What an Experience! SACNAS UPRRP 2nd Local Conference Was a Hit!

This year’s SACNAS UPRRP hosted it’s 2nd Local Conference and was held on March 8, 2025, at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Río Piedras Campus. This past week, undergraduates, post-baccalaureate, and graduate students came together to present their latest scientific findings, making it another great year. One of the aims of these conference is to encourage collaboration and innovation among participants. 

This year’s program included three keynote lectures by professors and researchers from  institutions outside of Puerto Rico, poster presentations, 1 minute talks and awards. Students from several venues such as: UPR-Río Piedras, UPR-Mayagüez, UPR-Humacao UPR-Cayey, UPR-Medical Sciences Campus and private institutions such as Universidad Ana G. Méndez de Gurabo and the Universidad Interamericana de Ponce were given the task of being part of this great annual event. An approximate total of 200 people attended the event.

The seminars given by these researchers benefited those who were present.

  • Marcy Kingsbury, PhD, Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School. “How perinatal stressors and inflammatory events shape the developing nervous and gastrointestinal systems of offspring”.
  • Luca Busino, PhD, Department of Cancer Biology at the University of Pennsylvania. “From Unraveling DCAF15 Function to Rational Design of Degraders”.
  • Alejandra Medina Rivera, PhD, International Human Genome Research Laboratory. “Unlocking the power of community data: LupusRGMX and immune cell research In LATAM”.

As part of the RaMP-UP Retreat the 2025 Cohort presented their research at the SACNAS UPRRP poster sessions.

Norangelik Quiles
Diego Villafañe
Darilis Martínez
Emma Hoza
Angélica Crespo
Millicent Sampson
Camila Sánchez
Geraldine Ortiz

Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Environmental Sciences, Computer Sciences, and Social Sciences were among the natural sciences covered by the students’ research. The following students were recognized for their outstanding poster presentations at the undergraduate level:

  • 1st place – Samuel A. Rivera Vargas (Chemistry, UPR-RP)
  • 2nd place – María F. Acevedo Kury (Biology, UPR-Cayey)
  • 3rd place – Daliana M. Agosto Disdier (Chemistry, UPRRP)
  • 4th place – Paola G. Figueroa Pratts (Biology, UPR-RP)
  • 5th place – Adrián Duchesne Acevedo (Physics, UPR-RP)

Additionally, the winners of the ‘1 minute talks’ were:

  • 1st place –  Julianys Tirado Alicea (Biology, UPR-Río Piedras)
  • 2nd place – Gabriela S. Paz Alvira (Biology, UPR-Humacao)
  • 3rd place – Alfredo Frontera Del Valle (Biology, UPR-Río Piedras)

An inspiring aspect of the event is the organizing committee (a group of graduates, undergraduate and staff) which was composed by the president and vice president of the chapter of SACNAS UPRRP and members of the board of the Association of Graduate Students of Biology of the Recinto de Río Piedras. The task given to this group was to organize an event to promote research, which would ultimately create a professional and growth space for the university community.

Sponsorship for this event was provided by IDGeNe and RaMP-UP programs.

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