Costa Rica’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Telecommunications (MICITT), released the names of the winners of the national Clodomiro Picado Twight Science and Technology Awards 2016. These awards are given to those Costa Ricans that carry out and make public an investigation that contributes with the information and knowledge of that area.

Costa Rican microbiologist Marie Claire Arrieta received the Science recognition for the investigation titled “The role of the intestinal/gut microbiota of early stages in the development of the immune system and the pediatric asthma pathogenesis”.

Arrieta carried out the analysis with Canadian babies between three and twelve months of age and determined that babies under three months with a high risk of developing asthma had low levels of four bacteria (Lachnospira, Veillonella, Faecalibacterium and Rothia). According to the investigation the alterations that take place during the formation stages of the gut microbiota have more possibilities of causing permanent problems that increase the risk of developing immune and metabolic related illnesses.

Marie Claire studied microbiology in the University of Costa Rica, has a doctorate degree in Experimental Medicine, a master degree in Cell Fisiology and Biology and currently resides in Canada.

The Technology Award was given to Ivan Vargas Blanco for his “Design, construction and implementation of a small modular Stellaraton named SCR-1 for the magnetic confinement of plasma as a future source of energy”

The Stellaraton of Costa Rica 1 (SCR-1) is a unique device in Latin America and one of the few in the world, created with the purpose of investigating plasma as a future source of energy.

Vargas is an expert in Plasma Physics and Nuclear Fusion and a professor of the Costa Rican Institute of Technology. “This energy is known as the energy of the future. What we are looking for is to try to reproduce in the Earth the conditions in which the stars produce their energy. This would allow us to obtain large amounts of energy with little amounts of material; the SCR-1 allows Costa Rica to do its own investigations, at a low cost in comparison to other devices, and contribute to the international scientific community” said Ivan Vargas to Costa Rican newspaper La Nación.