USS wins 12 new research projects in Fondecyt Regular 2024 program

Universidad San Sebastián (USS) ranks among the Chilean institutions with the highest number of projects awarded in this call, securing more than CLP 2 billion to drive knowledge generation at its campuses in Concepción, Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and Santiago.

Twelve research projects led by academics from Universidad San Sebastián were selected for funding by the National Agency for Research and Development (ANID) in the 2024 Fondecyt Regular program, one of Chile’s most significant research funding mechanisms.

USS now stands out among the country’s institutions with the greatest number of projects approved in this call, channeling resources into cutting-edge research across all four campuses. With a territorial deployment and presence in four regions of Chile, the university’s success in securing Fondecyt projects on every campus is a key milestone.

Building on the quality of the projects awarded in 2023—and tripling the results of 2022—USS distinguished itself this year through the diversity and depth of its proposals, which span medicine and health sciences, engineering, natural sciences, law, and the humanities. The projects funded by ANID include advanced studies on autoimmune diseases, epigenetics, particle physics, and Chilean history, among other topics. This achievement reflects USS’s commitment to interdisciplinary research and its contribution to the advancement of knowledge across multiple disciplines.

Dr. Carlos Vio Lagos, Vice-Rector for Research and Doctoral Programs, emphasized: “These results are the product of an institutional policy that embeds research into the DNA of our academic work. We have the institutional support and vision needed to attract and retain highly qualified researchers of all ages and at different stages of their careers.”

He added: “From VRID, we have established quality parameters for recruitment and we support researchers throughout the application and execution of their projects. Our goal is to foster an environment where academics can carry out frontier research, contributing to Chile’s scientific and technological development.”

Dr. Vio also highlighted the role of infrastructure and resources in strengthening research at USS: “We have made significant investments in building and modernizing laboratories across all our campuses. These facilities are equipped with state-of-the-art technology, enabling researchers to carry out advanced studies in a wide range of disciplines.”

Finally, he underscored the institutional impact: “As a young university, these achievements demonstrate both excellence and potential in research, as well as our commitment to contributing to the national and international academic and scientific community. Our success in the 2024 Fondecyt call is a clear sign of our growing impact in higher education and in Chile’s science, technology, knowledge, and innovation ecosystem—while also strengthening the role of women in STEM fields across the regions.”

List of Awarded Projects

Santiago Campus

• Pro-inflammatory cytokines decrease unsaturated cardiolipin levels and/or mitophagy, promoting mitochondrial damage and its extracellular release in salivary epithelial cells of Sjögren’s syndrome patients.
  Lead researcher: Dr. María José Barrera Alvarado, School of Dentistry and Rehabilitation Sciences.

• The Primary Cilium-Mitophagy Axis in AgRP Neurons: Role in the Control of Food Intake and Body Weight.
  Lead researcher: Dr. Eugenia Morselli, School of Medicine and Science.

• The role of methylation and ADP-ribosylation on newly synthesized histones H3 and H4.
  Lead researcher: Dr. María Alejandra Loyola Pedevila, School of Medicine and Science / Science and Life Basal Center.

• Targeting Mineralocorticoid Receptor Activation as a Novel Approach for Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome.
  Lead researcher: Dr. Carlos Lagos Arévalo, School of Medicine and Science.

• How much water in the crust? Disentangling the current upper crustal hydration state at the Central Andes, northern Chile.
  Lead researcher: Dr. Benigno Godoy Neira, School of Engineering, Architecture and Design.

• The Works and Days of Alfonso X (1221–1284): Circumstance and Economic Thought in the 13th Century.
  Lead researcher: Dr. Ángel Gordo Molina, School of Psychology and Humanities.

Concepción Campus

• Plastic pollution and textile impacts in northern Chile: The role of geography, climate, and ocean currents in the cycling and transport of microplastics.
  Lead researcher: Dr. Karla Pozo Gallardo, School of Engineering, Architecture and Design.

• Between American Unity and National Rivalry: Intellectuals, Civil Society, and Public Opinion in the South Pacific, 1856–1883.
  Lead researcher: Dr. Gabriel Cid Rodríguez, School of Law and Social Sciences.

• The “literary invention” of Chilean public law: Circulation of ideas, production of authority, and state-building in Chilean textbooks on Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, and the Law of Nations during the 19th century.
  Lead researcher: Dr. Fernando Muñoz León, School of Law and Social Sciences.

Valdivia Campus

• Inhomogeneous baryonic condensates in the low-energy limit of QCD: External magnetic fields, response functions, nonlinear optics, and chaos.
  Lead researcher: Dr. Fabrizio Canfora Tartaglia, School of Engineering, Architecture and Design / Center for Scientific Studies (CECs).

• Classical and quantum aspects of black holes.
  Lead researcher: Dr. Cristián Martínez Silva, School of Engineering, Architecture and Design / Center for Scientific Studies (CECs).

Patagonia Campus

• Exploring ecological gentrification by ecosystem services in Northern Patagonia, Chile.
  Lead researcher: Dr. Ernesto López Morales, School of Engineering, Architecture and Design.