Fourth Science and Friendship convention opens up new areas for scientific collaboration

25/11/2008

November 10th, 2008, marked the beginning of the fourth Science and Friendship meeting.  The meeting took place in the newly built auditorium at the Fundación Ciencia para la Vida.  For the next two days, presenters and audience alike were inmerse in a scientific exchange worthy of top universities in the world.  To a passerby, it would have appeared as if they were transported to another world, one without intellectual barriers and full of a collaborative athmosphere.  The audience included four professors from UCSF (University of Californioa San Francisco): Charly Craik, Bob Farese, Jim McKerrow, and Jack Taunton, 20 students from UCSF, as well as professors and students from the Fundación and affiliated universities.

The objective of this fourth meeting was to promote collaborations and the exchange of ideas.  Besides providing a forum for presenting and listening to top-notch research, it provides ample time for informal discussions among participants, whether it be at the poster sessions, during coffee breaks, or at evening events.  Overall, all participants go away with a sense of belonging to a scientific community, not only of their respective countries, but also of the world. Arguably, this would make them better scientists for the future.

Pre-fellow Program

To expand the current association between UCSF and Fundación Ciencia para la Vida, we have recently created a new exciting exchange program that we hace called the Pre-fellow Program. Through this program, we offered newly graduated UCSF students the opportunity to come to Chile and work in a laboratory for a minimum of six months. This year´s awardee was Alex Yick-Lun So, “I had a great experience in Chile working with Sebastián Bernales. I highly recommend the Pre-fellow Program for those who are considering it. From here, I will be moving to Los Angeles to start my post-doctoral studies in Caltech”.