XAIRA MARIA CORTES SAÑUDO

Cra. 27 # 46 – 40 Suite 603, Bogotá - Colombia

Home Phone                      +57  (1)  2695750

Cell Phone                          +57  3138137500                                                          xmcortess@unal.edu.co

Industrious Physicist seeks research program in Biomedical Sciences.  Background includes Academic Excellence Prize from Champagnat High School; Best High School Bachelors from the Country scholarship;  Physicist Degree with Honored Paper;  First place in the Best Graduation Papers Contest at Universidad Nacional de Colombia, 14th version and distinguished with the Academic Excellence Prize; Third place winner in the Otto de Greiff Contest and placed among the Best Graduation Papers from the ten major universities in the country, 9th version; Being physics professor at the Engineering Faculty of Universidad Autónoma de Colombia. 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DE COLOMBIA, Bogotá – Colombia

October 2005 – December 2005

·   Member of the Editorial Committee of Ensayos de Ciencias Naturales y Matemáticas (Journal of Natural and Exact Sciences Department at Universidad Autónoma de Colombia).

July 2004– December 2004                             

Overall job evaluation: 4.72/5.00

·   Professor of Physics II for Systems Engineering

·   Professor of Physics III for Electronics Engineering

·   Member of the Editorial Committee of Ensayos de Ciencias Naturales y Matemáticas (Journal of Natural and Exact Sciences Department at Universidad Autónoma de Colombia). 

July 2003 – December 2003                                                                                                                                                                            

Overall job evaluation: 4.07/5.00

·   Professor of Physics III for Industrial Engineering

·   Professor of Physics II for Environmental Engineering

UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE COLOMBIA, Bogotá – Colombia

July 2001 – February 2002

·   Assistant for the Editorial Committee of Professor Carlo Federici’s book: “Writings of Professor Carlo Federici Casa about Science, Mathematics and Teaching”.  Published by Natural Sciences Faculty at Universidad Nacional de Colombia.  

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

SUMMARY OF RESEARCH IN BIOPHYSICS (undergraduate research work developed in partial fulfillment to obtain the Physicist Degree at Universidad Nacional de Colombia)

An electrical model of the synaptic vesicle is developed.  The vesicle is considered as a spheroidal organelle without neurotransmitters in its inner space.  In addition, its lumen, its membrane and the neuronal cytoplasm behave like linear, homogenous and isotropic media characterized by specific conductivities and permitivities. 

The theoretical approach considers the application of an electric field invariant in time over this vesicle.  A transmembrane potential difference is induced and its characterization is obtained from Maxwell’s equations subject to appropriate boundary conditions.  Next, under the action of an electric field varying in time, the behavior of the considered system is analyzed in the so-called quasi-stationary approach.  By applying the Laplace Transform to the resulting equations, a transfer function is obtained.  In this way, it’s possible to synthesize an RLC circuit equivalent to the vesicle under study.

In the first approach, the induced transmembrane potential determines the conformation of an electric dipole that, as well, originates an electromechanical force which stresses the vesicle in the applied field direction. This phenomenon could contribute in the future to the analysis of the vesicular exocytosis process and the neurotransmitters re-uptake. In the final approach, the model predicts capacitance values for individual spherical vesicles, which contrasted with those reported in the existing literature from previous experimental processes, encourages the continuity of the theoretical approach.

Supervisor

Ramón Fayad N. PhD

Universidad Nacional de Colombia

President

Dates

September 2002 – June 2003

EDUCATION

UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE COLOMBIA, Bogotá – Colombia

Physicist, October 2003

-          Graduation with “Honored Paper”[1]

-          Scholarship holder during undergraduate studies at Universidad Nacional of Colombia

INSTITUTO CHAMPAGNAT, Pasto – Colombia

High School Bachelor, July 1997

-          Academic Excellence Prize

-          Recipient, Best High School Bachelors from the Country scholarship

PAPERS

UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE COLOMBIA                 

-          Cortés X.  Undergraduate Thesis.  RC polarization model applied to synaptic vesicles.  June, 2003.

REVISTA COLOMBIANA DE FÍSICA

-          Cortés X. and Fayad R. Deformation of a spherical synaptic vesicle induced by an applied electric field. Vol. 37, No. 1. 2005.

-          Cortés X. and Fayad R.  RLC electric circuit equivalent to a synaptic vesicle.  Vol. 35, No.1. 2003.

ACTA BIOLÓGICA COLOMBIANA

-          Cortés X. and Fayad R. Electrical model of a synaptic vesicle.  Vol. 8, No. 1. 2003.

POSTER PRESENTATION

October 2004

NEURONS AND MEMORY.  The 2^nd Neuron Satellite Meeting.  San Diego, California – USA

Electric circuit equivalent to a synaptic vesicle

X. Cortés-Sañudo¹^,², R. Fayad ¹; ¹Natural Sciences Faculty. Physics Department. Universidad Nacional de Colombia, ²Natural and Exact Sciences Department. Universidad Autónoma de Colombia.

ORAL PRESENTATIONS

September 2003

20^TH CONFERENCE OF THE COLOMBIAN SOCIETY OF PHYSICS. Armenia, Quindio – Colombia

RLC electric circuit equivalent to a synaptic vesicle. Xaira Cortés Sañudo, Ramón Fayad.  Natural Sciences Faculty. Physics Department.  Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

October 2004

INVITED SPEAKING, UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DE COLOMBIA. Bogotá – Colombia

Theoretical model of spheroidal synaptic vesicles.

PRIZES

September 2005

Third place winner in Otto de Greiff Contest of best graduation papers.[2]  Area I: Natural Sciences.

November 2004

First Place winner in Best Graduation Papers Contest[3] of Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Area I: Natural Sciences.  Academic Excellence Prize.

October 2003

Physicist Degree. Graduation with “Honored Paper”.

August 1997                     

Best High School Bachelors from the Country scholarship.

July 1997

Academic Excellence Prize from Champagnat High  School.

ANNUAL MEETINGS

October 2005

2^ND COLOMBIAN CONFERENCE OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING.  Bogotá, Colombia.

October 2004

NEURONS AND MEMORY.  The 2nd Neuron Satellite Meeting.  San Diego – California, USA.

September 2003

20^TH CONFERENCE OF THE COLOMBIAN SOCIETY OF PHYSICS. Armenia – Quindio, Colombia.

ADDITIONAL ACADEMIC INFORMATION

UNDERGRADUATE MAJOR

* Universidad Nacional de Colombia uses a 5.0 grading system where the grade scale ranges from zero (0.0) to five zero (5.0) and the minimum passing grade is (3.0).