Dr. Daniel Medina: A giant in a tiny world

From a young age, Daniel Medina, Dr. in Biotechnology and academic at the Faculty of Natural Sciences in Puerto Montt, was interested in biology. Today he is dedicated to studying the microbiology of the bodies of water in the Los Lagos region in order to contribute to the conservation of these ecosystems.

The son of a railway family, Dr. Daniel Medina was fascinated by science from an early age, especially the tiny world of microorganisms. This is how he studied Molecular Biotechnology Engineering at the University of Chile and later obtained a doctorate in Biotechnology at the University of Valencia in Spain.

He is attracted by the immense diversity of these microorganisms that are present in the human body, in animals and that live around us in the environment in an almost imperceptible way. The reason, these microscopic beings play a key role in maintaining life on Earth and health in living beings.

They break down organic matter to obtain new nutrients and are responsible for the flow of chemical elements from the environment to living beings.

They have also been extensively studied for the search for new medical treatments, for the manufacture of food and enzymes that are used in various industries. However, their presence is not only beneficial, there are also some that are harmful and can cause various diseases.

After studying in Valencia, Dr. Daniel Medina (42 years old) returned to Chile to do a post-doctorate at the Pontificia Universidad Católica, but his interest was to settle outside of Santiago, because he considers that “an important part of the biological challenges that our country presents They are found in regions.

For example, believes that Puerto Montt is a region with great biodiversity and where there are many things yet to be discovered. Today he works at the De la Patagonia headquarters, where he participates in the More Blue Landmark Territorial Programwhere it develops the use of new technologies for the care of Lake Llanquihue (the second largest body of fresh water in the country), and the urban wetlands of that region.

For this they take water samples from various aquatic environments associated with the cities of Frutillar, Llanquihue, Puerto Montt and Puerto Varas, which are analyzed at the USS Laboratory in Patagonia. “Our goal is to implement molecular strategies to characterize the microbiological condition of urban wetlands to contribute to their conservation,” he says.

“Why do we do it? For a very simple reason, we cannot preserve something that we do not know about.” His work consists of classifying, isolating and describing the microorganisms found in bodies of water.

“For this we use methodologies based on DNA sequencing and bioinformatic analysis of the information obtained, which we complement by means of classical microbiological analysis.” Based on its results, it is designing a health indicator to diagnose the state of health of the body of water that allows decision-making, which is available on a platform called Lago en Línea: https://www.lagoenlinea.cl/.

“We use microorganisms as biomarkers, for this we describe those that inhabit wetlands, we seek scientific information to classify them and thus understand their role in the ecosystem,” explains Dr. Daniel Medina.

He adds that as more data is obtained, new questions appear that open new lines of research. “The first results that we have obtained gave us a high presence of cyanobacteria in some urban wetlands, microorganisms that have not been studied in our region. We wonder if these may or may not constitute a risk to human and animal health, which we will study through a postdoctoral project financed by the Vice-Rector for Research and Doctorates (VRID) of our Institution”.

Recently, an alliance was established with the National University of Río Negro (Argentina) to work on the concept of One Health, which has allowed the scientific exchange of experiences, work methodologies and territorial strategies. “Recently, we received the visit of two professionals from Argentina, within the framework of the project, which is financed by the Chilean Agency for International Cooperation for Development of Chile,” he details.

international publications

Dr. Medina’s work has not only focused on studying microorganisms in water, but also on humans. One of his papers on the human microbiome was featured in the scientific journal Frontiers, where it was included in the special edition titled Bioinformatics in Microbiota.

“In this studio, analyzed the microorganisms that inhabit the intestine of people suffering from obesity, what is known as the gut microbiome. The importance of this work lies in the fact that we compared the microbiome of people from different regions of the world, discovering that it is different depending on the geographical location, however, the functional capacity associated with the genes of the identified microorganisms is similar.

This means that people share genomic factors in their microbiota that are associated with this condition, despite the fact that the microorganisms present are different, which we have called functional convergence”.

He adds that “previous work made me wonder if these differences are reflected in the composition of viruses present in the human intestine, known as virome. After studying the virome of people who underwent surgery to treat obesity, we discovered that viral diversity increases, which is associated with an increase in the diversity of microorganisms that make up the microbiome, a phenomenon that has been described as positive in people under treatment for obesity”, concludes the academic researcher of the School of Veterinary Medicine of the Headquarters of Patagonia.