, Carlos Álvarez, 374 million pesos (about US$ 740,000) were awarded to the “Development of dedicated DNA arrays for monitoring industrial bioleaching transcriptomes”, a project that aims to develop both a platform for monitoring transcriptomes and a Microsoft environment software for data analysis, function prediction and model building.
The project proposes collaborative work by investigators from the two centers in Chile, the FCV and UCN, and BHPBilliton, with complementary and synergistic experiences in the bioinformatics and genome biology of bioleaching microorganisms, the identification and monitoring of bioleaching microorganisms, and practical experience in industrial scale bioleaching, respectively. Additional support for Drs. Quatrini and Holmes comes from a Microsoft Sponsored Research award and the FCV.
The project aims to advance the fundamental understanding of the bioleaching process in the short term, and to optimize copper recovery kinetics and yield via bioleaching in the long term.
Dra. Raquel Quatrini, Mining Minister Santiago González Larraín.
The visit culminated with an interesting lecture given by Dr. Aguayo titled "Identification of Chilean neuroactive molecules with biopharmaceutical potential", where he presented examples of native Chilean molecules with high therapeutic potential.
Dr. Sebastián Bernales, Dr. Sergio Fuentealba, Dr. Luis Aguayo, Dr. Leonardo Guzmán, Cristián Hernández.
ación, gave a talk on immunology to school students from various districts in the metropolitan area. Dr. Rosemblatt’s talk, titled “La Patrulla Celular” (The cell patrol) aimed to bring immunology closer to school students from 7 th to 10th grade. His lecture took place in the Auditorium Hall of La Granja Municipality. This talk is part of a joint activity between CONICYT’s Explora Program and the Millennium Scientific Initiative that have set out a common goal to bring science closer to the general public. In his talk, Dr. Rosemblatt not only presented the work he has been doing in immunology for decades, but also, answered many questions from curious children and engaged in an interesting conversation about science and technology.
On the other hand, Dr. Rosemblatt also appeared on TV last week. He was interviewed in Chile’s leading science and technology program "Estamos Conectados" led by a famous Science and Technology journalist Soledad Onetto. A clip of this interview is available here.
Their work is being carried out at the Center for Bioinformatics and Genome Biology of the Fundacion and is supported by a Microsoft Research Award.
Mauricio Arenas, will collaborate with the group of Dr. Ehmke Pohl at University of Durham in England. The main objective of this collaboration is to crystalize and characterize the structure of the protein Fur (Ferric Uptake Regulator) of the microorganism Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, which is of great interest to the mining industry. Dr. Pohl has vast experience in protein crystallography and has succeeded in crystallizing the protein FUR of other microorganisms.
Francisco Ossandon, who works on correcting the annotation of bacterial genomes using AlterORF (www.alterorf.cl), will collaborate closely with Dr. Bruno Sobral at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute where he will analyze the genomes of pathogenic microorganisms aiming to improve their annotation as well as finding new information for the "PATRIC" project -a bioinformatics database that aims to facilitate the discovery of vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics for diseases caused by human pathogens.
This distinction is awarded every year to an investigator and consists of approximately US$ 300,000 in a two-year period, which will be a substantial contribution to Dr Mora’s undergoing laboratory research. He has made important discoveries in mucosal immunity, which were published in the most prestigious international scientific magazines, such as Nature and Science.
In his six years of residence in the USA, Dr. Mora, who is also an assistant professor at the Harvard Medical School, has been invited to present his investigations in over 35 conferences and symposia in different parts of the USA, Europe and Asia, and about a year ago and after several offers, he established his own laboratory at the Massachusetts General Hospital of Boston, Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Mora, with a Ph.D. from Universidad de Chile under the tutorship of Chilean immunologist and Executive Director of our Foundation, Mario Rosemblatt, asserts that “these are very rare opportunities, even for researchers who have studied and built their academic careers in prestigious USA universities, very few Latin American researchers have had an opportunity like this one”. The laboratory is also integrated by Dr. Sen Wang (Japan), and Dr. Eduardo Villablanca (Chile), with Ph.D. studies in Milan, Italy; both are undertaking postdoctoral studies.
The accomplished Chilean scientist, who collaborates with Chilean immunologists Mario Rosemblatt and María Rosa Bono, stated that “my idea in the near future is to bring the best and most motivated Chilean students to my laboratory at Harvard. I believe we have valuable human potential in Chile, and I will do whatever is in my power to offer the opportunities we have had to whoever deserves them”, he concluded. Further information: La Nacion
Dr. Eduardo Villablanca (Chile), Dr. J. Rodrigo Mora (Chile), Dr. Sen Wang (Japan).
Dr. Wilhelm, appeared in the broadcast "Millennium Program, in line with science" of Radio Universidad de Chile (102.5 FM).
The discussion was focused on her book BiotecBiomed and her research at Fundacion Ciencia para la Vida. The inteviewer, Vicky Quevedo, also addressed, among other topics, the status of Chilean science and its difusion to the general public.
"BiotecBiomed: from the laboratory to the company" is a book that has exciting and remarkable testimonies of scientists about their experiences in the the development of innovative biotechnology products and businesses.
Those who wish to participate must:
-Have medical diagnosis of Alzheimers.
-Suffer from mild or moderate Alzheimer's disease.
-Have a caregiver.
-Have not taken any medication for Alzheimers in the 90 days prior to the commencement of the trial.
-Have access to any of the cities where there will be testing centres.
-Not have a serious illness additional to Alzheimer's.
Para participar
Los interesados en participar en la preselección de pacientes deben enviar sus datos a:
Thanks to arrangements made by Ambassador Gabriel Rodríguez who heads the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Energy, Science and Technology and Innovation Directorate (Decyti in Spanish), for three days, 19 students wore white robes and experienced, among other things, how to sequence DNA in a gene and produce a transgenic organism, under the attentive supervision and support of Fundación’s prominent scientists.
Renowned scientists Bernardita Méndez and Pablo Valenzuela delivered the lectures that sparked exciting debates at Fundación’s Enrique Méndez Auditorium. There was consensus on the importance of driving science and technology development forward in Chile, and to do this, “government and private parties must work jointly, creating bonds, like at this workshop” noted Claudia San Martín, Diplomatic Academy student.
Gabriel Rodríguez stressed how important it is for 21st Century diplomats to be familiar with these issues since “they will participate, for example, in international negotiations or forums on transgenics and we need people who can properly address the matters that we are working on, so this has been a spectacular opportunity” he concluded.
For Diego Boriosi, Argentinean diplomat and student of Chile’s Diplomatic Academy, biotechnology development “is a world trend, governments and states are starting to realize that science and technology expansion is essential if they don’t want to miss the development train”.
Anders Alcayaga, Decyti diplomat, added that Biotechnology will be a core issue on the coming years’ agenda and “treaties will have to reach agreements about transgenic issues or perhaps molecular modifications will be necessary to change certain things”.
In the area of communications, Nicolás Luco, Science and Technology Editor of the El Mercurio newspaper, stressed that his experience in the laboratory inspired him to pursue further studies in the Biotechnology area, to introduce this new language in the media’s everyday discourse, and he praised the seriousness of this center of excellence “there is quality here, things are not done half-ways, and I believe it is of the outmost importance to open up the minds of humanists” he noted.
An aspect discussed was that Chile should commit to promoting scientific knowledge at schools, “teachers and researchers who work in these areas are called to motivate the thousands of Chilean children to acquire this knowledge; it is sowing the seeds of a better future” said Alcayata. “It would be good to start at the bases: schools, students, and teachers, and thus solve a structural problem, do away with the myths and the mystery that surrounds Biotechnology and genetic modification in Chile”, added Diego Araya, a student of Chile’s Diplomatic Academy who has a Bachelors Degree in History from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
Chile´s Diplomatic Academy with Directors and scientists of Fundación
]]>Top international scientists, such as Bruce Alberts, Peter Walter or Kieth Yamamoto have taken part in this program allowing Chilean researchers to find temporary employment or sabbatical stays at UCSF and other research labs in the US.
The article was written by Monica Rodrigo, a graduate student that took part in the 2007 version of the S&F Program and can be downloaded here.
At Nature Publishing Group’s headquarters in London, Nature Network, a program similar to Bionexa has the ambitious objective of connecting all researchers around the world through its website. Matt Brown, Editor of Nature Network, contacted Filippo Pacciarini, Bionexa’s Director of International Collaborations, expressing his interest in Bionexa’s work, particularly in generating a communication channel for the Latin-American scientific community. In conversation with Bionexa, Matt Brown said: "For Nature Network was a very pleasing surprise to learn about Bionexa. At Nature Publishing Group, we are aware that the communication we keep with the investigators and the science being done in developing countries is far from optimal. We believe that an alliance with Bionexa connects us in an effective way with that part of the world".
The agreement was signed at the Embassy of Chile in the United Kingdom, with the presence of Ambassador Rafael Moreno. The Ambassador acknowledged that "for the first time a true protagonist of the World’s scientific task, as is Nature Publishing Group, is actively involved in establishing connections with Spanish-speaking scientists. I am very proud and happy to have witnessed this agreement."
The collaboration agreement entails, among others things, that Nature Network provides a greater visibility to Bionexa efforts in the international scientific audience through various channels, such as publication of articles, news, columns, editorials, exchange of links, banners and brochures. A special section has been created within Nature Network, called "Bionexa Latin-America", which is co-administered among both parties.
Cristián Hernández-Cuevas, Fundacion’s, Business Development Director and Executive Director of Bionexa, emphasized that "This agreement is really important, as it greatly validates our efforts in connecting Spanish-speaking investigators. Nature Network are aware of numerous projects similar to Bionexa in the world, however, none as organized or specialized in the Latin American audiences as ours".
Pablo Valenzuela, Director of Fundacion, said: "for us has been very important to support initiatives such as Bionexa because they complement perfectly with our plans to maintain relations and research networks with scientists abroad. A formal link with Nature Network puts us on top of the world's scientific networks, which provides us access to cutting-edge science"
Click here to see pictures of this event.
Cristian Hernandez (Fundacion), Filippo Pacciarini (Bionexa), Matt Brown (Nature Network), Rafael Moreno (Chilean Ambassador for the United Kingdom).
]]>Accompanied by Serbia’s Honorary Consul in Chile, Damir Solar, Nedovic held a meeting with the Director and Executive Director of Fundación Ciencia para la Vida, Pablo Valenzuela and Mario Rosemblatt, respectively. On that occasion he was briefed on the activities that Fundación is currently involved with, and the support mechanisms available in Chile plus the technology and knowledge transfer strategies that are used in Fundación.
The meeting with Víktor Nedovic took place within the framework of his participation in the International Congress on Food Engineering ICEF-10, held in Viña del Mar, on April 21-24. He also held a meeting with Conicyt’s President, Vivian Heyl.
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With over seventy institutions in Germany and three abroad, in addition to various international programs, for over half a century, the Max Planck Society has been an icon of outstanding research in biological and natural sciences, as well as humanities, making significant contribution to the progress of science, with an excellent international reputation.
According to Dr. Mario Rosemblatt, the possibility that the Max Planck Society might install a center in Chile like the one it has in Argentina, Brazil and the United Status, represents an important opportunity to the enhancement of scientific research quality in Chile.
Left to right: Dr. Ramón Latorre, Dr. Sebastian Bernales. Dr. Bernardita Mendez, Dr. Walter Stuhmer, Dr. Mario Rosemblatt, Dr. Nils Brose, Dr. David Holmes, Dr. Rolf Kemler, Dr. Herbert Jäckle (Vice President Max Planck Society), Cristian Hernandez, Dr. Nicole Tischler, Dr. Luis Buursio.
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In the presentation, this outstanding Filovirus and Arenavirus investigator showed her most recent results on the inhibitory efficiency of different antiviral agents against the Ebola, Marburg and Lassa viruses. These studies were performed in containment level 4 laboratories.
For Dr. Nicole Tischler, associated investigator of the Fundación Ciencia para la Vida who leads the hantavirus group that is specialized in studying the cell entry mechanism used by hantaviruses to invade target cell, the results of Dr. Ströher are important references for the development of cell entry inhibitors against other highly infectious viruses such as hantaviruses.
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In her lecture at Fundación Ciencia para la Vida’s Enrique Méndez Auditorium, Dr. Banfield explained how microbial communities and their associated viruses interact in acid mine drainage (AMD) sites.
The metagenomic and metaproteomic studies in abandoned AMD sites performed by Dr. Banfield and her group in Berkeley, California, are the most significant advances in understanding the ecology and the dynamics of natural and industrial ecosystems.
The renowned researcher, who has published works in the prestigious “Science” and “Nature” magazines, noted that that Dr. Raquel Quatrini – Junior Researcher at Fundación Ciencia para la Vida – and her group are doing “world class science” and added that they have become leaders in the field of genome application to the study of microorganisms involved in the biolixiviation process.
David Holmes, Jill Banfield and Raquel Quatrini.
]]>The company will set up offices at the Zañartu Technology Park and devote its efforts to the fruit and vegetable area, micropropagating plants to speed up their breeding process.
Jenny Aitken, partner of “The Tree Lab Chile”, stated that one of the reasons that motivated her to take on this new challenge in South America was her good work experience with Krauskopf, “it is essential to know the people with whom you venture into a project. I have known Erwin for eleven years and I know how devoted he is to his work and how knowledgeable he is on the topic. We have many connections with people in Chile, a country that is strategically situated in the continent”. She also noted that Santiago is an acknowledged and reliable financial center.
Krauskopf, also a Lecturer at Universidad Andrés Bello, indicated that this is a fundamental step in the use of new technologies and products, aimed to improve Chile’s exports in terms of production and quality.
Dr. Erwin Krauskopf and Dr. Jenny Aitken
]]>President Bachelet expressed her conviction that this program “is a significant leap into generating knowledge within Chile’s borders, but also into expanding the world’s knowledge”.
This initiative responds to the government’s commitment to foster the country’s scientific and technological research and leverage and strengthen Scientific and Technological Centers of Excellence (STCE) that pursue research, human capital training and technology transfer as a way to boost the economy’s competitiveness and the development of Chilean society.
According to Pablo Valenzuela, President of Fundación Ciencia para la Vida, this funding is a fundamental step in the development of new projects because it “provides very important economic stability that we did not have before. We will now be able to reinforce a series of new projects and look into riskier areas that can be very relevant from a technological perspective, such as new salmon vaccine projects.”
Vivian Heyl, CONICYT’s President, noted that the funds – 9 thousand million pesos (~USD 20 million) - allocated to the Base Financing Program, mark a historic and decisive landmark in Chile’s development. “This program is of foremost importance for these centers; working in such a systematic, articulated and participative way in science and technology is exceptional in Chile’s history”.
Thirty-three projects competed for the funds, and the excellence of Fundación’s proposal, the eminence and expertise of its research group and its extensive program of international collaborations including Microsoft Research and the University of California at San Francisco, placed it among the eight STCEs in the country, along with Centro de Excelencia en Astrofísica y Tecnologías Afines; Centro de Envejecimiento y Regeneración; Centro de Investigación Oceanográfica en el Pacífico Sur-Oriental; Centro de Estudios Científicos de Valdivia, Corporación Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad; Universidad de Concepción’s Technological Development Unit, and Centro de Modelamiento Matemático.
Also in attendence at the ceremony were the Minister of Education, Yasna Provoste, the Undersecretary of Economy, Jean Jacques Duhart, CONICYT’s President Vivian Heyl, and the Directors of the eight Scientific and Technological Centers of Excellence, as well as government, academic and business leaders involved in the areas of science, technology and innovation
Pablo Rosenblatt, Dr. Raquel Quatrini, Dr. Ariel Orellana, Dr. Bernardita Mendez, Dr. Pablo Valenzuela, Dr. Mario Rosemblatt, Dr. Nicle Tischler, Dr. Veronica Burzio, Dr, Sebastian Bernales, Dr. Jaime Villegas, Dr. Vivian Wilhelm.
]]>Six Microsoft executives attended the workshop that consisted of an initial tutorial in relevant advances in Molecular Biology followed by discussion of themes in Bioinformatics and Genome Biology with special reference to areas under investigation at the CBGB. Topics* included: AlterORF Database Management and Datamining, Applications of Information Theory, Bioinformatics and Bioleaching,
Biological Networks and Systems Biology, Escience and High Performance Grid Computing. In addition, areas of mutual interest and future development between Microsoft Chile and the FCV were identified and discussed. The workshop was run by Drs. David Holmes and Raquel Quatrini of the CBGB- Fundación Ciencia para la Vida supported by students Jorge Valdés, Felipe Veloso, Francisco Ossandón, Jorge Ugarte and Felipe Lazo and systems administrator, Gustavo Rivera.
Microsoft personnel Christian Linacre, Alejandro Pacheco, Pablo Marambio, Katina Soto, Wilson País, Mario Castro (not in photo), together with members of the Fundación
]]>www.bionexa.org is a web based Scientific Collaboration Network that through education and active communications with its members promotes knowledge and technology transfer between Chilean researchers that live abroad and the investigators and companies of scientific base that exist in Chile. This initiative was created by Chilean researchers and entrepreneurs who have spent most of their professional careers abroad.
This was Bionexa\'s first meeting in Chile that assembled most of its management team: Cristián Hernández, Executive Director; Filippo Pacciarini, International Collaborations Director (UK), Carolina Cortés, Communications Director (Chile), and Bionexa\'s Regional Directors: Claudia Benavente (U.S.A), Bernardita Araya (UK) and Álvaro Martínez (France).
Executive Director, Cristián Hernández noted that “this meeting was gathered to discuss the best strategies to develop and strengthen Bionexa through its scientific collaboration networks throughout the world”. Also, in his address, Dr. Filippo Pacciarini stressed that “the creation of dynamic networks in science laboratories is essential for international collaboration, because it multiplies the possibilities for collaboration among academic and industrial sectors”.
The meeting also discussed the experiences of Regional Directors, as well as different ways to strengthen this growing scientific community, its challenges and how it can work to enhance and expand applied science in Chile.
Bionexa Team during their visit to Fundación Ciencia para la Vida.
From left to right:
Claudia Benavente, Regional Director USA; Bernardita Araya, Regional Director UK; Cristián Hernández, Executive Director, Carolina Cortés, Communications Director; Álvaro Martínez, Regional Director France; Filippo Pacciarini, International Collaborations Director.
Pablo Valenzuela, Director of Fundación Ciencia para la Vida introduced Dr. Tjian and thanked him for the visit, stressing that: “the biotechnology and biopharma areas hold an important place within the scientific and academic community which extends significantly to wide ranging sectors of our country”.
The founder of the Biotechnology company Tularik (currently Amgen) specializing in genetic treatment research, spoke of establishing a venture capital fund managed primarily by researchers, where their expertise will offer a new way of investing in biotech companies, where the aim is to establish a long term relationship with the companies funded, backed by investments larger than an average VC deal.
Also, in his lecture, Robert Tjian pointed out that: “people have to be motivated to create innovative companies, not only by the wealth they might create for them, but they also have to be prepared to assume risks and the constant change taking place around them”.
Prominent Fundación scientists attended the lecture, namely Dr. Arturo Yudelevich, Executive Vice President of Bios Chile; Dr. Luis Burzio, Research Director of Bios Chile; Dr. David Holmes, Director of the Fundación's Bioinformatics and Genomic Biology Center; and Dr. Erwin Krauskopf from the plant laboratory, among others.
In addition to teaching at Berkeley, Dr. Robert Tjian constantly participates in the Scientific Advisory Boards of biotechnology companies and Venture Capital Funds such as Genentech, Chiron, Amgen, and Kai Pharmaceuticals, among others.
Dr. Robert Tjian in the labs of Fundación Ciencia para la Vida
Dr. Pablo Valenzuela, Director of Fundación and Dr. Bernardita Méndez, President of Fundación, chairing the discusión of Dr. Tjian lecture at the Enrique Méndez Auditorium.
]]>The renowned Canadian scientist was awarded this important Prize for his discovery of the catalytic properties of ribonucleic acid (RNA). His results suggest that RNA and not proteins could have played a key role as cell activity regulators in the planet's origin of life.
DNA cannot exist without the necessary enzymes (proteins), and proteins cannot be generated without DNA (since they are encoded in the genetic information); however, Dr. Altman's findings demonstrated that RNA is capable of carrying out both functions: storing genetic information and facilitating chemical reactions.
The lecture was presented by Dr. Arturo Yudelevich, Executive Vice President of Bios Chile, who did his postdoctoral research in England with Dr. Altman.
Dr. Sydney Altman shares a moment with students in the labs of Fundación Ciencia para la Vida.
Dr. Sydney Altman during his lecture at the Enrique Méndez Auditorium
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Dr. Federoff discussed with Dr. Pablo Valenzuela and other researchers, the fundamental and applied science being carried out at the Foundation including fish, forestry and fruit biotechnology, biomining, cancer research and bioinformatics. The visit was a follow-up on the CUSAB Bioinformatics Conference held at the Fundación last October under the aegis of the State Department.
Dr. Darlix is an internationally outstanding virologist who obtained his doctoral degree in 1970 in natural sciences in Paris. He developed his work in the best Centers in New York, Geneva and Toulouse until he founded almost 20 years ago the Human Virology department at the INSERM in Lyon. Today his work is dedicated to understand the structure and replication of HIV and hepatitis C virus and to search for antiviral drugs to inhibit these viruses. His work also includes the development of different lentiviral vectors, widely used for research purposes around the world.
His seminar at the Foundation was oriented at describing the last generation of lentiviral vectors, particles used to deliver genetic information into the genome of the host cells. These vectors are primarily a research tool used to introduce genes into in vitro systems or animal models. These genes can express a new gene product or may express RNA to block the expression of intrinsic cellular genes by means of interference RNAs. Thus, this technology permits researchers to examine the effects of a given gene in a model system. These studies can be the origin of new the developments leading to novel drugs.
Lentiviral infection has clear advantages over other gene-therapy methods, including high-efficiency of infection of dividing and non-dividing cells, long-term stable expression of a transgene, and low immunogenicity. However, most current gene therapy experiments are yet to be established as safe and effective in controlled human studies.
Currently, Dr. Nicole Tischler is working at the Foundation on the Chilean Hantavirus species Andes with the aim to characterize the cell entry mechanism used by this virus to infect target cells. The use of lentivectors in collaboration with Dr. Jean Luc Darlix will open her new perspectives.
Dr. Jean Luc Darlix during his presentation of "HIV and SIV-based lentivectors for
efficient gene delivery into human cells".
Investigators and students from the Fundación listen during Dr. Darlix’s exposition.
Dr. Nicole Tischler from the Foundación presents Dr. Darlix with a picture book
describing Chilean National Parks.
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The Science and Technology Week is an initiative organized by Explora-CONICYT with the aim of inviting children and youths to understand and experience the different scientific and technological advancements carried out in the country.
This activity, that took place at the Fundación Ciencia para la Vida , included the presence of Dr. Erwin Krauskopf, Dr.Vivian Wilhelm, Dr. Verónica Burzio and Dr. Jaime Villegas, scientists of the Foundation, who, through informal lectures explained the high-school students about the research being done there. These lectures were presented through movies and slides explaining didactically to the high school students the different research topics developed at the Institution.
Ivonne Sotomayor, Biology and Natural Sciences teacher of the José Luis González Gonzaga II School mentioned that: “What these scientists show us are real issues that can bring science closer to our students; besides, the way that they were presented was very clear and I think it will certainly motivate the students”.
In the same context, Clarita Erices, 11 th grade student, pointed out that: “they explain matters that are not taught at school and here, with these lectures, we can learn about important issues in more depth and that is something I like.”
The activity ended with a guided visit to the different laboratories where the young students were able to observe directly how the scientists of the Foundation solve research issues.
Dr. Vivian Wilhelm, discusses with students from José Luis González Gonzaga II School from Puente Alto, a town near Santiago.
Dr. Erwin Krauskopf explains to students details of the Foundation's works in Forest Biotechnology.
Dr. Verónica Burzio, from the Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Cancer describes to the school
students their research on cancer detection and therapy.
School students examine a system used by scientists to identify specific proteins in a mixture.
Chilean SRS salmon recombinant vaccine: High level biotechnology at the service of local economical developmentFundación Ciencia Para La Vida
Founded: 1997
Status: Private foundation
Headquarter: Santiago , Chile
Bios Chile
Founded: 1986
Status: Private company
Headquarter: Santiago , Chile
Fundación Chile
Founded: 1976
Status: Private foundation
Headquarter: Santiago , Chile
Novartis
Founded: 1996 (merger)
Status: Subsidiary
Headquarter: Basel , Switzerland
Chile is today the second largest salmon exporter in the world. However, every year, salmon farmers lose 200 million $ due to salmonoid rickettsial septicemia disease. Lead by Dr. Valenzuela, a group of private companies and Chilean foundations have developed a local solution to this problem by resorting to advanced biotechnology tools. Stemming from limited financial investments, a recombinant vaccine will open a 30 million $ market allowing for a 130 millions $ save in the Chilean salmon industry. This project was made possible thanks to the creation of synergies between the different key players and to significant technological transfer. It has proven the potential of biotechnology to bring profitably solution to industrial large scale problems.
Background
• More that 200 million $ are lost every year in Chile 's salmon industry from P. salmonis infection.
Salmon has first been introduced in Chile in the early 90's and within 15 years, it has become the second largest salmon exporter in the world accounting for a 1 700 million $ industry and more than 5% of Chile 's total exports. However, the apparition of salmonoid rickettsial septicemia (SRS) disease in 1998 caused by the bacteria Piscirickettsia salmonis , has caused important losses in this business central to Chilean economy. “We have calculated a 10% fish mortality and a resulting annual loss that should today be superior to 200 million $”, Dr. Gustavo Parada, Fundación Chile . Although bacteria can be found in other places, only in Chile is the disease responsible for such an important economical loss.
Contrary to most known bacteria, P. salmonis induces an intra-cellular infection rendering standard vaccine developments ineffective: available vaccines for this disease have not exceeded 30% efficiency. The risk associated with the development of a potentially costly vaccine for a regional market has put off major veterinary companies of proposing a solution to this problem.
• A group of private companies and foundations led by Dr. Valenzuela decided to bring a biotechnology solution to the salmon industry.
For these reasons, a group of Chilean private companies and foundations leaded by Dr. Pablo Valenzuela decided in 1998 to develop a local solution to this problem. This project has involved a group of private companies as well as public and private foundations:
• Fundación Ciencia para la Vida (FCV): Led by Pablo Valenzuela, this Chilean private non-profit research foundation was founded with the porpoise of stimulating the use of biotechnology in the productive sector.
• BiosChile: This Chilean private company, also directed by Pablo Valenzuela, has a wide experience in genomics research and vaccine and diagnostics development.
• Fundación Chile: This state foundation for the technological transfer in Chile was among other actions responsible for the initiative of introducing salmon culture in Chile .
• AcquaHealth: A Canadian company specialised in fish vaccines formerly held by Cobequid.
• Novartis Animal Health: One of the major veterinary companies, representing about 3% of the entire Novartis group.
These actors have put in common their financial and technical resources to obtain a product obeying the following characteristics:
• Highly efficient vaccine: “Salmon is produced in intensive fish cultures which imply a low commercial margin market type. In order for this vaccine to present a practical solution to the problem and interest a major veterinary company, it should present over 70% efficiency ”, Fernando Flores, General Manager, Novartis Animal Health , Chile .
• Low cost production: “The overall selling price of a salmon is inferior to ten dollars. Therefore, in order to be competitive, the production cost of a vaccine should be on the order of ten cents or lower ”, Gustavo Parada, Sea Resources Manager, Fundación Chile .
Finally, the leaders of the project were decided to address this problem by using to state of the art research: “We believe that the use of biotechnology to solve important economical problems will represent a boost on biotechnology development in Chile ”, Pablo Valenzuela, President, Fundación Ciencia para la Vida and BiosChile .
From science to an industrial activity
• A recombinant vaccine was developed based on three bacterial antigens and membranes polysaccharides.
Due to the specificities of the P. Salmonis bacteria, standard vaccine approaches based on attenuated or dead bacteria have low efficiency. For that reason, a recombinant vaccine was developed. The genes coding for antigen proteins that induce an efficient immunity response by the fish organism are introduced in the DNA sequence of a E. Coli bacteria that will produce a large quantity of these proteins. When the produced proteins exceed 20% of the bacteria's volume, their membranes are broken down and the resulting, almost non-purified, product is obtained. This product consists of a mixture of the three antigen proteins and the membrane polysaccharide which are then added to an oil substrate. Through injection of this solution, salmon fish can be immunized to P. Salmonis infection.
Finally Novartis has decided to increase the added value of this product by adding to the final substrate the antigens for other salmon fish diseases. This way Novartis has created a vaccine capable of immunizing salmon simultaneously to different infections; a multivalent vaccine. Two products will finally be commercialised: Forte 3 that combines SRS vaccine with Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis and Vibrio ordalii , and Forte 4 with the addition of the Aeromuna antigen.
• The combination of resources of the different partners through the different development stages led to a final multivalent vaccine with over 80% efficiency.
The development of the SRS vaccine was performed in several different stages:
• Sequencing and gene identification: First the genome of the P. Salmonis bacteria was sequenced to identify the genes that could be used for antigen generation. In order to save development costs, raw sequencing was outsourced to as specialized company. Based in comparisons with other known bacterial genes, 16 potential antigens were identified in this phase
• Antigen identification: The different antigens were tested in order to select the most promising combination. 3 antigens were selected to compose the most promising vaccine for this disease.
• Production optimization and efficiency testing: At this stage, it was found that reducing the purification stages and therefore leading to the presence of membrane polysaccharides in the final product increased the antigen activity of the vaccine. This will also results in lower production costs. Fish were infected with P. Salmonis and the survival rate was compared between immunized and non immunized specimens. Global efficiency for this vaccine reached 90%.
• Multivalent efficiency testing: This stage involved the development of the multivalent vaccines and testing its efficiency in laboratory and natural conditions. The survival rate of specimens immunized with the multivalent vaccines was superior to 80%. At this point Novartis decided to go up for full-scale vaccine production.
• Large scale production: Large scale production for the commercialisation of the vaccine is currently being performed in Novartis industrial facilities in New England , Canada .
Overall, the full project took about 7 years from the initial research phases up to full scale production and cost less than 5 million $ for all the development phases. Full scale commercialisation for the SRS multivalent vaccine is scheduled for September 2006.
Fig. 1: The project development track for the SRS vaccine.
SRS vaccine impacts
• Besides a 30 million $ market for Novartis, a 130 million $ net gain for salmon fish farmers and important financial counterparts for the actors of this project, this success has also impacted on the potential of Chilean biotechnology.
The success of the SRS project will impact in all actors involved in this project:
• Novartis: The SRS multivalent vaccine to be commercialised will address a population of salmon, Salmon Salas and Salmon Rain-bow, for which no effective vaccine exists today. “From our experience, we expect to cover 80% of the fish population within 5 years which corresponds to an annual overall turnover of 30 million $”, Fernando Flores, General Manager, Novartis Animal Health Chile.
• Salmon farmers: Taking into account the efficiency of the vaccine, its cost and the fish farming cost, net gains for salmon farmers could be superior to 130 million $, that is over 7% gain per salmon fish which is quite significant in a mass export industry like salmon.
• BioChile, FCV and Fundación Chile : Alongside this direct gain for Novartis and fish farmers, the actors in this project were also entitled to financial counterparts for the commercialisation of this product : “For the licensing deal, royalties were also negotiated with Novartis. Depending on the market potential of the product, these royalties for these cases are usually in the order of 10%”, Gustavo Parada, Sea Resources Manager, Fundación Chile . The success of this project has also obvious impacts on the credibility of the actors involved, either to obtain funds for new researches or to negotiate early licensing deals with industrial companies in other projects.
• Chilean biotechnology: Finally, the impacts on this sector could not be neglected. This project has shown the potential of biotechnology “made in Chile ” to directly solve industrial problems that affect Chilean economy and may help boost investments in this sector.
View of the future
• A new project for increasing the sustainability of the Chilean salmon industry may be the next biotechnological success for the key player of the SRS vaccine project.
Motivated by the success of this experience and the acquired know-how through this project, both on the technical aspects of vaccine development and on the coordination of different resources in different structures, FCV and Fundación Chile have already began researches for the development of new vaccines that still affect the Chilean salmon fish population such as Streptococcus phocae .
One of the most promising projects in development by FCV for the salmon industry is the development of genetically modified lupine, a leguminous plant whose seeds have been used from ancient times for fish feeding. “In order to farm 1kg of salmon, 2kg of fish are needed as feed. This is not sustainable environmentally or economically. We are developing modified lupine seeds that also express the fundamental amino acids for fish culture and that could help solve this problem in the salmon industry”, Pablo Valenzuela, President, Fundación Ciencia para la Vida and BiosChile.
Finally, new products are also being developed that could help other exporting industries in Chile such as copper mining and forestry.
Lessons and key success factors
• This case illustrates the viability of biotechnology projects, even with low available resources, that can be put to use to aid in large scale industrial problems.
Two main lessons can be taken from the analysis of this case:
• Viability of biotechnology research with limited financial resources: “This project shows that making good use of available human resources and education makes it possible to perform very successful biotechnology research, with direct social impacts even when financial resources are scarce like in Chile”, Vivian Wilhem, Associate researcher, Fundación Ciencia para la Vida.
• Potential of biotech to solve industrial problems: “With this success we have demonstrated that biotechnology can give effective solutions and increase value of economical activities in the Chilean context”, Pablo Valenzuela, President, Fundación Ciencia para la Vida and BiosChile.
• Taking advantage of the skills of all the partners and of past experiences to create positive synergies while assuring a successful technological transfer were key factors that explain the success of this project.
Three main factors can explain the success of the SRS vaccine project:
• Partnership synergy: “None of the individual actors of this project had the necessary skills and means to succeed in such a project. However, thanks to BiosChile' genomic competences, Fundación para la Vida 's scientific skills, Fundación Chile's fish testing facilities and know-how and Novartis' production and commercialisation means, we were able to be successful and develop a product that will greatly profit both its developers and the salmon industry in Chile”, Pablo Valenzuela, President, Fundación Ciencia para la Vida and BiosChile
• Technological transfer: Although Chile is a country with little technological background, effective technological transfer from the USA and Canada made possible to develop, mostly with Chilean means, a biotech vaccine of international level. “Thanks to the help we got from Novartis in Canada, today we have the facilities and the know-how to perform almost all experimental stages on our Chilean facilities”, Erwin Landskron, Experimental Unit Manager, Novartis Animal Health Chile
• Experienced team: “The long time biotechnology development experience of Pablo Valenzuela and that of Fundación Chile in the salmon industry were key factors to lead the project and to make all key decisions during the research phases”, Gustavo Parada, Sea Resources Manager, Fundación Chile.
