An intense day of training in nanoscience and nanotechnology was experienced this Thursday, October 13, by science teachers from different regions of the country who gathered at the largest research center in the area, CEDENNA (Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology), located in the Research Building of the USACH.
“CEDENNA has experience in technology transfer and a closer relationship with the productive sector; therefore, obviously, it is going to have a more prominent role in the short term”, said Minister Flavio Salazar at the end of his tour of the country's main nanoscience and nanotechnology center.
Researchers from the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, CEDENNA, developed a method that allows predicting essential proteins for the development of vaccines with viruses such as H1N1, HIV, SARS-CoV. With this method, it was discovered that there are three nonstructural proteins of Covid 19 that are key in the infection that the virus causes in humans.
Savings of 200 to 400 million dollars per year could be saved by the national mining sector with the use of a sensor with nanotechnology for the detection of uncrushables (materials from the wear of machinery that cannot be ground in any of the crushing points of the process). ), one of the main production problems in the sector because it damages the machinery and delays all production.
Cedenna researchers Dr. Miguel Kiwi (National Prize for Exact Sciences and member of the Board of Directors) and Dr. Felipe Torres, together with Dr. Iván Schuller (Cedenna's international advisor) are the authors of the paper "The impact of the suppression of highly connected protein interactions on the Corona virus infection” that will appear very soon in the prestigious journal Scientific Reports (published by Nature Research).
The magnetism of molecular and nanoparticulate materials was one of the topics addressed in the workshop "Advanced Materials for a Sustainable Society" which was attended by more than 50 participants from Spain, France, Argentina and Chile, including researchers from our center Diego Venegas and Verónica Paredes, together with Francisco Rubio (USACH). Participation in this conference took place in the context of the group's visit to Zaragoza, to meet with Professor Javier Campos Ruíz (University of Zaragoza and Institute of Nanoscience and Materials of Aragon).
As a contribution to agricultural producers and food safety, research carried out by the Center for the Development of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (CEDENNA) and the Agricultural Research Institute (INIA) develops a technique that uses fluorescent nanoparticles to detect concentrations of pesticides in fruits and vegetables.
The Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Center Cedenna created a sensor that allows real-time monitoring of the detachment of wear elements from mining extraction shovels (GETs) and, in this way, prevent pieces of metal from interfering with crushing work.
Cedenna began a collaboration with SQM Salar, aimed at improving the raw material used in the manufacture of lithium batteries. Executives from SQM's New Technologies Division visited the center and met the teams and researchers that will work on this development. On the occasion, they highlighted that working with Cedenna will allow the company to better respond to its own clients.
