young scientists

Research Experience at UPRM (REU)

Submitted by Jacob Townsend on

Jacob Townsend's picture

Over the summer, I have been doing research at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez with professors Rafael Mendez and Rodolfo Romanach in the pharmaceutical research lab.  It has been great getting to work with them and the graduate students of the lab.  The research is focused on using light absorption characteristics of pharmaceuticals to detect their concentrations.  The method of interest has been near infrared spectroscopy.

REU Experience_Soft Matter Research

Submitted by Claudia Santana Monterrey on

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During this summer 2015 I have participated in the REU program at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez. This program has offered me the opportunity not only of conducting research alongside very knowledgeable faculty, but of becoming more familiar with the beautiful Island of Puerto Rico, the people, and its very rich culture. Furthermore, during this time, I have been working on a project with Dr. Paul Sundaran and Jeromi Lopez.  In our project, we intend to describe the mechanical properties of mineralized tendons. In order to do this, we have submerged the tissue in a fluid that recreates the properties of regular body fluid (simulated body fluids plus HA (minerals)). We will try different approaches for mineral addition, submersion and injection.

Reconfigurable and Multifunctional Soft Materials REU– UPRM

Submitted by Hilary Marrero on

Hilary Marrero's picture

Nano-bubbles are air or other gas bubbles immersed in water with a diameter of approximately 150-200 nm. During the last years, they have been studied due to their great number of applications in the areas of Alzheimer disease, cancer, cleaning agents, drug delivery and gene delivery. In the same way, bubbles are the cause of decompression sickness (DCS). This sickness is related to persons working on submarines, high altitude works and more commonly, divers. When a person is diving deep and then goes up suddenly to the surface, bubbles are formed in their tissues due to the change from high pressure to low pressure. These ones can block the flow of blood in the vessels and produce a gas embolism. During this summer, I am working in Dr.

Beta-peptides as synergistic complements to current antifungal treatments

Submitted by Lance Bettinson on

Lance Bettinson's picture

I am Lance Bettinson, a Stanford chemical engineering student fortunate enough to participate in the REU program here at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. When UPRM offered me the chance to pursue interdisciplinary summer research in chemical engineering, I accepted without hesitation. I anticipated a wealth of new cultural and academic experiences accompanying the opportunity to contribute to the scientific effort here in the Caribbean. I have yet to be disappointed.

Undesgrad Summer Research in Puerto Rico

Submitted by Jessica Raquel Bojorquez on

Jessica Raquel Bojorquez's picture

I am an undergrad student from California performing research in Puerto Rico. I arrived to PR after ending my semester and it has been a great experience so far.  I am currently performing research with the chemistry department in University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez, or as known here in PR, el Colegio.  My project relates to the issue that currently there is a lot of contamination in water. Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy, SERS, is a spectroscopic technique with strong Raman signal when molecules are attached to metallic structures, silver or gold.

UPRM REU Experience

Submitted by Jacoby Shipmon on

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Hi, my name is Jacoby Shipmon. I am a Biological Engineering student from Atlanta, Georgia who attends North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. This summer I am working as an undergraduate researcher in a REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) on multifunctional soft materials at the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez. The purpose of this program is to immerse us in our individual research projects while allowing us time, on the weekends, to explore Puerto Rico. I wanted to start this post by saying how grateful I am for being here and having the opportunity to visit the beautiful island of Puerto Rico. So far I have had the chance to visit, and fall in love with, some of the numerous beautiful beaches that the island has.

Tumor-Targeted Magnetic Nanoparticles for Thermo-Controlled Drug Delivery

Submitted by Janet Marielis Crespo Cajigas on

Janet Marielis Crespo Cajigas's picture

Triple Negative Breast Cancer or TNBC is a disease that affects 15% women all over the world. The current treatments for this and all cancers in general are chemotherapy and radiotherapy both of which are as harmful as they are helpful to the cells in the human body. However, the field of nanotechnology with applications in medicine is becoming a vital point in modern research. A regular cell is in the microscale in size which signifies that a nanoparticle (1,000 micrometers smaller) can easily find a way inside a cell and release the drug it carries.

RMSM REU - Aggregation Dynamics of Active Shifted-Dipole Particle Suspensions

Submitted by Angel Christian González Martell on

Angel Christian González Martell's picture

My name is Angel González and I am a student of mechanical engineering at UPRM. At this time I am just 9 credits from my degree and graduate school seems like will be the next step in my career. This is why I decided to apply to the Reconfigurable & Multifunctional Soft Materials REU, to explore the areas of research at my alma mater and acquire skills that will help me through my professional development. So far, one month into the program, I've got the opportunity to learn things that will not only help me during grad school, but throughout my entire life thanks to the seminars and all the activities that our REU managers have arranged for us in addition to the hands on experience that we get on research.

REU - Reconfigurable and Multifunctional Soft Materials - UPRM

Submitted by Joshua Zak on

Joshua Zak's picture

Hello CienciaPR members!

My name is Josh Zak, and I am currently a rising junior at Carnegie Mellon University pursuing a dual degree in Chemistry and Materials Science & Engineering. This summer, I have the distinct privilege of participating in a Research Experience for Undergraduates here at the beautiful University of Puerto Rico - Mayagüez. I am assisting in the research efforts of PhD candidate Heberth Diestra Cruz in the lab of Dr. Aldo Acevedo in the Chemical Engineering department.

Soft Matter Research at University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez

Submitted by Hyeon Ju Song on

Hyeon Ju Song's picture

Cancer has been and still remains a mystery for even the world's most renowned doctors. Although we understand the concept of cancer, we have failed to develop an effective and efficient method of treating it. Chemotherapy is one of the most common ways to treat cancer. However, it is not 100% efficient because it targets both healthy and cancerous cells. In addition, chemotherapy is not always 100% effective. In order to provide a more useful treatment to cancer patients, nano technology can be utilized. In Dr. Jaime Ramirez's lab, we have created nanoparticles (essentially very tiny molecules). These nanoparticles, when loaded with cancer-fighting drugs, will attach solely to the cancerous cells, release the drugs within the cells, and kill them.

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