High school research team awarded by the City Mayor

The Municipality of Santiago, in a ceremony headed by Mayor Felipe Alessandri, awarded high school students Antonia Campos and Daniela Gutierrez and teacher Roxana Nahuelcura Lobos from Liceo Javiera Carrera for the success of their high school research project on the discovery of plastic-degrading enzymes, which has been supported by our research group through Javiera Reyes and J. Alejandro Molina.

Their project, entitled “Identification and Evaluation of Antarctic bacteria with PET degradation activity”, used a solid culture medium with embedded PET that, in the presence of Antarctic bacteria with plastic-degrading activity, leaves an halo of degradation as a fingerprint.

This project was recognized as one of the six best evaluated works of the XIII Regional Congress (RM) Explora CONICYT 2018, selected for participation in the XIX National School Congress of Science and Technology Explora CONICYT 2018, and received the first place in the EXPOCIENCIA 2019 meeting in Costa Rica.

The ceremony, in which the commitment of our research group in promoting the participation of women in science was highlighted, was held in the City Hall in the presence of authorities of the Municipality of Santiago, headed by Mayor Felipe Alessandri, and Liceo Javiera Carrera, headed by Director Inés Aqueveque.

For more information, visit the website of the Municipality of Santiago