Cristina Moriguchi Jeckel went to University of Groningen on PUCRS-PrInt
Photo: Personal archive
School of Health and Life Sciences professor, Dr Cristina Moriguchi, went on a mission to the University of Groningen (RUG), in the Netherlands, under PUCRS-PrInt, cooperation project “Development of technologies and innovative processes in health”, which is coordinated by Prof. Dr. Maria Martha Campos. The University has a consolidated partnership with the Dutch institution. One of the fruits of this partnership is the double degree awarded to researcher Paula Kopschina Feltes, who was advised by Professor Erik de Vries, in the Netherlands, and Cristina, at PUCRS.
“Since the partnership between RUG and PUCRS began, we have been in close contact, especially because we were working with our doctoral students. However, scientific exchanges are materialized at different levels. Researchers from both HEIs participate in seminars promoted by their respective graduate programs or international congresses on molecular imaging and nuclear medicine every year”, Cristina says.
Double degrees between PUCRS and RUG
From 2014 to 2019, two PhD students from PUCRS have completed a double degree with RUG and two others are working on it. Paula Feltes (Graduate Program in Biomedical Gerontology) finished her program in Jul 2018, and Bruno Lima Giacobbo (Graduate Program in Cellular and Molecular Biology) finished his in Nov 2019. Luiza Nazario (Graduate Program in Cellular and Molecular Biology) is scheduled to finish her PhD in Apr 2020, and Bruna Fernandes (Graduate Program in Biomedical Gerontology) in Jul 2021. They both have a degree from the Pharmacy program.
The research projects of the students involved in the double degree between PUCRS and RUG have been carried out at both PUCRS’ and UMCG (RUG)’ laboratories, with the exception of the Paula Feltes PhD, who completed the practicum part of her training at Groningen. All of these projects are embraced by the area of Development of Innovative Technologies and Processes in Health, within the priority theme Health and Human Development.
New projects
The mission also allowed PUCRS to continue working on the partnership with Professor Wiktor Szymanski, a member of Professor Ben Feringa’s (Nobel in Chemistry 2016) team. The partnership seeks to develop a line of research in photopharmacology (light-activated molecules). “It’s an area that came to life less than a decade ago and studies are still embryonic. After the mission, I’m going to spread the word with my peers at PUCRS. They are already interested in learning more about the fundamentals of photopharmacology” , Cristina adds.
