Pitfalls and Opportunities in Knowledge Sharing - Experiences from a research capacity building project in Central America

A number of attempts have been made in the North to assist in the formation of independent research capacities in the South by establishing knowledge sharing through North-South research collaboration. One such attempt was initiated by Danida through its programme for Enhancement of Research Capacity (ENRECA). Aalborg University was approached by the National University of Costa Rica to make a joint research venture within the field of sustainable development. The project got a Central American (CA) regional perspective by including participants from Nicaragua and El Salvador. The project was titled Sustainable Development Strategies for Central America (SUDESCA) and aimed at support of relevant CA research activities, including the formation of adequate organizational setups that would eventually sustain forthwith. The project focused on two theoretical themes, i.e. the National Systems of Innovation and the Social Construction of Technology approaches. In this paper the CA universities are viewed as important sub-systems of the respective national systems of innovation. Thus, the following is an analysis of the institutional sustainability of the research capacity of universities perceived as parts of the national systems of innovation. To what extent did the knowledge transfer and exchange as well as the organizational capacity building efforts succeed? What were the main pitfalls and opportunities experienced? What did the Aalborg team learn about its own research capacity set-up? Our overall conclusion is that it is a mistake to assume that research capacity may be more or less directly transferred from the North to the South. Research capacity existing in the North has to be carefully adapted to the specific conditions where it may be expected to be useful.Innovation system, knowledge adaption, Central America

Isolation, Identification, Modification, and Biological Analysis of extracts of A. Mexicana

Argemone mexicana is a member of the Papaveraceae family of plants that has been used for centuries in traditional medicine by indigenous communities in Mexico and the United States. Through a collaborative project, we have explored separation of key components of the seeds and leaves of this plant to isolate the source of their biological activity. We have already identified two key molecules which give this plant anti-microbial properties against the gram-positive bacteria. Furthermore, we have chemically modified one of these molecules to observe variations on activity. We hope this leads to the discovery of new antibiotic drugs

Synthetic associations in the context of genome-wide association scan signals

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have successfully identified a large number of genetic variants associated with complex traits, but these only explain a small proportion of the total heritability. It has been recently proposed that rare variants can create ‘synthetic association' signals in GWAS, by occurring more often in association with one of the alleles of a common tag single nucleotide polymorphism. While the ultimate evaluation of this hypothesis will require the completion of large-scale sequencing studies, it is informative to place it in the broader context of what is known about the genetic architecture of complex disease. In this review, we draw from empirical and theoretical data to summarize evidence showing that synthetic associations do not underlie many reported GWAS associations

Desarrollo e implementación del portal de la revista Científica “RCIEN” de la facultad de Ciencias e Ingenierías de la UNAN-Managua

El presente trabajo de Seminario de Graduación, es titulado: Desarrollo e implementación de portal de la revista Científica “RCIEN” de la facultad de Ciencias e Ingenierías de la UNAN-Managua. El propósito de este documento fue implementar una revista científica con fines educativos y tutorías, mediante el desarrollo web, tales como: iconmon, jquery, loremipsun, lorempixel y HTML5. De esta manera se incentivará a los usuarios, con un mecanismo virtual que permita sintetizar y brindar información, acerca de noticias nacionales, internacionales, efemérides, tecnología, ciencia y estudios. Por lo tanto la organización de información de las distintas unidades académicas, estarán dispuestas y alojada en un dominio web www.campuscomputación/unan.edu.ni/RCIEN para la recreación y disponibilidad al usuario. Con el fin de proveer a la comunidad universitaria interés simultaneo, se identificaron los aspectos necesarios para la configuración esquematizada de la página web, tanto como detalles y estilos formales, promediada en una base de datos, que constituirá nuestra web y que a la vez brindarán con un diseño de programación donde se realicen registros de usuarios mediante un diseño de formularios para un acceso personalizado y versátil, con el objetivo principal de que ellos interactúen y compartan sus ideas con los demás usuarios que estén registrados

Identifying Antimicrobial Phytocompounds to Combat ISS Superbugs

The isolation, or creation, of novel antimicrobial agents is currently at the forefront of modern healthcare due to the stark decrease in antimicrobial drug development in recent years and due to the increasing rise of superbugs, or microorganisms that are resistant to more than one type of antimicrobial treatment, which are predicted by 2050 to cause 10 million deaths/year. In addition to being a terrestrial cause for concern, antimicrobial resistant microbes are also a threat to the health of the individuals on the International Space Station (ISS). According to recent studies, a diverse population of bacteria and fungi, including several opportunistic pathogens, have colonized the ISS, and many of these strains have been found to possess antimicrobial resistance genes. Therefore, our research is focused on testing bacterial and fungal pathogens that have been isolated from the ISS against methanolic extracts from different medicinal plants, such as Argemone mexicana and Curcuma longa. Additionally, from previous work in our lab (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249704), we have identified several antibacterial compounds in A. mexicana and are attempting to determine the distribution of these phytocompounds (berberine, chelerythrine, sanguinarine) in the plant using quantitative chemistry techniques. This work highlights the importance of plants as an invaluable pharmaceutical resource at a time when antimicrobial drug discovery has plateaued

Antimicrobial Activities of Several Argemone mexicana-Inspired Phytocompounds

The creation of novel antimicrobial agents is currently at the forefront of modern healthcare due to a stark decrease in antimicrobial drug development in recent years and due to the increasing rise of “superbugs” that are resistant to more than one type of antimicrobial treatment, which are predicted by 2050 to cause 10 million deaths/year. Our research is focused on testing bacterial and fungal pathogens against methanolic and hexane extracts of various medicinal plants, such as Argemone mexicana. From previous work by our group, several antimicrobial compounds were isolated from the roots and leaves of A. mexicana, including berberine, chelerythrine and sanguinarine (work published in PLOS ONE in 2021). Since then, we have synthesized multiple rationally-designed variants of these original phytocompounds (fourteen berberine and four chelerythrine variants) and have tested these A. mexicana-inspired phytocompounds for altered antimicrobial activities. Interestingly, several of these variant compounds show increased antibacterial effects against gram-positive bacteria, yet reduced toxicity against the eukaryotic fungal cell lines tested. Moreover, based on an alkaline phosphatase (ALP) assay, it appears that the altered antimicrobial actions of some of these unique variants may be due changes in the permeability of the cell envelope, resulting in the leakage of intracellular proteins. This work was published in Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry in 2023. In the time since, we have tested A. mexicana extracts and several variants in a microgravity environment using a clinostat. We have also synthesized eight more berberine variants and tested them against various pathogens. Some of these new variants show even greater antimicrobial activity than the previous variants

Antimicrobial and Cytotoxic Effects of Bothrops atrox Snake Venom

Bothrops atrox, a snake species endemic to South America, is often associated with traditional medicinal practices due to its therapeutic potential against various diseases. Recent studies have identified the presence of unique peptides, enzymes, and proteins in the venom of similar snake species, suggesting their roles in inhibiting the growth of specific bacteria and showing cytotoxic effects against certain mammalian cell lines. Therefore, this research project aims to explore the antimicrobial and cytotoxic properties specifically of B. atrox venom by screening aqueous venom extract against twelve distinct prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms (using a Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion assay), in addition to one colon cancer cell line (using the MTT cell viability assay). Thus far, the aqueous B. atrox venom extract (at 1 mg/disc) was found to inhibit growth of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, with little activity against the fungal organisms tested, and cytotoxic studies are also underway using colon cancer cells. We are simultaneously in the process of using reverse-phase column chromatography to isolate the active compounds present. Such compounds would then be identified using analytical chemistry techniques (like mass spec and NMR). The underlying objective of this work is to eventually isolate and characterize the therapeutic compounds responsible for these specific activities. These data highlight the importance of natural remedies as an important pharmaceutical resource at a time when antimicrobial and anticancer drug discovery has plateaued

Contributions of Universities and Public Research Centers to Innovation Processes in the industry: the Costa Rican case

Presented at GLOBELICS 2009, 7th International Conference, 6-8 October, Dakar, Senegal.Parallel session 1: Research networks and knowledge flowsThis paper presents an analysis on the links among universities and public research institutes with the industry in Costa Rica. The study analyses information from three different sources. The first one is a data base from the national survey of science, technology and innovation in Costa Rica. The other one is a survey to researches in universities and public research centres. A third source is a deep interview to researchers within universities and public research centres. The objective of the study is to have a better understanding of the creation, transfer and materialisation of knowledge in the innovation processes of the industry. The main results give us an idea of the weakness of the Costa Rican innovation system. There are clear difficulties for the universities and the public research centers to develop satisfactory links with firms. It is a high concentration of the investment in science and technology in the academic sector. It would be natural that firms have access to the efforts by research centers. However, it is obvious that the percentage of firms that has an effective linkage with the universities and public research centers is very low. Some institutional barriers and mistrust between these actors, avoid better linkages. But there are also some positive efforts. The study focuses on the elements that promote or hinder the linkage among universities and firms, and attend the challenges of developing economies to improve these kinds of relationships. A chain of limitations hinder useful interactions of universities and public research centres with the industry, hindering innovation processes by firms. Most of the barriers are internal problems to the research centres, including very bureaucratic processes that hinder the possibility to joint projects with firms. It seems natural to strengthen trust among universities, public research centres and firms, but also the introduction of institutional changes that facilitate networking