Ever since Heidy Quitián Lara was a student at Nuestra Señora del Rosario School, she knew that her future would be linked to science and that she would spend every day in the laboratories.
With talent and discipline she succeeded. Her first step was to enter the Chemistry program at the UIS and years later obtain her professional degree. She is currently a postdoctoral research associate at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany. From there she covers areas of interest from the astrochemical point of view, such as theory, observation and experimental.
“The UIS was my complete focus because since high school I wanted to study science and I had to choose between biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, but the truth is that the laboratories was what conquered me from the beginning. I always wanted to work in them, I am passionate about them and the UIS offers wonderful experimental tools and they are the basis of my professional work. My history with the university is simply full of good moments, strengths and many good memories,” said Quitián Lara, who graduated in 2013.
In his academic and professional training process he received, at the beginning of 2025, the news that a research work he guided was on the cover of Chemical Science magazine, the world’s most important specialized chemistry media, which has 175 years of history.
“This is an achievement on both a personal and professional level that is extremely high. The article is the product of the graduate work of my undergraduate student, Jhoan Londoño, an Astronomy student, and as his advisor I feel deeply satisfied to see the effort reflected in a high impact publication in a journal of such importance. As a chemist I am proud that a research in our astrochemical area has the scope required for a publication in this journal and even more, that it has been on the cover”, said the UIS graduate.
The research is a purely theoretical focus in which certain organic molecules previously identified in the Sagittarius B2 molecular cloud, which is one of the richest regions in chemical compounds in our galaxy, are studied.
“The article proposes a set of molecules that could be searched for in future astronomical observations, especially using the best tool for the detection of molecules in space, radio astronomy, and thus contribute a little to the analysis and identification of new species starting from a chemical point of view and using theoretical chemistry as the source to explain the formation of these new species,” added Quitián Lara.
You can see the scientific article below:
