Luisa Xiomara Hallado Abaunza a PhD student who is under Dr. Elisabet Romero supervision has successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled “Steady-state spectroscopic studies in evolutionary artificial bio-inspired chromophore-protein assemblies: excitonic interactions development towards solar-energy conversion systems” publicly on Friday, 28 November.
The members of the evaluation committee were Dr. Bruce Lichtenstein (University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom), Dr. Sara Hernández Mejías (IMDEA Nanomaterials, Spain) and Prof. Beatriz Prieto-Simón (ICIQ).
Luisa Xiomara Hallado Abaunza is from Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry at the Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS), completing her thesis at the Instituto de Ciencias Físicas (ICF), UNAM, through the Pacific Alliance programme. She later pursued a Master’s in Chemical Sciences at the FAMOE laboratory (ICF–UNAM), supported by a CONACYT scholarship, where she worked on basic research involving nitrogenated bases, plasma generation, laser fragmentation, and mass spectrometry techniques (TOF-MS and Reflectron-TOF-MS).
She enjoys a wide variety of hobbies, including artistic activities, learning languages, cooking, baking, hiking, gardening, and crop harvesting. Regarding external funding, she conducted her PhD studies under her supervisor’s ERC Starting Grant.
Why did you become a scientist?
I had become a Scientist because when I was 8-year-old I had watched a program where they cloned organs. As my scientific curiosity was not killed during my studies year and I was not accepted in the medicine program I stared the chemistry studies in my public hometown university. Later during the 3rd semester, I had the opportunity to go to Russia to study Medicine, but I had rejected it, as I had already proposed to myself to attend classes at the best faculty in Chemistry in Latino America which is at UNAM and I also wanted to have a PhD before being 30 because that seems cool, exiting and interesting.
What is your thesis about?
The project focused on spectroscopic studies over artificial protein systems to which chromophores are added for mimic photosynthesis reaction centers. Thus, I had performed Absorptions, Circular Dichroism, Linear Dichroism and Fluorescence measurements over different samples; varying also the chromophore that is attached to the system. Chromophores are the key molecules for starting the light harvesting process, thus it is needed to optimize via rational design the distance between them and the position inside the protein.
What will you miss the most from ICIQ?
I would miss the different set-ups, soft skill training opportunities, teams and people with which I was able to collaborate and learn new thing. Also, I will miss the socialization opportunities during lunch time, the recently included activities from the social committee and green ICIQ.
What do you wish you had known at the beginning of your PhD?
You need to have stretch contact with your supervisor, thus it should be stablished for at least one meeting per month. Additionally, you should have a backup project in case that the main project that you are working on is not advancing.
From your experience at ICIQ, what do you think we can improve?
It should be clarified in the web page which PhD grands are compatible with Severo Ochoa- ICQ funding for performing a research stay.
Additionally, the group leaders should have a compromise for training themselves and improve their managing skills. Moreover, it should be created a mechanism in their evaluation that check their projects stages and mentor them in their early career stages, helping them to succeed while improving their team experience.
Who/What has been your biggest influence/motivation?
My family, especially my mother who was always there during these years, she deserves the PhD more than me.
Chemistry/Science is fun because…
It makes you believe that you could improve the world, as it is everywhere
If you were a piece of lab equipment, what would you be?
I would be a cryostat, as you can decrease the sample temperature and observe their spectral bands more defined as the sample vibrational energy is lower as the molecules are frozen.
Tell us something about you that people might not know…
I really enjoy being in nature, explore it, observe it, and learn new things about it. Additionally in the countryside farm I have my own honeycomb, during my next vacations in Colombia I plan to build there an earth oven, design the ducks pond and improve the insects house.
La entrada Muchas felicidades, Dra. Hallado Abaunza! se publicó primero en ICIQ.