Allbiotech, the organization that promotes the development of biotechnology and the bioeconomy in Latin America, makes a selection each year of the 100 young leaders in that branch of the region.
This 2020 three students from the National University (UNA) of the Biology career and three of the Biotechnology Engineering career of the Technological of Costa Rica (TEC), are part of those selected.
They are María José Durán, Fiorella Arias and Melissa Cerdas from TEC, and Karol Sánchez, Stephanny Sánchez and Joyce Estrada from UNA, who with their selection, will have the opportunity to participate in the Leaders Summit 2021.
For Cerdas, being selected as an Allbiotech leader “means a whole door of opportunities to revolutionize the Bioeconomy in Latin America. The Summit allows us to unite, identify the challenges of each country and network with many other young people, which allows us to broaden our vision and bring solutions to challenges”.
Chosen from more than 500 applicants
Each was chosen individually for their ability to use science and technology to transform the region. They were selected from more than 500 applicants from across the region. Durán participated in the IGEM 2019 Boston and is currently an intern in a “Food Science” venture in San Francisco, United States.
Arias was the winner of the 6th Mission Idea Contest and the IAA Award, Tokyo-Japan, and is co-founder of Orbital Space Technologies, a company that seeks to develop the first Central American experiment onboard the International Space Station, to fight against a plague that affects plantations of bananas in Panama. Cerdas is the co-founder of the biotech startup MetLess, which seeks to develop a probiotic to reduce methane emissions in dairy farming.
In the case of Karol Sánchez and Stephanie Sánchez, they are co-founders of the Phase G1 scientific outreach initiative and bacterial study with CRISPR & Cas9. Stephanie has focused on the bioprospecting of new antimicrobials in marine fungi.
Since 2017, 12 Costa Ricans have been selected among the top 100 in Latin America.
