“The path to a sustainable recovery for Puerto Rico’s economy necessitates a profound social and intellectual transformation. At the forefront of this transformation are the University of Puerto Rico and our talented young students. Many of these students, who have undergone training in our laboratory, hail from economically disadvantaged backgrounds in rural areas of Puerto Rico and are often the first in their families to attend college. The accompanying image captures the diverse faces that represent numerous success stories, showcasing lives that have been significantly impacted through rigorous research training and the generous contributions of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). These organizations have played a crucial role in enabling these individuals to overcome challenges and pursue academic and research excellence. By focusing on inclusivity and providing opportunities for those facing adversity, we believe in the power of education and research to not only transform individual lives but also contribute to the broader economic revitalization of Puerto Rico.” JALD

A LEGACY FOR RESEARCH TRAINING…

Neuroscience has historically been one of the strongest research programs in the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) and the legacy of the Institute of Neurobiology in Old San Juan, established in 1967 by Professor José del Castillo (1921-2002), has been fundamental to its development in Puerto Rico. All the research training that we have provided has been inspired through legacy of an outstanding scientist and mentor, Dr. José del Castillo. Under his guidance, the Institute of Neurobiology in San Juan, PR, became a major contributor to the development of research in the neurosciences, as well as a key resource for the training and mentoring of graduate students.

Unquestionably, Dr. del Castillo’s legacy has defined research career pathways for many neuroscientists in Puerto Rico including myself, who trained with Jose del Castillo from 1985-1989 and his influence gave origin to this laboratory established since 1997 at the Department of Biology at UPR Rio Piedras. Our laboratory has provided multidisciplinary research experiences to enthusiastic and talented undergraduate students across UPR campuses and private institution in PR. We have provided rigorous training experiences for, undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows. The research environment that we have provided to many students during the last 28 years has develop their critical thinking, computer and math literacy, logic skills and language. Our mentoring methods incudes research training which includes the following key elements: a) multidisciplinary research environment, b) strong collaborative environment via mentoring networks, c) foster critical thinking and independence, d) prepare students for project ownership, d) participation in summer internships in the mainland, d) encourage students to publish, e) high work ethics is essential, e) long–research partnership with mainland laboratories, f) high-end instrumentation and techniques available for students, g) distributed responsibilities in the laboratory and shared credit, h) innovation and intellectual property training, i) passion for science, j) hard work, persistence and creativity and k) intellectual humbleness. Our training provides an integrated view of science by strengthening the conceptual depth in special areas of interest such as ion channel biophysics, protein structure, molecular and cellular biology.

The outcomes of our training are tangible. We have trained approximately two hundred (263) and thirty-six and (36 K-12) students in our laboratory and strongly motivated them to pursue Biomedical related research careers. Since 2001, our laboratory graduated fourteen (18) Ph.D.’s, and forty-seven (47) undergraduates’ students from our laboratory have already obtained Ph.D. degrees and eighteen (18) students are currently Ph.D. candidates. Seven (7) of the forty-seven (47) students obtained M.D./Ph.D. degrees. Most of these students belong to low-income families who live in rural areas all around Puerto Rico, thus, we feel that this laboratory has made possible the career development of many talented, first-generation college students. The training that we provided has positive effects not only on the number of students who pursue graduate studies, but also on the fraction of these who are successful in completing their degrees in a manner that is both timely and conducive to continuing into postdoctoral experiences.

In addition, since the purpose of our training is to produce graduate students who are more competitive, they are expected to have an impact on careers after completion of doctorates. In this respect, many of the Ph.D. s developed in our laboratory are currently making important research contributions in Physiological and Neurobiological related areas, and science education. Our long term-goal is that within the next 5 years we have contributed to the development of about 100 Ph.D. scientists. The accomplishment of this goal will serve to disseminate the transforming vision of an outstanding scientist and mentor, Dr. Jose del Castillo.