Angelin Marie Figueroa RiveraSeminar Summaries-2013

1-Luminescent Carbon nanoparticles for bio analysis by Luis Colon

This seminar was about the fractionating of carbon nanoparticles to improve its biological uses. This nanoparticles are also called carbon dots and can be found in graphite nanofibers of complex mixtures. Luis Colon said that they wanted to reduced that complex mixture by fractionating it using high resolution of anion-exchange high-performance liquid chromatography (AE-HPLC) in order to study more specific the carbon dots. As they fractionate the mixture the carbon dots showed luminescent indicating an improvement in the biological compatibility. Due to these improvements, now these carbon nanoparticles can be used for different purposes such as cancerous cells, which is the purpose of Luis Colon and colleagues.

2- Protein - Protein interactions by Denisse De Jesús

In this seminar Denisse De Jesús talks about the legionella pneumophila bacteria. This is a bacterium that can be found in pools, spas, showers and air condition. It is responsible for the legionnaire disease and Pontiac fever; both are an acute infectious respiratory process. Luckily, it cannot be transmitted. Also, she explained that the goal of this bacterium is to infect a host so it can replicate. In addition she said that legionella arrest host cells to allow enough time for bacteria replication within the cells. In conclusion, host cells cycle perturbation stimulates legionella pneumophila intracellular growth.

3-Biomedical tools in schizophrenia research by Jose Peña

The Biomedical tools in schizophrenia research seminar treats about explain what is schizophrenia and investigations to find a cure or a better treatment. Jose Peña explained that this condition is a mental disorder that make difficult to difference between what is real and not real. Also, mentioned the symptoms a person can present, such as delusions, hallucinations, lack of motivation, social withdrawal, alteration in memory, attention and executive functioning. In patients with this disease the ventricle of the brain is larger than a normal one. By now there is not a cure, but are developing drugs that help to treat the symptoms, so the person can be functional.