My work

I'm a biochemist, and I work in INIA La Platina, in the "Biotechnology Laboratory". From next year, I'm going to work in INIA Rayentué, in Rengo, in the "Fruticulture Advanced Studies Center (CEAF)". I'm part of a group of students who are doing our thesis in themes related to Prunus ("stone fruits").

In CEAF, I'm part of the Genomic and Breeding Areas and I'm going to work at Molecular Breeding in sweet cherries. Breeders (people who work in obtaining new varieties) are interested in the use of new technologies which give them the opportunity to know some characteristics of the tree or the fruit in early stages of development of the plant. My thesis is focused on the use of DNA from leaves and its analysis with molecular markers. These ones are DNA fragment which give us information about differences among plants, and they are very useful in Molecular Breeding. For example, we can detect plants which will produce big and sweet cherries, or that will be resistent to viruses or bacteria, although these plants are young and have only one pair of leaves.

I think that my work is very interesting and we will obtain very useful information for breeding in swett cherries, which are an important fruit for the Chilean economy.