SCIAN MEMBERS
Main Researchers
Steffen Härtel
Born in Frankfurt, Germany. He studied physics at the University Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Frankfurt), at the Universidad de Córdoba (Arg), at the Universidad Austral de Chile (Valdivia, Chile), and at the University of Bremen. He received fellowships of the DAAD and the Bremer Studienfonds. His PhD thesis was honored with summa cum laude and receivformered the ´Bremer Studienpreis´ and the special award of the Bruker Daltonik GmbH. In 2000, he worked at the TZI (Center for Technology and Informatics, Bremen), financed by the DfG. Between 2001 and 2003, he received a Feodor Lynen Fellowship by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Ger) in combination with a postdoctoral fellowship of CONICET and worked in Bruno Maggio´s lab at the CIQUIBIQ (Córdoba, Arg). In 2003, he joined Felipe Barros´ lab at the Centro de Estudios Cientificos (CECS, Valdivia, Chile) with a 3-year postdoctoral FONDECYT fellowship. Since 2006, he is leading the Laboratory of Scientific Image Processing (SCIANLab) at the Medical Faculty of the University of Chile. Presently he is an investigator of the Biomedical Neuroscience Institute (BNI), funded by the Millennium Science Initiative in 2011, Sub-Director for investigation of the Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas ICBM, founder of CEDAI SpA, Director of the first Chilean Center for Digital Pathology CPDAI, Director of the Center for Medical Informatics and Telemedicine (CIMT) and the National Center for Health Information Systems (CENS). Since 2017, he became a full professor of the University of Chile.
Víctor Castañeda
Born in Caracas, Venezuela. He studied Electrical engineering at Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile, and obtained his B.S and engineer degree in 2004 and 2005 respectively. In 2012 he obtained his Dr.rer.Nat. degree on computer science at Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany, thanks to his DAAD-CONICYT scholarship, supervised by Dr. Prof. Nassir Navab leader of the chair of Computer Assisted Medical Procedures and Augmented Reality. Since March 2012, he joined to SCIAN-Lab, working with Steffen Härtel at the Medicine Faculty of Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile. The main topics of his Ph.D. thesis were the processing of endoscopic images and 3D sensors as Time-Of-Flight cameras and Microsoft Kinect. Currently he works processing spermiogram images at CEDAI, Light-Sheet microscopy and analysis of 2D/3D microscopic images. +56 2 2978 6266;
Research and Postdoctoral Fellows
Jorge Jara
Born in Valdivia, Chile. Computer Science PhD, Universidad de Chile. Civil Engineer in Informatics, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia. I develop parametric contour models for 2D/3D segmentation and characterization of biological structures in confocal microscopy images, combining image processing and computational geometry. I am the author of ALPACA (ALgorithm for Piecewise Adjacent Contour Adjustment), an algorithm that detects, quantifies, and optimizes the contour of adjacent structures in time-lapse microscopy images. Also, I have experience with optical flow algorithms, reproducible research, and teaching in image processing for fluorescence microscopy. I have basic knowledge of interoperability in health information systems which I am currently applying and expanding within a trans-disciplinary software project for digital pathology, processing biopsy images for clinical decision support systems and standardized access for biomedical research, training, and development. In parallel, I support research & training of researchers and students on computational image processing for developmental biology, microbiology, cell biology, and other topics
Karina Palma
Born in Santiago de Chile. She studied Veterinary Medicine at University Mayor. Then, she obtained her PhD. degree in Biomedical Sciences, in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, thanks to a CONICYT PhD Scholarship. Her Postdoctoral studies were financed thanks to a FONDECYT proyect, and involve the characterization of the ontogeny of the Parapineal Organ, an asymmetric group of neurons in the zebrafish brain. My fields of interest are the neurobiology in the zebrafish model, in particular brain development, the understanding of cell/neuronal morphology and how the environmental inputs, particularly light can influence neuronal plasticity and brain fuction. My fields of expertise relate to developmental and neurobiology, light and confocal microscopy and superresolution and scientific image analysis.
Camilo Sotomayor
Born in 1993, Linares (Chile). He obtained his MD degree from the University of Chile in 2018, and his PhD degree in Medical Sciences from the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) in 2020. He is currently undergoing a medical specialist training program in Radiology at the Clinical Hospital University of Chile. Author of 36 ISI articles and 9 book chapters, speaker at 11 international conferences, grantee of 7 research awards, grants and distinctions. He has served as peer-reviewer in over 45 manuscripts for 20 differentes ISI journals. He currently serves as guest Editor for Transplantology and Reviewer Board for Diagnostics, Nutrients, and Antioxidants by the Editorial MDPI. His research interests include oxidative stress, inflammation, vascular calcification, imaging biomarkers and content-based medical image retrieval. He is a co-founder of LuftBioTech SpA, which is a science and technology-based company formed by a multidisciplinary team aiming to provide innovative solutions to health-related prob
PhD Students
Rolando Kindelan
Born in 1982 in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. He obtained the Informatic Science Engineer degree in 2008, from the University of Informatics Sciences, Havana, Cuba. In 2010 he obtained an M.Sc. degree in Applied Informatics, at the same University. From 2003 to 2008 he worked on several virtual reality projects (a shooter simulator, car-race videogame, and surgical simulator). In 2011 he started working on Medical Biophysics Center developing human movement analysis systems to provide biomechanical interpretations of diseases such as Stroke, Ataxias, and Parkinson. In 2012, he participated in a 4-month research internship at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) Canada under the supervision of Prof. Ed Biden, exploring Kinect sensors for markerless analysis of human movements. From 2013 to 2017 he worked on medical applications such as PACS System, developing modules for acquisition, storage, transmission, visualization and processing of Dicom images. Since 2018 he is a Ph.D. student in Computer Sciences at University of Chile under supervision of Ph.D. Nancy Hitschfeld and Ph.D. Mauricio Cerda. Currently, he works on topological data analysis for classification of noisy and high dimensional datasets supported by a grant from CONICYT 2018/BECA DOCTORADO NACIONAL-21181978. +56 2 2978 6436 ;
Carlos Cruz
Carlos Cruz works as Assistant Professor at the department of Kinesiology of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile. From 2017, he is a PhD student at the University of Valencia (Physiotherapy program), Spain. The main topic of his PhD thesis is the myofascial force transmission and functional implication in patients with haemophilic arthropathy. Focusing on the neuromechanical interaction between uni and biarticular muscles in severe joint damage and the neural drive synergies, combining surface electromyography signals and ultrasound tracking of muscle tissue. The directors of the thesis are Sofía Pérez from University of Valencia, Mauricio Cerda from University of Chile (SCIAN-Lab) and Huub Maas of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. +56 2 2735 4577
Research & Development Assistants
Dante Castagnini
Born in 1996 in Santiago, Chile. Biochemist from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and research & development assistant at SCIAN-Lab since 2021. Trained in confocal microscopy, expansion microscopy (ExM) and the basics of digital image analysis. Currently works on the development and standardization of an ExM protocol suited for bacterial biofilms, in order to provide an alternative super-resolution tool for the study and characterization of Proteus mirabilis biofilms.
Roberto Rojas
Born in Constitucion, Chile. He studied Electrical Engineering at Universidad de Chile and obtained his B.S. degree in 2016. Thanks to a CONICYT scholarship, he obtained his engineer and MSc degree in 2019, supervised by Dr. Jorge Silva. He joined SCIAN-Lab in December 2018, working with Dr. Victor Castañeda on his FONDECYT project. His research topics include inverse problems, sparse representations, image processing techniques and machine learning methods. Currently, he is working on cell nuclei segmentation based on Deep Learning models.
Constanza Vasquez
Born in Los Ángeles, Chile. She obtained the Biomedical Engineer degree in 2017 and MSc on Computer Science in 2021 both from University of Concepción, Chile. Her research interests are in the fields of deep learning and computer vision, particularly its practical application to biomedical image problems. From 2021 to the present she has worked as Research Assistant at IA-TRad Chile, a project that aims to implement, integrate and validate deep learning models for COVID-19. Her main responsibilities are focused in lung infection quantification using CT images and chest X-ray classification.
Masters Students
Nicole Canales
Born in Rancagua, Chile. She has a degree in Medical Technology with specialization in Clinical Bioanalysis, Hematology and Blood Banking. My interests are clinical and environmental microbiology, especially bacterial and fungal. I am currently a research assistant at Scian-Lab, participating in the development of static and dynamic bacterial culture systems, for the study of biofilm formation and characterization, through different microscopy acquisition tools, such as Spinning disk and LSFM.
Macarena Molina
Leonardo Pizarro
Born in 1989 in Antofagasta, Chile. His undergraduate thesis was titled “Implementation of the Tsunamigenic Alarm and Prediction Integrated System” (SIPAT) for the Computer Science Engineer degree at Santa Maria University in Valparaíso. He is currently a student of the Computer Science Master’s program at Universidad de Chile, with his thesis being oriented to the image analysis and individualization of microtubules. +56 2 2978 6266
Amaru Fernandez
Born in Santiago, Chile. He obtained his bachelor’s degree and computer engineering at the Universidad de Playa Ancha in 2015. Work career as a Full-Stack developer, he has completed courses in Sound Art, Artificial Intelligence and Data Science at the University of Chile, he is currently a master’s candidate in the Information Technology program at the same university, his thesis corresponds to the study of a method to detect the degree of unilateral facial paralysis using machine learning tools.
Liz Roman
Born in Rancagua, Chile. Graduated in Physical Therapy in 2018 and in ergonomics in 2019 from the University of Chile. She is currently a student of the master’s degree in medical informatics at the same university. She is working in the ergonomics laboratory of the University of Chile supporting research projects related to ergonomics evaluation models, in addition to providing academic support to undergraduate students of physical therapy and postgraduate students in ergonomics. His research experience includes topics related to telework, ergonomic evaluation with emphasis on cognitive fatigue and dual tasks, and analysis of human movement related to postural balance using wearable and low-cost technology. e-mail: lizroman@ug.uchile.cl
Alonso Carvajal
Born in Santiago, Chile. He obtained a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering in 2017 from University of Santiago. Since 2020 he is a MSc student in Medical Informatics at University of Chile under supervision of PhD Steffen Härtel. Currently, he works on biomedical data analysis using The OMOP Common Data Model at Hospital Clinico Universidad de Chile allowing the systematic analysis of disparate observational databases. His research interests include biomedical data analysis, data quality, and the application of predictive models at the patient level. In 2020 he joined the Laboratory of Scientific Image Analysis (SCIAN-Lab) as a master student. He worked on projects related to digital pathology and teleradiology.
José Carrasco
Born in Santiago, Chile. He is Physical Therapist, Universidad de Chile. He obtained his bachelor degree and professional title in Physical Therapy on December 2016. Since February 2017 to the present he works in a clinic dedicated to the care of people with musculoskeletal injuries. He collaborates in research related to the analysis of biometric signals dedicated to the study of human motion. He is currently in the fourth semester in the master program in Medical Informatics (Universidad de Chile) and his research focuses on the 3D human pose estimation with a monocular camera and deep learning, with a focus on rehabilitation. Investigation guided by Professor Mauricio Cerda. +56 2 2978 6266
Ruben Cruz
Born in Valparaíso, he studied Computer Engineering and is currently studying for a Master’s in Information Technology at the University of Chile. His thesis is under the supervision of Mauricio Cerda, working on the use of Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing algorithms for the identification and classification of people’s names. Rubén works in the business intelligence area of CorreosChile for almost 10 years and the main objective is to apply these models in the main layer of the business and to be able to be more efficient the work of the company.
Manuel Duran
Mitcheel Lanas
Roxanna Sagues
Victor Bugueño
Born in Chuquicamata, Chile. He obtained his Industrial Engineer degree from the Universidad de Chile in 2017. He is currently an MSc Student in Medical Informatics double degree program at the Universidad de Chile and Heidelberg University. He is currently working in the project “Multiscale mechanics and self-organizing processes in developing systems” that is in the framework of an associative research program, where he performs image processing, analysis and data science. His research experience involves projects in the field of Bio-sensors, mainly focused on audio analysis using machine learning algorithms. Prior to his current work, he has worked in the telemedicine industry.
Cristian Muñoz
Undergraduate Students
Luis Ampuero
Matías Carvajal
Victor Garrido
Internship and Exchange Students
Sebastian Paredes
Gonzalo Alarcon
Lisette Henriquez
Catalina Carrasco
Catalina Aralde
Projects Collaborators
Fabian Villena
Dentist and Master in Medical Informatics candidate. Natural Language Processing, Machine Learning and Data Science applied to Healthcare advocate. github.com/fvillena & fabianvillena.cl.
Daniel del Aguila
Carlos Navarro
Born in Santiago, Chile. He obtained the B.S. degree and Electrical Engineer degree in 2010, both from the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of University of Chile. In 2020 he obtained the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering at the same university thanks to a CONICYT Scholarship. The main topics of his PhD thesis were detection of complex patterns using color and texture image features. In 2019 he obtained a diploma of Technology in Electrophysiology. He joined SCIAN-Lab in September 2019, working with Dr. Victor Castañeda on his FONDECYT project. Currently he works as FONDEF postdoc in spectral analysis of EEG signals to determine postoperative diseases and audiological test detects early the presence of cognitive impairment in older adults (2019-2021).
Rodrigo Galvez
Born in Santiago, Chile. He obtained a B.S. degree on 2001 and Civil Engineer in Computer Science degree on 2006, both from the University of Santiago. In 2017 he obtained the MSc. degree on Medical Informatics from the University of Chile. The subject of his thesis was Graduation of Partial Facial Paralysis using Optical Flow Methods. Between 2016 and 2019, he joined the Geroscience Center for Brain Health and Metabolism (GERO), Santiago, Chile, where he developed web applications for clinical studies and monitoring people with Alzheimer’s desease, applied DS for medical-scientific publications of exploratory and confirmatory analysis of peidemiological studides, and participated in the review of a multimodal corpus at the INRIA/Loria Laboratory, Nancy, France.
Support Team
Francisca Pavez
Born in Santiago. She studied Human Resources Management at technical level. She incorporate in 2021 to the SCIANLab as financial and administrative management.
Malcolm Moreno
Born in London England, secondary school teacher at the Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación UMCE, Santiago Chile. RedHat Linux Certified Engineer RHCE, with more than 15 year experience in ICT, specially focused in the use of free software to implement educational platforms. Freelance sysadmin for NGOs, educational institutions in Chile and England. Currently he supports e-learning activities of the Medical Informatics Masters Program and is sysadmin at SCIAN-Lab.
Susana Vargas
Masters in Medical Biophysics, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile. I m currently working at the Centro de Espermiogramas Digitales Asistidos por Internet in the calibration of ED-AI service, most specifically in parameter standardization for image analysis. My interests are in biological/biomedical signal analysis, most of my previous work has been in biosignals (e.g. human electromyographic signals, neural events triggered by visual stimulation in pigeons, human posturographic signals) acquisition and processing, and in software implementations for Digital Signal Acquisition and Processing.
External Collaborators
Hery Urra
Gonzalo Pereira
Paulina Ruiz
Carmen Gloria Lemus
Enhancement Collaborative Relationship between LEO and SCIAN.