People

Andrea Ravasio

Professor Ravasio received his master in Biology at the University of Milan (Italy) in 2004 with an experimental study on cell volume regulation by investigating in-vivo nanoscale interactions of proteins and of protein with the plasma membrane. He has obtained a PhD in Physiology at the University of Innsbruck (Austria) in 2009. Findings of his PhD revealed the role played by mechanical forces in regulating the physiology of the pulmonary alveoli.

Dr. Ravasio then moved to Singapore where he investigated the biomechanics of collectively migrating cells, the molecular and tissue-scale dynamics regulating the organization of epithelial tissues and the establishment of population heterogeneity in stem and cancer cells (Mechanobiology Institute and Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, Singapore).

In the laboratory for Cell Mechanics and Biosystems, professor Ravasio together with the research group seek to understand the biomechanics of biological systems and their contribution to disease states. To this end, they develop highly interdisciplinary approaches to probe the interplay between forces and the living matter from the molecular to the tissue level. To learn more about professor Ravasio’s research visit his website here.

Andreas Schüller

Associate Professor at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile with 10+ years of independent and post-doctoral research, teaching and mentoring experience at universities in Germany, Singapore, New York and Chile.

His lab is dedicated to deciphering the molecular code of protein-ligand interactions at an atomic level. His research is situated in the areas of bioinformatics and cheminformatics, where his lab develops new computational methods for predicting molecular binding events using concepts from structural biology, biochemistry, drug design, big data, machine learning, protein engineering and software engineering.

These computational methods are then applied in his research for the repositioning of drugs, the discovery of antifungal, anticancer and anticoagulant compounds, as well as the design of oligopeptides as modulators of the intestinal microbiota. 

For more information about Dr. Schüller's research visit his lab website here

Carlos A. Sing-Long

Civil-Electrical Engineer and BSc in Physics from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC), Diplôme d’Ingénieur from the Ecole Polytechnique, and MS and PhD from Stanford University.

Currently he is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Mathematical and Computational Engineering and the Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering, and member of the Biomedical Imaging Center (CIB) at UC as well. His main research line is on discrete inverse problems, in particular, those in which it is posible to find an exact reconstruction procedure from incomplete information. This area uses mathematical and computational tools at the intersection of mathematical analysis, optimization and applied stastistics. Several problems arising in biomedical imaging and data acquisition fall within the this field.

César Ramírez

During his PhD in Sciences, which he obtained in 2014 at Universidad de Chile, he joined the laboratory of Elizabeth A. Komives at the University of California San Diego, where he became interested in the study of protein folding and protein-protein interactions.

Dr. Ramírez-Sarmiento’s research focuses on elucidating the molecular mechanism enabling the fold-switching behaviors of so-called metamorphic proteins, one of the most prominent examples of how protein folding can regulate cellular function, through a combination of several computational and experimental strategies. He also focuses on enzyme discovery and protein engineering efforts to generate novel biocatalysts for degrading the synthetic plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a serious environmental threat. For more information please visit this link

Daniel Hurtado

Dr. Hurtado is an Associate Professor at the School of Engineering and Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC). He earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology under Fulbright fellowship, after which he joined UC to create the Computational Biomechanics and Biophysics Laboratory and to co-found the Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering.

His research concerns the creation and development of novel mathematical models and computational methods to understand the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, with the aim of creating computational tools to improve the diagnosis and treatment of disease in the context of precision medicine. To this end, Dr. Hurtado's laboratory focus ranges from fundamental research in mathematical modeling of the heart and lungs to applied research in the development of computational tools for clinical diagnosis and treatment. 

Dr. Hurtado has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals and has been the director and principal investigator of numerous research projects funded by Chilean agencies (Fondecyt, Fondef, CORFO, PIA, Iniciativa Milenio), as well as international agencies such as the NIH-Firca and the Ellinger Foundation. In 2018 he was selected as one of the most influential young scientists in the world under 40 years old by the World Economic Forum. That same year he was also elected as a member of the World Council of Biomechanics, becoming the first Chilean to participate in this international society. Since 2019, Dr. Hurtado is an elected member of the "Ciencia de Frontera" program by the Chilean Academy of Sciences. Besides his academic duties, Dr. Hurtado is an active science communicator and has been a keynote speaker in massive science & technology events such as "Congreso Futuro" and Nerd Nites, among others.

Eric Rojas

Eric Rojas, Doctor in Engineering with a mention in Computing, whose research focuses on Clinical Informatics since his doctoral thesis in process mining in healthcare in 2017. He is currently also an academic in the Department of Clinical Laboratories of the Faculty of Medicine at the PUC and Leader of the Quality Assurance Area at the National Center for Health Information Systems.

His research area is health informatics. His research focuses on the application of process mining techniques in healthcare, which allows the study of both clinical and administrative processes that are supported by Information Systems. He has special interest in processes associated with Emergency Rooms and patient care processes using Telemedicine.

On the other hand, Professor Rojas also focuses on the development of Software Quality Assessments of Information Systems and the technologies used in Healthcare, among them, Telemedicine tools and Electronic Clinical Records, which allow their best implementation for patient care.

For more information about Dr. Rojas' research, visit his website here

Fernán Federici

Fernan studied two years of Engineering and three of Biology. He worked one year at the Alvarez-Buylla lab (UNAM) before moving to Cambridge to do a PhD in Biological Sciences at Jim Haseloff ´s lab. All his education has been kindly supported by the free educational system of Argentina and international scholarships from JP II Foundation and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 

He is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology and in the Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He also works at the iBio Millennium Institute and OpenPlant. His group promotes open technologies for bioengineering, science and education; and the members of the group are part of the open technology movements GOSH, ReClone and TECNOx.

Flavia Zacconi

Professor Zacconi is a graduate and Doctor in Chemistry from the Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina, where she worked as a teacher and researcher until 2012. Between 2009 and 2012 she developed both postdoctoral stages at Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (USC, Spain) and Institute of Organic Synthesis (ISO, Spain). In 2012 she was part of the STVP-UC Program for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Stanford University, USA). Moreover, Prof. Zacconi was an invited professor at Boston College (2014-2015, Massachusetts, USA), University of Sussex (2019-2021, Sussex, UK) and University of Notre Dame (2020, Indiana, USA).

She is currently an Associate Professor at the Organic Chemistry Department of the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Since 2020 she is Associate Professor at the Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering UC (IIBM-UC). Furthermore, Prof. Zacconi is an Associate Member of the Research Center for Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials (CIEN-UC).

Flavia's research focuses on the intersections of organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, engineering and biological chemistry, developing multi- and interdisciplinary research projects from the basic sciences to the applied science regarding the potential applications of these developments.

For more information about Dr. Zacconi research background visit her research group website here

Francisco Melo

Professor Melo is a graduate and Master in Biochemistry from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile with 25 years of experience in the field of bioinformatics. Hedeveloped his doctorate at University Notre Dame de la Paix (1998, Belgium) and his postdoctoral stage at Rockefeller University (2000, USA). 

In 2000 he was incorporated as Professor at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, and currently, he is working as a full professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology. In 2020, Francisco joined the Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering in the same university.

His main research line is in the field of structural computational biology where he and his research group study the relation and interaction between the sequence-structure-function in macromolecules that govern the flow of genetic information in living systems (proteins, DNA and RNA). The techniques commonly used are the analysis and processing of large amounts of experimental data on computers, integrating the laws of physics, chemistry, statistical methods, and artificial intelligence.

Francisco Sahli

Francisco Sahli obtained his Mechanical Engineer degree and Master of Engineering Sciences from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile on 2011.

In 2018 he completed his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University with the support of a Fulbright-CONICYT fellowship. Since 2019 he is an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Metallurgical Engineering and the Institute for Biological and Medical Engineering at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

For more information about Dr. Sahli research background visit his personal website here

María Rodríguez

Doctor in Chemical Engineering, Professor Rodríguez started her research career at the Institute for Marine Research of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (IIM-CSIC), Spain. However, after spending several years of postdoctoral research at the University of California Santa Barbara, she is currently dedicated to the development of algorithms and tools for modelling biomedical, biological and physiological systems.

In 2016, Dr. Rodríguez joint the Institute for Biological and Medical Engineering at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile as a professor, and later in 2018 also as the director of Graduate Studies. She also has several research lines focused in new models and algorithms for the biomedical field.

For more information about Dr. Rodríguez research background visit her personal website here.

Mario Vera

Engineer specialized in Molecular Biotechnology and Ph.D. in Sciences (Microbiology) at Universidad de Chile with a post-doc at the Biofilm Centre, Universitaet Duisburg-Essen, Germany, where he afterwards researcher and Head of Laboratory of the Group of Aquatic Biotechnology. In addition, professor Vera was a postdoctoral fellow at the Institut de Microbiologie de la Méditerranée (IMM), CNRS, Marseille, France. Afterwards he joined the Universidad Católica de Chile, where he share appointments as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering at School of Engineering, and the Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering. He has been responsible for the foundation and leading of the “UC’s Biofilm Group”, gathering professors from different Faculties such as Medicine, Biological Sciences, Engineering and Odonthology.

Pablo Irarrázaval

Industrial and Electrical Engineer, graduated from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Master of Science and PhD from Stanford University, United States. He was Vicedean for Academic Affairs in the UC School of Engineering and Visiting Professor of the Imaging Sciences Division at King's College London in 2003 and of the Medical Physics Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2010. In 2000 he founded and directed the Biomedical Imaging Center in the UC (CIB) - then called Magnetic Resonance Research Center -, until 2013.

He was the Director of the Institute for Biological and Medical Engineering of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (IIBM UC) since its creation in 2016. He is a tenured professor of the Department of Electrical Engineering of the School of Engineering UC and researcher of the CIB, focused on the study of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

René Botnar

Dr. Botnar received his PhD in technical sciences from the ETH Zurich. 

In 1997, he joined the Cardiac MR Center at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, which was one of the very first MR Centers specifically focused on cardiovascular MR. Under the leadership of Dr. Warren Manning, he developed non-invasive free-breathing coronary MR angiography as an alternative to invasive X-ray angiography, which is now available on all most MR scanners and is clinically being used for the detection of congenital heart disease and anomalous coronary arteries. In 2003 he was appointed to Scientific Director of the Cardiac MR Center and in 2004 to Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.  

In 2005, Dr. Botnar accepted a Professorship of Biomedical Imaging in the Nuclear Imaging Department at the Technische Universität München (TUM) where he worked closely with Radiology and Cardiology to facilitate clinical translation of cardiac MRI.

At the end of 2007, he joined the Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering at King’s College London where he was Chair of Cardiovascular Imaging and Head of the Biomedical Engineering Department and where he setup a cardiac MR program with a special focus on the development of novel MRI pulse sequences, image reconstruction, motion correction and quantitative imaging techniques for early diagnosis of cardiovascular disease in addition to pre-clinical and translational multi-modality imaging.

Dr. Botnar is a Fellow of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Medicine and the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance and was chair of the ISMRM (2021-22) and ESMI (2019-20) cardiac MR study group. He is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance and Molecular Imaging and Biology and has published more than 350 peer-reviewed original and review articles and holds 12 patents related to MRI technology.

Currently, he is the Director and Full Professor at the Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (IIBM UC).

His research group at IIBM UC is working on the development of novel MRI pulse sequences, motion correction and quantitative imaging techniques, including artificial intelligence for early diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, as well as molecular MRI of atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction using new target-specific contrast agents (elastin, collagen, albumin, fibrin, macrophages, oxLDL). His research is funded by a Fondecyt Regular, and he is an investigator of the Millennium Institute of intelligent Healthcare Engineering (iHealth) https://i-health.cl/, Fondequip Mayor “Low-field MRI” and co-director of the Basal Centre “Interventional Medicine for Precision and Advanced Cellular Therapy (IMPACT)” https://bit.ly/3mcCmkl.   

Rolando Rebolledo

Dr. Rebolledo is a surgeon at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, specializing in digestive surgery. He studied a doctorate program at the University of Chile, leaning towards liver surgery, liver transplantation, surgical challenges and the study of cancer. Later, he was part of the Abel Tasman Talent interchange program at the University of Groningen, in the Netherlands, where his interest in the improvement of organs for transplantation would arise.

After his return to Chile, he worked as a digestive surgeon at the Hospital Sótero del Río and as an academic at the IIBM. In it he opened his own line of research, leading a Fondecyt project on the perfusion of organs for transplants in poor conditions, as a mechanism to improve their preservation. His study is focused on the creation of an ex vivo perfusion machine, mainly in cases of liver transplants, and in the development, together with other academics, of substances that allow the oxygenation of an organ without the need for red blood cells.

Sebastián Aguayo

Dr. Aguayo is a Dentist (BDS) from the Faculty of Dentistry, Universidad de Concepción, Chile and has a PhD in Biomaterials from the Eastman Dental Institute, University College London (UCL), UK. His current line of research focuses on exploring the initial interactions between bacteria and surfaces within the context of biofilm formation, at both cellular and sub-cellular levels, utilizing a combination of traditional and nanoscale approaches.

Currently he is an Assistant Professor at the School of Dentistry and the Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering UC.

Tobias Wenzel

 

Dr. Wenzel is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC). He obtained his Masters degree (2013) and PhD (2017) from the University of Cambridge, Department of Physics, and performed postdoctoral research at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology at Cambridge until 2018. He then held an interdisciplinary Marie Curie Fellowship at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, before joining the IIBM end of 2020.

Dr. Tobias Wenzel is a bioengineer studying human and environmental microbiomes by developing microfluidic methods for high-throughput multi-omics screens. The research of his lab focuses on in-vitro and single cell analysis (interactions, genomics, cultivation, phenotyping) by drawing on biophysics (self-organisation, micro-and nanostructuration, optics & photonics, modeling) and Open Source Hardware automation.

To learn more about professor Wenzel’s research visit his lab website here

Tomás Egaña

Molecular Biotechnology Engineer and PhD in Pharmacology (both from the Universidad de Chile). He also holds a degree in Doctor of Human Biology (Universität zu Lübeck, Germany) and a qualification in Experimental Plastic Surgery (Technische Universität München, Germany).

His research has focused mainly on the area of Regenerative Medicine, highlighting his work in the development of new therapeutic strategies for the regeneration of skin wounds. In this context, with his research group, he combines approaches in Biomaterials, Cellular and Molecular Therapy with the development of new experimental models. One of its main contributions has been "Photosynthetic Therapy", which seeks to oxygenate damaged tissues through the generation of hybrid plant-animal systems.

Tomás Ossandón

The goal of his research line is to study how attention modulates our behavior, with a particular interest in the neural mechanisms underlying its interaction with perceptual systems, large-scale brain networks and decision making. His research group uses EEG, intracortical EEG, fMRI, eye-tracker and behavioral models.

For more information about Dr. Ossandón research background visit his personal website here

Vicente Parot

Vicente's research aims to advance the frontiers of imaging technology for biological and medical applications.

Before joining IIBM, Vicente was an OSA Deutsch Research Fellow working at the Lab of Dr. Brett E. Bouma at the Wellman Center, Massachusetts General Hospital. Vicente completed his PhD in Biophysics at Harvard University and in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working at the Lab of Dr. Adam E. Cohen on developing microscopy and optogenetic protocols for high-speed all-optical neurophysiology.

Previously, Vicente was an MIT-Madrid M+Visión Fellow, where he worked to reduce colorectal cancer mortality by increasing the sensitivity of colonoscopy to premalignant lesions, and to improve molecular imaging for oncology by multiplexing Positron Emission Tomography (PET). He completed his Electrical Engineering and MS degrees at Catholic University of Chile where he developed a theoretical framework to enable cheaper Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners.

For more information about Dr. Parot's research visit his Lab website here

Aniela Wozniak

Dr. Aniela Wozniak has a degree in Biological Sciences and a Master in Biotechnology from the Universidad de la República de Uruguay, and a PhD in Microbiology from the Universidad de Chile. She is currently an Assistant Professor in Ordinary category of the Department of Clinical Laboratories, teaching tutorial and theoretical work in the area of molecular microbiology for the careers of Medicine, Dentistry, Nutrition and Biochemistry. Dr. Wozniak is also the Technical Coordinator of the Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology: she performs the validation and implementation of new techniques of molecular microbiological diagnosis.

Loreto Valenzuela

Civil engineer who holds a master from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC) and a Ph.D. from the Rutgers University (USA), Dr. Valenzuela is currently an associate professor at UC, in the School of Engineering and the Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering. Passionate about teaching and helping the undergraduate and graduate students, professor Valenzuela has dedicated all her scientific career to study different polymeric materials for biomedical and food technology applications. Recently, she has been recognized for creating and leading a spin-off called “FishExtend”, which developed a product to extend the shelf life of fresh fish using only natural ingredients. This endeavor has received several awards and has capture the interest of the industry.

Sergio Uribe

Professor Uribe received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in 2005. Immediately, he went to the UK to complete his academic background, obtaining a PhD in the Division of Imaging Sciences, School of Medicine at King’s College London. After his doctorate in 2009, he returned to Chile to work as an assistant professor in the Department of Radiology and in the Biomedical Imaging Center of the Pontificia Universidad Católica. He has also been invited as associated profesor at King’s College London, Imaging Sciences Divission, and in the Radiology department of Hospital Quirón Valencia.

Currently, Professor Uribe is a researcher and associated professor in the Radiology Department and the Director of the Biomedical Imaging Center (CIB), and professor at the Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering.

He is also member of different scientific entities including the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR), the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), and the Chilean Society of Radiology.

Agustín Cox

Rodrigo Quezada

Allison Meynard

Bastián González

Bastián Márquez

Felipe Gatica

Felipe Navarro

Javier Sandoval

Joaquín Errandonea

José Morales

Kieran Conradie

Mario Seguel

Agustín Pérez

Alejandro Aravena

Alejandro Molina

Alfredo L´Homme

Aransa Griñen

Beatriz Salas

Benjamín Villa

Camila Leiva

Carlos Valle

Carmen Meza

Cristina Alfaro

Cristóbal Martínez

Daniel Solomons

David Ortíz

Diego Rodríguez

Felipe Cortés

Francisca Durán

Francisco Osorio

Gabriela Vargas

Gema Santander

Guido Muñoz

Guillermo Sahonero

Hernán Mella

Ignacio Montenegro

Ignacio Retamal

Javiera Cortés

Javiera Reyes

Joaquín Gutiérrez

Jorge González

Julián Casas

Karla López

Kristine Von Bischhoffshausen

María José Reyes

Martín Miranda

Miguel Miranda

Nibaldo Avilés

Nicolás Núñez

Pablo Galaz

Pamela Franco

Paola Larrauri

Patricio Canales

Pierre Padilla

Rafael Kaempfer

Rayen Valdivia

Rocío Artigas

Rocío Barrón

Sergio González

Séverine Cazaux

Valentina Castillo

Valentina Vargas

Valentina Veloso

Valeria Eltit

Valeria Labra

Valeria Páez

Varina Aldana

Víctor Alegría

Benjamín Erranz

Claudia Tapia

Constanza Vera

Daniela Becerra

David Baum

Felipe Carvajal

Javiera Avilés

Kevin Simpson

Nicolás Garrido