Participant 12. Universidad Católica del Norte (UCN), Antofagasta, Chile

The “Universidad Católica del Norte” UCN (Catholic University of the North) (http:/www.ucn.cl), is located at the Antofagasta city, 1400 km north of Santiago, Chile. It was created in 1956 by the Jesuita congregation, being the 8th university in Chile and the 3rd catholic university of the country. UCN has two campuses, one in Antofagasta and another in Coquimbo city. It is constituted by 7 faculties, 20 Departments, 6 Schools, 4 institutes and 7 centers. The university offers 42 undergraduate and 23 graduate programs (6 doctorates and 17 masters). Today the UCN has 334 faculty members, 9,953 undergraduate students and 415 graduate students. The UCN has always promoted the interaction with other universities and research centers of the different continents. UCN belongs to the Council of Chilean University Rectors and is accredited by the “National Commission of Accreditation (CNA-Chile)”

The area of Organic Chemistry, led by Prof. Dr. Victor Kesternich, has developed several joint research projects with prestigious foreign universities, such as "Drug-Design Chagas Disease" (ChagaSpace), funded by NASA, USA. In addition, has worked in the phytochemical study of algae and marine invertebrates (Grant AECI, A / A/7115/06 and 3432/05). In organic synthesis, have been synthesized nitrogen heterocycles, quinazolines and azole derivatives. The products obtained from both, chemical synthesis as the different species studied, are evaluated to measure the potential effect as antitumor agents, antibiotics and antifungal.

The structure and stereochemistry of different compounds obtained, is established through the use of spectroscopic methods. The spectroscopic measurements of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometry (MS) is performed through the collaboration of the Institute for Bioorganic of the University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain and the University of Geneva. This year is starting with the theoretical study, in silico, through Docking and QSAR, of enzyme-substrate reactivity to assess the potential pharmacological property of the molecules obtained from natural products or chemical synthesis. This research is developed with the collaboration of the Dr. Margot Paulino of the Universidad de La Reública, Montevideo, Uruguay. In addition, the our Department in UCN is also involved in MAREX and ChemBioFight projects from the European Commission.

Role in the project

• Obtaining and classification of marine anemones from the Chilean coast (WP1)
• Isolation, purification and structural determination of secondary metabolites by spectroscopic methods including their stereochemistry and conformational properties (WP2)
• Bioactivity testing (WP 3) 

Prof. Victor Kesternich, Ph.D. (Org. Chem.)

Professor of Chemistry

Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science 

Email: vkestern(at)ucn.cl

Expertise: Natural product chemistry and organic synthesis of bioactive compounds (heterocycles and natural products).

M.Sc. Marcia Pérez-Fehrmann. Ph.D. Fellowship.

Department of Chemistry

Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science 

Email: maperez(at)ucn.cl

Expertise: Natural product chemistry and organic synthesis of heterocycles.