Minds that get together and develop academic knowledge, ethics, and professionals are those that make up the collaborative project BioMinds, financed by the Amgen Foundation, which includes the participation of students of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (UPRM) and other campuses of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR).

BioMinds receives a $1 million economic subsidy from the Amgen Foundation. As indicated by doctor Rosa Buxeda, project coordinator, the effort’s objective is to incorporate research experiences in the Science and Engineering curriculums at the five campuses that compose the UPR System.

“I believe that one of the added benefits of this type of project is that it makes our students more competitive when they graduate, whether they choose to continue on to graduate studies or integrating themselves into the work force,” commented Buxeda.

Engineer Emilio Rivera, vice president of Operations at Amgen, called special attention to the student’s abilities and the benefits that these represent for scientific entities. As he indicated, Amgen in particular works closely with schools and universities in the United States and Puerto Rico to improve the quality of Science education.

“With little training, students can immediately begin to contribute to bio-scientific advances. For example, we are collaborating with a young man whose research brought about an improvement in productivity of one of our cell lines and he graduated not even a year ago from the UPRM Biotechnology program,” said Rivera.

Doctor Jorge Iván Vélez Arocho, UPRM chancellor, expressed that the success of this first year of undergraduate research in Biotechnology validates the high expectations of the BioMinds initiative. “The alliance between Amgen and the University of Puerto Rico to strengthen the human resources foundation in Biotechnology in Puerto Rico, through BioMinds, is very strong and it offers unique opportunities to UPRM students,” he assured.

Students also expressed the benefits that result from the experience of being part of BioMinds, as much for their academic development as well as their professional development.

“The project helped me to develop the techniques of information seeking, reading, and analysis within my field of study. Also, I believe that the most gratifying aspect of this opportunity has been working with students that have the same interests and skills and doing research that could result in a contribution to the improvement of society,” said Héctor Camareno, student of Chemical Engineering.

Student of the same College, Janira Marrero, expressed that “BioMinds has given me the opportunity to learn techniques and skills that normally aren’t learned until you integrate into the working world.”

The conference, which took place at the Bioprocess Development and Training Complex, displayed the research of more than one hundred undergraduate students, some of which have presented their findings in scientific conferences and won awards at the national level. The UPRM Chancellor, the Director of the UPRM Industrial Biotechnology Program, doctor Lorenzo Salicetti, as well as other members of the UPRM faculty were present at the conference. http://biominds.uprm.edu.

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The conference displayed the research of more than one hundred undergraduate students from UPRM and other campuses of the UPR system.

Students were accompanied by the Industrial Biotechnology Program Coordinator, doctor Lorenzo Salicetti (far left); vice president of Amgen, Emilio Rivera (second from the right); and UPRM chancellor, doctor Jorge I. Vélez Arocho (third from the right).

Students expressed the academic benefits as well as the professional benefits that resulted from the experience of forming part of BioMinds.

Rosa Buxeda, BioMinds coordinator (second from the left) noted that this type of project makes the students more competitive when they graduate, whether they choose to continue on to graduate studies or integrating themselves into the work force.

Photographs by Azyadeth Vélez / UPRM Press