February
It's here!!! The National Science Foundation awarded the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus a Mayor Research Instrumentation Grant for the aquisition of a single crystal X-ray diffractimeter and the establishment of a X-ray diffraction Facility at the UPR's Molecular Science Research Center! Dr. Piñero and I are very grateful for our collaborators, the institutional support we have received, Rigaku and all of those who help us achieve this goal in the benefit of science for Puerto Rico.
|
On February 24th, 2017 the inauguration of the UPR X-ray diffraction facility in the Molecular Sciences Research Center took place. At this event, we got introduced to the new instrumentation awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), under the Mayor Research Instrumentation Grant; the XtalLab Supernova Single Crystal Diffraction System from Rigaku. We couldn’t be more excited to see how this new equipment will impact the research capabilities of Puerto Rico. Thank you to all of those who took the time to accompany us during this celebration and to all the mayor and minor users. Congratulations once again to Dr. Vilmali Lopez-Mejias and Dr. Dalice Pinero for this great accomplishment.
Congratulations are in order to some of our lab members who have recently been accepted to participate in summer internships programs. Victor Vazquez who was accepted in the Weill Cornell Access Summer Program. Julianne De la Cruz at the NIH Cancer Research Interns Summer Program and Rocio Zorrilla who this summer will be at the University of Michigan as part of the Cancer Summer Internship Program (CARSIP). We have no doubt that the three of you will excel at each program while representing the Lopez-Stelzer Laboratory and the University of Puerto Rico. Another student who needs congratulating is our own Juan Carlos Villalobos, as he will be traveling to the International School of Crystallography in Erice, Italy to participate in the 50th ERICE Course in Integrative Structural Biology. Congrats! |
March
Natural Sciences Faculty of the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus celebrated their annual “Research Week”. This event highlights the research projects taking place in the different laboratories from the Natural Sciences Faculty and promotes interactions between Professors and prospective students. Ultimately, this initiative aims to recruit undergrads to perform research activities in our campus. The López-Stelzer Lab was present at this activity and counted with the participation of several of their students: Israel Rodriguez, Juan Carlos Villalobos, Gabriel Quiñones, Arnaldo López, Wilfredo Cardona and Jorge Santos. Thanks to all of you for giving a little bit of your time to reach out to undergraduate students and get them involved in doing research!
|
This past Friday March 24th The 6th Lilly Academy Technical Forum took place at the Puerto Rico Convention Center. This forum is an opportunity for the industry and academia to interact and exchange ideas. The students get the opportunity to hear about topics of current interest in the industry while the industry gets the chance to see the type of research that is conducted in academia. Three of our graduate students were able to participate: Arnaldo Lopez, Juan Carlos Villalobos, and Mery Vet George. It is these types of events that further enrich the so important relationship between the industry and academia. Looking to further develop technologies not only for our community here in Puerto Rico but also worldwide. Thanks to Lilly del Caribe for hosting this event once again.
|
April
Once again our students are representing the Lopez-Stelzer Laboratory and the University of Puerto Rico wherever they go. This time Alfredo Reyes, an undergraduate student from the Chemistry Department at the UPR-RP, who was with us last summer as part of the NSF REU: Puerto Rico-Chemical Learning Integrated in Materials and Bimolecular Applications (PR-CLIMB) participated in the Spring ACS National Meeting in San Francisco, California. The ACS national meeting is an exciting opportunity for undergraduates to meet chemists from across the globe, experience presenting research, network with graduate school recruiters, plus learn about cutting-edge advances in chemistry. Congrats Alfredo!
|
Congratulations are in order for Mery Vet George as she has been chosen to participate in this year’s National Conference for College Women Student Leaders (NCCWSL) sponsored by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) San Juan Branch. The conference will be held from May 31st –June 3rd at the University of Maryland, College Park. This conference offers young women leaders a chance to learn new skills and to broaden their networks with peers from around the country. The attendees will be able to develop and strengthen their leadership and professional aptitude through voice, skill set, and mind-set; gain a better understanding of issues and policies affecting women, and own their personal identities while learning new ways to increase and support diverse voices. Congrats Mery!
|
May
At the Forward Grantee Symposium of the Puerto Rico Science Research & Technology Trust (05/27/2017). It was an opportunity to share with other scientist, administrators, entrepreneurs, and students our research in an effort to recruit, establish collaborations and strengthen the research and economic ecosystem of the island. We believe science is hope, that science is knowledge, and through it comes the power to change our island. We, the puerto rican scientists, are fighting for Puerto Rico too.
|
June
Based on the initiative of Dr. Vilmalí López-Mejías and Dr. Torsten Stelzer together with Dr. Mayra Mendez from the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez, this past June 2nd, the School of Pharmacy at the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus launched an Energy Saving Campaign for a better, more energy efficient, University of Puerto Rico. With this campaign, the School of Pharmacy aims to reduce their annual energy costs by 30%. In a first effort signs have been placed in public areas, classrooms, and offices, encouraging students, faculty, and staff to make little changes that can go a long way. Through this campaign, we hope that other institutions within the University of Puerto Rico system are inspired to reduce the energy cost by eliminating unnecessary consumption. We want to congratulate Dr. López-Mejías, Dr. Stelzer and Dr. Mendez and their students for their effort leading to this initiative, which is just the first step to build a better, and more energy efficient University of Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico as a whole. A template of the sign for your institution can be made and sent upon request. Email us at [email protected] to be part of this energy saving campaign!
|
Our graduate student Mery Vet George De La Rosa was given the great opportunity to participate in a three day BIO 2017: I-Corps Bio-Entrepreneurship Workshop. Let’s hear from Mery her impression about this experience.
“Through I-Corps, I learned to identify valuable product opportunities that can emerge from academic research, and gain skills in entrepreneurship through training in customer discovery and guidance from renown entrepreneurs and mentors. During these three days I got the chance to explore the business side of research. I can honestly say that this has given me a new perspective and given new meaning to the phrase “problem solving” and teamwork. The workshop made it so the idea of entrepreneurship doesn’t seem like an unachievable goal. Working in teams with researchers of different backgrounds and interests made this a completely multidisciplinary experience. Another great part of it was being able to take our ideas and new skills to the floor of the San Diego Convention Center while the 2017 BIO International Convention was underway, an intimidating but enriching experience of networking and professional development. Thank you NSF, I-Corps, BIO2017, San Diego State University and to all the mentors for a challenging, fun, and rewarding experience”. |
Tuesday June 27, 2017 was a memorable moment for the Lopez-Stelzer Laboratory. Our very own Arnaldo López Rivera successfully defended his Master’s Thesis as part of the requirements for the Master’s in Pharmaceutical Sciences, from the School of Pharmacy at the University of Puerto Rico-Medical Sciences Campus. Arnaldo becomes the first graduate student from our lab to reach this milestone. Congratulations Arnaldo, we wish you the best in all your future endeavors.
|
On June 23, 2017 we received the visit of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from their headquarters in Silver Springs. The event was hosted by the FDA office in the San Juan Distract in our research facilities at the Molecular Sciences Research Center. This visit was to evaluate areas of opportunities for collaborations between the FDA and researchers within the MSRC. Personnel from different areas of the FDA came by:
Ms. Maridalia Torres, FDA Director San Juan District Mr. Alonza Cruse, FDA Pharmaceutical Quality Program Director, Silver Springs, MD Dr. Lawrence X. Yu, FDA Deputy of Science and Chemistry Director, Silver Springs, MD Dr. Osvaldo Rosario, Senior Scientist Consultant, San Juan District Dr. Hector Espinet, FDA Chemist Building on these types of collaborations and relationships is what’s going to ensure that research in Puerto Rico keeps growing. |
July
Congratulations to our undergraduate student, Gabriela Rosado González for being accepted in the prestigious Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) program at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. The RISE program is a great opportunity for Gabriela to strengthen her research training, academic preparation, and professional skills. Congrats again Gabriela! We are glad to have you in our laboratories.
|
For the past two summers we have received the high school student Jelliany López Batista to perform research activities in our laboratory as part of the ACS sponsored Project SEED. The Project SEED provides hands-on research experience for high school students to increase their interest in pursing a STEM degree. These research experiences provided Jelliany the opportunity to learn about and acquire experience performing polymer synthesis, purification and characterization. She presented her finding this past Friday, July 21, 2017 at the Project SEED closing ceremony. She recently graduated Padre Rufo Bilingual School and will start her first year at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus this fall.
Congratulations Jelliany! We wish you all the best as you start this next chapter of life. |
As the summer comes to an end we are forced to say farewell to our two summer interns Erika Serrano and Froylan O. Fernández that were part of the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program at the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras, with the theme Puerto Rico Chemical Learning Integrated in Materials and Bimolecular Applications (PR-CLIMB). The PR-CLIMB REU Program provides undergraduate students with high caliber interdisciplinary research experiences that will inspire interest in graduate studies. Erika joined us from the University of Puerto Rico in Humacao and Froylan from Millersville University in Pennsylvania. This past Thursday, July 27th they presented their results in a poster session held at the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras. Froylan O. Fernández was the winner of this year’s poster presentation competition and was awarded with the opportunity to attend and present his poster at the 255th American Chemical Society National Meeting in the Spring 2018.
Congratulations to both on a job well done this past summer and on the presentation!! It was our pleasure to host you, we hope this experience was of great enrichment and that you keep growing as scientist in the future. |
August
This past Monday, July 31, 2017, we celebrated the first center-wide outreach activity, entitled, Creando ConCiencia at the Molecular Sciences Research Center. The activity targeted about 40 undergraduate students who have already taken general or organic chemistry in the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. The goal of the activity was to make the students aware of the ongoing research opportunities that exist in areas such as molecular biology, enzymology, synthetic organic chemistry, electrochemistry, materials and pharmaceutical sciences within the Center.
The activity was a learning experience in many levels, because the volunteers (mainly graduate students) developed their own interactive tables and posters for the activity. The interactive tables highlighted basic concepts of the research being performed in various laboratories, which could be later used to explain in more detail the different research projects illustrated with the poster. Participating laboratories presented themes related to the development of an HIV vaccine, creation of solar cells for renewable energy, the development of continuous purification and crystallization methods, and the synthesis and separation of biomaterials for biomedical applications. The activity also included a tour through the Center, in which the participating students learned about the research performed at the individual laboratory benches and had the opportunity to see the instruments of some of the core facilities in action. A special thank you go to all volunteers including the professors, graduate and undergraduate students and the support personnel of the Molecular Sciences Research Center for their dedication and passion, which made this activity a gigantic success. This activity was certainly just the beginning of many more to come. We hope that this and future activities can promote the research of every research scientists in the island, and connect them with the public, prospective students and with other scientists so that we can create both science and science awareness together. Do you want to learn more about these outreach efforts? Write an email to [email protected] or follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CreaCienciaPR/# or Twitter @CreaCienciaPR. #CreandoConCiencia |
October
Our students keep achieving great things everywhere they go. Froylan Omar Fernandez was an UPR-CLIMB REU student in the López Laboratory this past summer 2017. He was awarded the First Place Best Poster Award for his research presentation in our REU site. This past October 14, 2017 he participated of the 20th Undergraduate Research Symposium in the Chemical and Biological Sciences at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). There, he received a Second Place Best Poster Award for his research presentation at this symposium. We also received news that he was awarded an Honorable Mention recognition by the Chemistry REU Leadership Group for his research accomplishments in our lab this past summer. This will honorable mention will allow him to attend the 2018 Spring National ACS Conference in New Orleans. Congratulations Froylan!
|
November
This past November 1st-4th the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS) was held in Phoenix, AZ. UPR-Río Piedras and our lab were well represented again this year. Current undergraduate students Gabriela Rosado, Rocío Zorrilla and Victor Vazquez participated of the conference as well as our Summer 2017 REU student Froylan Fernández. Both Rocío and Froylan were awarded for their outstanding presentations on the Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Chemistry categories, respectively. Congratulations to both for this achievement!! We are proud and honored that you always do your best to represent not only the lab and UPR, but Puerto Rico.
|
Our very own José Hernández, was just awarded with the Dr. Frank M. Deane Passion for Science Award from Lilly del Caribe. This prestigious award is given to an outstanding senior undergraduate student that will start his first year of graduate school in a science related research-based program in Puerto Rico. A student who exudes the same profound passion for excellence, the curiosity and courage to pursue the unknown, exhibited by Dr. Frank M. Deane, past president of global manufacturing operations at Eli Lilly and Company. All of these are qualities that José possesses and that make him a great scientist. The award will provide José with opportunities for work experience, and an internship with a mentor in a Lilly del Caribe manufacturing facility. Congratulations José!
|
We are really proud to announce that Alondra Rivera, Julianie De la Cruz and Waldemar Rodriguez got accepted to the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation program (PR-LSAMP). The LS-AMP is a highly competitive program that provides the students with resources, seminars and workshops that contribute to their formative process as undergraduate students in the STEM field. Congratulations to all three for joining this program, we have no doubt that it will provide them the opportunity to continue growing as researchers in our laboratory and beyond!
|