USS Aquaculture Core is being boosted by new professionals

Chile: The arrival of three specialists to the region adds to the work the university is doing in the southern region, and reinforces the commitment to one of the region’s major productivity drivers.

Strengthening the Academy’s commitment through research is the goal of integrating three distinguished academics and researchers with PhDs in aquaculture sciences who will join those already doing outstanding work in the field at De Patagonia at the University of San Sebastian.

Margarita Gonzalez is a marine biologist and physician in aquaculture sciences, with nearly 15 years of practical experience researching the health issues associated with salmon farming, particularly in calcareous disease.

She is joined by Danixa Martinez, a marine biologist from the Universidad Austral de Chile, with graduate studies in Aquaculture Sciences (PhD) and post-doctoral training in Animal Health, who specializes in animal physiology, specifically classic and non-classical immunology of small vertebrates.

Ricardo Oyarzon has a BSc in Biological Sciences and a PhD in Aquaculture Sciences from the University of Austral, specializing in nutrition, immunology, physiology and related pathogens in aquaculture.

According to the Postgraduate House, through a press release, this true aquaculture nucleus formed at the Patagonian headquarters also consists of Dr. Marcos Godoy, Director of the Center for Applied Biological Research (CIBA), who has a long history in the region and who has worked, among Other topics, on the molecular epidemiology and pathology of endemic diseases such as IPNV, as well as guidance for the USS Applied Biotechnology Laboratory, a facility that has been maintained throughout the pandemic by analyzing Covid-19 samples.

The fifth aquaculture specialist in the USS is Dr. Juan Pablo Pontego, who arrived in the USS before the pandemic and excelled, among other things, in developing a vaccine that protects salmon from bacteria. Salmon Bisricciaa work that was recently highlighted in the prestigious scientific journal Frontiers in Immunology.

Dr. Daniel Medina is an engineer in molecular biotechnology and holds a master’s degree in biological sciences, from the University of Chile, and a doctorate in biotechnology from the University of Valencia, Spain, with a postdoctoral degree from the Catholic University. “At the headquarters in Patagonia, genetic and biological information tools have been used to study microorganisms affecting aquaculture, as well as to describe the types of microorganisms that inhabit the different types of continental water resources in the Los Lagos region,” he noted.

contribution

Angelica Barroso, Director of Research and PhD at the USS Campus, expressed appreciation for the arrival of new researchers who “will also be in contact with students through teaching. This is a contribution from the university in an aquaculture-related area of ​​the Greater Southern Region.”

Dr. Margarita Gonzalez highlighted her “ability to communicate science, along with teaching based on empirical knowledge that has been achieved over the years. Part of my experience as a researcher has been to generate knowledge through public role research that supports the development of strategies to combat calicivirus, which strongly influences the National Salmon Breeding”.

For Dr Danixa Martínez, it is appropriate to “contribute, both to the development of the USS Academic Program, as well as to collaborate in the creation of a new research line focused on aquaculture production systems focused on applied research that provides effective solutions to real problems in aquaculture production systems”.

Dr. Ricardo Oyarzin points out that his idea is to “create new lines of research or strengthen existing interdisciplinary lines of research focusing on aquaculture production systems and fish health and benefits to society. Among them, study describing the physiological response in larvae of different fish species, such as: salmon, sole Horn, eel, among others.”

The three research professors are associated with the University’s Vice-Rectorate for Research and Doctoral work and the Vice-Department of Leadership through the College of Veterinary Medicine.