19/12/2025
With a meeting that brought together researchers and technical and administrative teams, the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, CEDENNA, officially began a new stage as an Applied Research Center, after winning the national ANID competition. This new cycle projects the Center towards strengthening research with national impact, while maintaining its multidisciplinary and inter-universitycharacter, currently made up of academics from 18 universities across Chile.
During the activity, the Center’s director, Dr. Dora Altbir, highlighted that this new stage represents a process of consolidating capabilities built over more than a decade, with a clear focus on generating concrete solutions to the country’s strategic challenges. “Applied research allows us to transform advanced knowledge into real tools to improve people’s quality of life, strengthen industry and contribute to evidence-based public policies,” she said.
Among the developments that reflect this approach are advances in the early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, using nanotechnology-based devices; new strategies in biomedicine, including cancer treatments with nanoparticles; innovations in eye health, aimed at corneal regeneration; and applications in the environment, energy and mining, all areas where nanoscience opens concrete opportunities for social and productive impact.
An inter-university model hosted at UDP
One of the central themes of the meeting was the collaborative nature of the project. In this context, the rector of Universidad Diego Portales, Carlos Peña, stressed that the Center being hosted at UDP responds to an administrative and institutional support role, without altering CEDENNA’s inter-university essence.
This approach reinforces CEDENNA’s vocation as a space for bringing together diverse scientific capabilities, where disciplines such as physics, chemistry, biology, medicine and engineering converge, making it possible to address complex problems from complementary perspectives.
The meeting also emphasized the importance of science communication and outreach as part of the Center’s work. In this new stage, CEDENNA seeks to strengthen its dialogue not only with the academic community, but also with the State, industry and the public, understanding that science that is not communicated loses social impact.
The role of the cross-cutting committees, the active participation of each research line and the collective commitment needed to achieve the project’s goals were also highlighted, including student training, technology transfer and meeting the contributions committed for this stage.
With this new phase, CEDENNA reaffirms its mission to contribute to Chile’s development through frontier science, establishing itself as a national and international benchmark in nanoscience and nanotechnology, with a clear hallmark: one center, many universities, one common goal: national impact.
