KAUST is one of the most developed research universities in the world, they spent 3 weeks learning and knowing experiences from the i-mar center to replicate them in their country.
They traveled more than 14,000 kilometers, crossing desert, sea, and mountains, to achieve one of the most important dreams of their lives: to know in the field and in practical work how Chile works with macroalgae, knowing the expertise of the i-mar Center of the Los Lagos University, which through Professor Alejandro Buschmann, has been able to travel around the world with its work.
They were a team from Saudi Arabia, a group of young professionals who had been planning this trip for years – and it has had its difficulties, especially administrative ones due to the pandemic and the cultural difference between the two countries.
According to the Chilean professor who led this trip, Gabriel Castro (Marine Biologist) based in Saudi Arabia, it was a real preparation to reach Chile. First, families who maintain strict religious customs also had to maintain in every part of the trip and stay in this country. That is why the young people arrived accompanied by two religious guards, a basic condition for authorizing the trip.
However, their arrival was confirmed and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, better known as KAUST, the kingdom to which it belongs, and the respective Ministry of Agriculture determined that this trip should take place anyway, due to its importance. The professionals, microbiologists who make up their university’s Research and Development team, belong to one of the 20 best-ranked graduate universities in the world for excellence in promoting scientific and technological development and research.
The professor of the i-mar center, Alejandro Buschmann, a member of the Centro Basal de Biotechnology y Bioengineered (CeBiB), explained that the trip took place after his colleague in Arabia contacted him to generate this alliance. Professor Castro even visited the University of Los Lagos in December to fine-tune all the details. Later, Professor Buschmann will have to travel to see how the knowledge learned in Arabia has been applied.
“This is a Research and Development (R&D) project funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, executed by KAUST University of Science and Technology, should culminate in specific products already intervened in Saudi Arabia. They as visitors will carry out the whole process of macroalgae development, and all the research study concerning the native species of Arabia, their scaling, genetic study, morphology, and everything referring to the techniques of mass cultivation. They are going to learn the general techniques of the native Chilean species and we will have to be able to reproduce them with the species from there”, explains Professor Gabriel Castro.
Why did you decide to come to Chile to learn about macroalgae work
(Prof. Castro) I knew about Dr. Buschmann and his work. This project needed some capabilities that were directly provided by the Los Lagos University and my first reference in this subject is Professor Buschmann, mainly in brown and red algae in terms of cultivation and development, obtaining raw materials from them.
I traveled in the past December to make the previous contract, sharing the subject with him, we were
The trip began on May 25 in Puerto Montt. There were 3 weeks of training, workshops, and visits to cultivation centers that allowed us to carry out this technological exchange on macroalgae, understanding that Saudi Arabia has the red sea as a source of food for the future.
“There are quite different macroalgae in Saudi Arabia, in the Red Sea, or from those in Chile, but the techniques and references of all the participating researchers are very interesting, so we are receiving knowledge from them about macroalgae cultivation techniques in their different phases, from genetic and taxonomic issues to massive cultivation”, says Professor Castro.
Although algae are different in these two parts of the world, is there a similar way to work with them?
(Prof. Buschmann) Although the algae are different, there are techniques to manipulate them, for laboratory work that are similar, with some differences due to the type of organism, but with a similar base and therefore a lot of transferable material. On the other hand, there are not many tropical countries that have a very strong installation in algae cultivation, although Indonesia and the Philippines produce a lot, they use very simple technologies, similar to what we do here with the pelillo (Gracilaria) and therefore there is not a strong biotechnological development with genetic capabilities that are grouped in an institution that allows an ideal transfer and those have been the reasons -I believe- why I have come here and be able to manage this first course and starting this work.
PROJECT
“We currently represent a project of algae and biotechnology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, it is within the development program of the Ministry for the Kingdom and is a priority program in the search for these new platforms that Arabia has at a national level to be able to investigate for these new sources. The project is sponsored and directed by the Ministry, we from the University execute it and NAWA (aquaculture company) will be the company that uses these research results”, explains Professor Castro.
The Saudi Arabian delegation from Kaust University was Gabriel Castro (Marine Biologist), Zain Mohammed A Alammari (Microbiologist), Bayan Saad H Alhosawi (Microbiologist), and Rana Emad A Banjar (Microbiologist).
Alongside them and representing the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, MEWA participated with: Munirah Aziz Abdulaziz Abdulaziz Alghamdi (Marine Biologist) and Majid Mukhtar M Bougis (Engineer).
From the aquaculture company NAQUA, Ahmed Mubarak M Alqurmuti (Engineer) participated.
EXPERIENCE
The young professional team arrived at Los Lagos University in a season when temperatures were below zero and did not exceed 8° Celsius, a first strong impact considering that they were coming from an area with average temperatures exceeding 38° Celsius.
How was the experience leaving your country, what did you like most about Chile and its south?
(The group answers) It has been very cold outside, but we liked a lot the region, the vegetation, and the volcanoes. It has been interesting to be able to come to Chile, it is the first time we learn something more about macroalgae. We got to know the snow, we went to the Osorno volcano, we found it wonderful.
Regarding food, they say that they miss the spices of their country, they find Chilean food very tasteless compared to theirs, which has a lot of spices. Their diet is based on chicken and meat under a halal rite, especially lamb and some camel. They also have forbidden foods such as alcohol and pork. What they liked the most were the sopaipillas with pebre. They even took the recipe home.
Majid Mukhtar: “My family is very proud of me, they have seen us on Twitter and social media, I am very convinced to bring this learning to the Arabia Kingdom.”
Since it is the first time that someone from their family travels so far away, they were all very attentive to asking them how Chile is and how the trip has been, how people are, that is why they take a lot of photography and were in permanent contact with them.
Zain Mohammed: “The people have been so kind, they have treated us very well, and even though we don’t speak Spanish we see the effort that people make to communicate with us in sign language”.
According to Professor Castro, what is happening in Arabia has been very interesting from the media point of view, because they are talking about the Twitter network, as the main social network there, and the impact generated by the team’s trip has been very interesting.
“They have adapted to the reality of life in their country, they wear burkas clothes, and here it is the first time they wear jeans, but always complying with their norms, have been able to accommodate to this reality as well”, says the academic.
This also meant important logistical work in which the researcher of the i-mar center, Sandra Pereda, was very attentive since both laboratories and classrooms had to be unoccupied so only, they could use them. A similar situation had to be in the public areas.
Their stay at Los Lagos University was supported by the researchers Pamela Fernández, Sandra Pereda, and Carolina Camus, leaders of the MASH Millennium Nucleus project, as well as Alejandro Buschmann, who oversaw generating the classes, workshops, field visits, and the entire program of studies that they carried out during the 3 weeks of their stay in Puerto Montt.
“We have the mandate to partner with industry and also with international organizations. This course is part of a general project, we have financial and human capacities installed with all the colleagues we work with in Chile. And Arabia has a food security mandate, a political effort they are making to be self-sustainable, oil is running out, and they live in a desert, therefore, organisms that come from the sea are an option and that is what they are working on”, explains Professor Buschmann.
The work carried out by this team led by Professor Gabriel Castro seeks that the young Arabs can obtain all the necessary knowledge to reach their country with the information and put it into practice. Generate their own algae crops and thus begin to install and develop food production capacities in their country. They have the resources and support to do so, this visit is part of a larger project with a view to food self-sustainability, where the visit of these professionals to Los Lagos University is inserted as a precedent that will remain in the history of their country, of the University of KAUST in the search for the best tools to achieve the goal, and certainly also in the history of the ULagos and the i-mar center.
