Genomics, forest trees, genetic engineering , biosafety GMOs

During my academic carrer I have supervised more than 50 undergraduate thesis of students from programs of Plant Biotechnology, Bioengineering, Biology, Biochemistry, Forestry from the Universidad de Concepcion, and from other universities.
At graduate level, I have been supervisor of 5 MSc and 9 PhD, all from Forest Sciences Graduate program, amnong the PhDs are:
1.- Renán García (2011) Clonamiento y caracterización de la enzima ferulato 5-hidroxilasa (F5H) de eucaliptus globulus = Cloning and characterization of the enzime ferulate 5-Hidroxilase from Eucalyptus globulus.
2.- Marta Fernández (2011) Caracterización de genes deshidrina en Eucalyptus globulus cuya expresión es inducida por la aclimatación a baja temperatura.
3.- Priscila Moraga (2012) Desarrollo de mapa de ligamiento genético y detección de QTLs asociados a la resistencia contra fusarium circinatum nirenberg & O´Donnell en pinus radiata d.don.
4.- Catherine Delaveau (2013) Contribución a la propagación y conservación ex situ de Gomortega keule (Mol.) Baillon mediante estudios moleculares, fisiológicos y bioquímicos.
5.- Ángela Carrasco (2015) Búsqueda de genes candidatos relacionados con la resistencia a Fusarium circinatum en genotipos contrastantes de Pinus radiata.
6.- Darío Navarrete (2017) Caracterización de genes CBF (c-repeat binding factors) de Eucalyptus globulus y su validación como genes candidatos que regulan la resistencia al frío mediante transformación genética en Arabidopsis thaliana.
7.- Ricardo Durán (2017) Modelos de predicción genómicos para la selección de genotipos de Eucalyptus globulus en base a densidad de la madera y volumen.
8.- José Luis Ulloa (2022) Identificación de genes de respuesta a sequía, en hojas y raíces de un genotipo de Eucalyptus globulus tolerante al estrés.
9.- Paula Aguayo (2024) NAC: una superfamilia de factores transcripcionales y su rol en la tolerancia al estrés abiótico en Eucalyptus globulus.

I have been part of several science communication activities, by giving talks in the topics of plant genetic engineering, forest biotechnology, biosafety of GMOs, bioethics and biotechnology and women in science. Most of these talks have been to high school students, society (Cafe Cientificos) and to specific groups (lawyers, physicians, agronomists, among others). As well I have been active by inviting high school students to do some biotechnology labs, such as DNA extraction, PCR and others in our labs. During 2017-2022 I was invited to write an opinion in a local newspaper, twice a month (El Sur), regarding topics related with science and society, as well as science based evidence for public policies.

I have been Organizer of the IUFRO Forest Biotechnology meeting held in Concepcion (2017) and co-chair of LignoBiotech meeting also held at Concepcion in 2015, and part of the scientific committee of those congresses.
Since 2006, I have been responsible of co- organizing the International Forest Genetics and Biotechnology Course, jointly with Dr. Claudio Balocchi (Bioforest-Arauco) and professor from Northampton Carolina State University. We have organized 7 versions, the last one being in April 2024.

I was also invited to participate in a science communication video The Future of Forests, by iBiology (https://www.ibiology.org/ecology/future-of-forests/#part-1) and have made several interviews on local media, TV, radio regarding the use of forestry, genetic engineering and women in science.