People

Principal Investigator

J. Manuel Solano-Altamirano, Ph. D.

Tenured Professor, researcher SNI I

Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, BUAP

Email: jmanuel.solano@correo.buap.mx

Homepage: https://sites.google.com/site/jmsolanoalt/

Education and professional background:

Jan. 2015 - today: Tenured Professor, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas (Physical chemistry branch) - B. Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, Pue., México.
Dec. 2017 - Dec. 2022: Associate professor, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas (Physical chemistry branch) - B. Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, Pue., México.
Dec. 2015 - Nov. 2017: Assistant professor, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas (Physical chemistry branch) - B. Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, Pue., México.
Feb. 2015 - Dec 2015: C++ programmer, ELI Beamlines - Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague/Dolni Brezany, Czech Republic.
Nov. 2011 - Oct. 2014: Postdoctoral researcher, Department of Chemistry, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.
Feb. 2010 - Aug. 2011: Postdoctoral researcher, Cinvestav - Unidad Monterrey, Monterrey, N.L., México.
Jan. 2005 - Dec. 2009: Ph. D. (Physics), Instituto de Física, BUAP.

Honours/Awards:

2019: Invited speaker: Primer Taller de usuarios de DensToolKit, Centro Conjunto de Investigación en Química Sustentable, UAEM-UNAM, Jan. 21-22, 2019, Toluca, México.
2018: Invited speaker at the "Latin American Introductory School on Parallel Programming and Parallel Architecture for High Performance Computing", Cinvestav/ICTP, Feb. 12-23, 2018, Toluca, México.
2022: SNI researcher, level I (2022-2025)
2018: SNI researcher, level I (2018-2021)
2015: SNI researcher, level I (2015-2017)
2013: SNI researcher, candidate (2013-2014)

PostDocs

Postdoctoral Researcher Dr. Saúl Juan Carlos Salazar Samaniego, 2025/02 - .

Together with Dr. Salazar, we are working on problems related to the applications of the one- and two-electron Informational Entropies to Atoms and Molecules.

Active Students

Ph. D. student (Physical-Chemistry) Lucía J. Peña Ortiz, 2023/08 - .

Lucía's thesis studies some aspects of the chaperon Hsp60/Hsp10, and its role on the folding of small proteins.

Ph. D. student (Physical-Chemistry) David Ochoa Reséndiz, 2021/08 - .

David is working on improving thermochemical predictions (e.g. enthalpy of formation) of compounds that have -NO2 group in their structure, such as nitrobenzene, nitrobenzaldehyde, etc.

Edgar García Juárez, M.Sc. in Chemistry, 2023/08 - .

Edgar started a short research stay at the lab on August 2019 (under-graduate level). Afterwards, he developed his B.Sc. in Chemistry thesis. Basically, he implemented a program to compute gas-phase formation enthalpies using the atomisation method and G4 energies, in C++. Currently, he developing his M.Sc. thesis entitled "La dimensión fractal de masa como medida caracterizadora de la estructura de proteínas" (The mass fractal dimension as a characterization measure of the protein structure). We are exploring the potential application of the multi-fractal analysis to the structure of proteins.

Axel Eduardo Flores Reyes, M.Sc. in Chemistry, 2023/08 - 2025/07 .

Axel has finished his M.Sc. project, which consisted of studying a catalyst for the conversion H2S -> H2 + S. The catalyst is composed of Silica SBA doped with Co. He used solid state computational methods to theoretically characterize the catalyst and the potential interactions between the catalyst and H2S. He is working for Tesla while he is writing his M.Sc. thesis.

Sebastián García Pineda, M.Sc. in Chemistry, 2023/01 - .

Sebastián is working on his M.Sc. thesis entitled "Extensión del modelo de rotaciones internas impedidas de uno a dos ángulos diedros acoplados" (Extending the hindered rotor model from one to two coupled dihedral angles). This project aims at improving the theoretical predictions for gas-phase formation enthalpies of compounds with two coupled hindered rotors. Our approach includes the numerical solution of the Schrödinger equation for two-variables potentials, wherein the potential is defined via a 2D grid, as opposed to an algebraic form. Sebastián is today one of our most advanced Linux experts.

Raúl Castrejón García, undergrad 2023/01 - 2024/12.

Raúl started a research stay in our research group, mainly with prof. Julio Manuel. His initial project included the theoretical study of a Diels-Alder like reaction, involved in the synthesis of several natural products. Lately, he has expanded his interests and currently Raúl applies bioinformatics techniques to determine potential uses of the natural products he initially studied.

Danna García De los Santos, undergrad 2024/08 - .

Dana is working on how to identify foldons within proteins. She started a small research stay, and she is mainly working with M.Sc. Lucía Peña.

Valeria Bautista Santamaría, undergrad 2024/08 - .

Valeria is also working on how to identify foldons within proteins. She started a small research stay, and she is mainly working with M.Sc. Lucía Peña.

Former Students

B.Sc. in Chemistry, Luis Alfredo Núñez Meneses, 2018/01 - 2019/04.

Luis Alfredo developed his B.Sc. (Chemistry) thesis, which had the title "Desarrollo de software para comparar y resolver estructuras isoméricas mediante el tensor de inercia" (Developing a software to compare and resolve isomeric structures through the inertia tensor). He obtained his B.Sc. degree on April, 2019. This project was part of a collaboration with the Theoretical Organic Physical Chemistry Lab (leaded by Dr. Julio M. Hernández-Pérez). In July 2022, he was accepted in the ICTP's Master HPC program (Trieste, Italy), and as of July 2024, he works in Xanadu Quantum Technologies (Toronto, Canada).

Santiago Alberto Flores Román, undergraduate B.Sc. in Physics, 2019/11 - 2021/12.

Santiago did a short research stay at the lab from September to November 2019 (under-graduate level) under the program "Haciendo Ciencia en la BUAP". He is developing Monte-Carlo algorithms to perform integrals of Gaussian-like functions. Later, he developed his B.Sc. thesis, which consisted on implementing the Monte Carlo - Vegas algorithm in DensToolKit. Currently, Santiago is a Ph.D. student at New Jersey Institute of Technology.