Publicado el 1 February, 2021 / News

Dr. Ruben Avendaño-Herrera receives 2020 UNAB Researcher award

The Principal Investigator of the line “Animal health in freshwater life stages of salmonids” of the INCAR Center and Director of the Laboratory of Pathology of Aquatic Organisms and Biotechnology in Aquaculture of the Andrés Bello University (UNAB), Dr. Ruben Avendaño-Herrera , was awarded by his Universitys as one of the most outstanding Researchers of 2020.
At the ceremony organized by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Doctorate of UNAB on Tuesday, January 26, Dr. Avendaño-Herrera was distinguished in the category “Agriculture and Biological Sciences” for his contribution to research and innovation in the area.
In the broadcast, the Vice-Chancellor Ariel Orellana emphasized the good results that, despite the contingency, the UNAB had in research, which “were the best in its more than 30 years of history.”
Dr. Ruben Avendaño-Herrera said he was surprised and grateful for the institutional recognition, “This is the third consecutive year that the University has rewarded me, before it had been for the contribution in the area of ​​Veterinary Sciences. However, this past is such a difficult and complex year for all researchers and especially the members of the research teams, since our laboratories have remained semi-closed since the social contingency and the research assistants have had to stay at home. This is everyone’s effort; for this reason, I share it with my team, who have also had to adapt to these conditions and always with a total commitment to investigate ”.
During 2020, the Investigator of the INCAR and Academic Center of the UNAB published various scientific studies, but in his opinion the most important are: 1) the study that addressed the antigenic diversity of F. psychrophilum in Chile, discovering 14 specific serotypes of the pathogen, 10 more than those that had been identified in a previous study published in 2009. In addition, it validated the use of multiplex PCR to quickly recognize the specific serotypes of Chilean isolates, being very relevant when developing a vaccine or improving an existing one, 2) the collaboration with Norwegian and French colleagues that allowed discovering the new species Tenacibaculum piscium and giving taxonomic validity to Tenacibaculum finnmarkense, describing two gemovars, reorganizing what comes to be the taxonomy of the genus Tenacibaculum particularly associated with salmonid infections and 3) In a collaborative work with the inspectors of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service, the presence of Tenacibaculum associated with infectious pictures in Aysén and Magallanes – places where there was no description yet – was described and even more interesting in associated pictures of rainbow trout and for the first time in the world in Coho salmon.
“This opens up a large number and diversity of future studies, since everything that is known about tenacibaculosis is particularly in Atlantic salmon”, the researcher highlighted.
The ceremony also recognized Researchers in the areas of Arts and Humanities, Genetics and Molecular Biology, Economics and Business, Chemistry, Computer Science, Dentistry, Planetary Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Health Sciences, Microbiology, Materials Sciences, Medicine, Mathematics, Neuroscience, Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceuticals, Psychology, Social Sciences, Veterinary Medicine and Physics.