Dr. Leonardo Guzmán is currently the Director of the Department of Physiology of the Faculty of Biological Sciences of the University of Concepcion. His area of primary specialty was the signal transduction, to then derive in the analysis of the interactions of these molecular systems with the function of ion channels and drug design.
Dr. Guzmán received his degree in biochemist in the University of Concepcion in 1998, after completing his undergraduate thesis in the Molecular Genetic Laboratory directed by Dr. Juan Olate, in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the University of Concepcion. Then he did his doctoral studies under the guidance of the same Dr. Olate. In his thesis, advances were made in the knowledge of molecular aspects of the signal transduction associated with the meiotic maturation process of the Xenopus laevis oocyte. Later, he joined the Neurophysiology Group led by Dr. Luis Aguayo for the realization of a postdoctoral project in the Physiology Department of the University of Concepcion. Here, he participated in the determination of molecular aspects of the regulation of the glycine receptor by the transduction protein Gbg. In parallel, Dr. Guzmán joined the academic plant of this department, and integrated the scientific and academic work of the faculty of biological sciences. In this way, he obtained a FONDECYT Initiation project in 2007. Then, he has been awarded whith two other regular FONDECYT projects and a FONDEF IDeA project. During the years 2012 to 2015 he was the Director of the Doctorate in Biological Sciences area Cell and Molecular Biology of the University of Concepcion, being also director of a MECESUP project for the improvement or update of different aspects of this postgraduate program. Its scientific contribution has focused on the design of small molecules that inhibit the potentiation of ethanol on the glycine receptor, carried out from the conceptual and bioinformatic to the demonstration in in vitro and in vivo models of animal behavior. On the other hand, it has developed a line of research in the study of drug nanocarriers and the molecular interactions that determine their functionality in biological systems.
Dr. Guzmán is currently the Regional Director for the Chilean Pharmacology Society (SOFARCHI) and an active member of the Chilean Biochemistry Society and its scientific productivity includes the publication of 33 scientific articles, six of them as author of correspondence or first author, 2 patents and numerous conferences and posters in national and international symposiums. He has guided the thesis of 10 undergraduate students, mainly in Biochemistry and Bioengineering, 4 master students in Physiology and Biochemistry, and 3 PhD students in Cellular and Molecular Biology.
