Main Researchers
Víctor Castañeda
Director. He was born in Caracas, Venezuela. He studied Electrical Engineering at the Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile, obtaining his B.S. and Engineering degrees in 2004 and 2005, respectively. In 2012, he obtained his Dr.rer.Nat. degree in Computer Science from the Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany, supported by a DAAD-CONICYT scholarship and supervised by Prof. Nassir Navab, head of the Chair of Computer Assisted Medical Procedures and Augmented Reality.
In 2025, he founded the Tech4MEDICS Lab at the Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Chile. His Ph.D. research focused on endoscopic image processing and 3D sensing technologies, including Time-of-Flight cameras and Microsoft Kinect. He currently works on the processing of spermiogram images at CEDAI, as well as light-sheet microscopy and the analysis of 2D/3D microscopic images and clinical decision support systems based on medical images and signals. +56 2 2978 6266
Denisse Karl Sáez
Vice-Director. She studied Medical Technology at the Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile, obtaining her B.S. and Medical Technologist degree in 2007. She later obtained her Master’s degrees in Public Health and Biostatistics from the Universidad de Chile in 2007 and 2024, respectively. Her work focuses on mammography and breast tomosynthesis.
Carlos F. Navarro
Research Associate. He was born in Santiago, Chile. He earned his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Universidad de Chile. His research focuses on image processing, pattern recognition, and biomedical signal analysis, with applications in data-driven diagnostics and cognitive health. He is currently an Associate Professor at Universidad Santo Tomás, an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Universidad Andrés Bello, and a part-time lecturer at the Universidad de Chile.
Collaborators
Camilo Sotomayor
He was born in 1993 in Linares, Chile. He obtained his MD degree from the Universidad de Chile in 2018 and his Ph.D. in Medical Sciences from the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) in 2020. He is currently undergoing a medical specialist training program in Radiology at the Hospital Clínico de la Universidad de Chile (HCUCH).
He is the author of 36 ISI-indexed articles and 9 book chapters, and has presented at 11 international conferences. He has received multiple research awards, grants, and distinctions, and has served as a peer reviewer for over 45 manuscripts across 20 different ISI journals.
He serves as a guest editor for Transplantology and as a member of the reviewer board for Diagnostics, Nutrients, and Antioxidants (MDPI). His research interests include oxidative stress, inflammation, vascular calcification, imaging biomarkers, and content-based medical image retrieval. He is also a co-founder of LuftBioTech SpA, a science and technology-based company focused on developing innovative solutions to health-related problems.
Alfredo Parra
He is an academic and researcher at the Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Chile, where he serves as an Assistant Professor in the Cardiovascular Department. He is an internist, cardiologist, and holds a Ph.D. in Medical Sciences. He is currently Head of the Cardiovascular Research Unit (UIC) at the Hospital Clínico de la Universidad de Chile (HCUCH).
His work focuses on leading research platforms with a strong basic–clinical approach. As Principal Investigator of a FONDECYT project, he studies the pathophysiological mechanisms of atrial fibrillation and ion channel expression in human cardiomyocytes.
He complements his academic work with undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology, along with advanced training in electrophysiology. His experience allows him to integrate clinical expertise into the design, development, and validation of technological solutions in cardiovascular medicine.
Master Students
Aníbal Molina
He was born in Santiago, Chile. He earned a degree in Computer Engineering from the Universidad de La Frontera in Temuco, Chile, in 2016. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Medical Informatics at the Universidad de Chile, where his thesis focuses on predicting the severity of aortic stenosis using baseline electrocardiograms and artificial intelligence.
Javiera León
She is a Medical Technologist specializing in Radiology and Radiotherapy, with experience in university teaching and applied research in medical imaging. She is currently working on a thesis focused on the quantification of vascular calcifications in mammography and breast tomosynthesis, and their association with cardiovascular diseases.
Undergraduate Students
Camila Maire
She was born in Santiago and raised in the Aysén region. She is an Electrical Engineering student specializing in computational intelligence, with additional experience in energy systems and seismology. She is currently developing a hybrid computer-vision approach for the detection and morphological classification of sperm cells, integrating classical image-processing techniques with data-driven modeling.
Daylin Ortega
She is a Civil Electrical Engineering student at the Universidad de Chile, specializing in computational intelligence. She is currently conducting thesis research on the application of artificial intelligence to enhance prostate cancer detection in magnetic resonance imaging.
Catalina Tobar
She is a Medical Technology student at the Universidad de Chile, specializing in Imaging, Radiotherapy, and Medical Physics. She was born in Rancagua, Chile. She is currently working on a thesis focused on ultrasound characterization of renal tissue in a rural population in Chile using artificial intelligence, while exploring practical healthcare applications.
Francisco Romero
He holds a B.Sc. in Natural and Exact Sciences and is currently a Medical Technology student at Universidad de Chile. He has a background in medical imaging and data analysis, with hands-on clinical experience. He is currently focused on applying artificial intelligence to ultrasound tissue characterization and exploring practical healthcare applications.
Benjamin Fuentes Gajardo
He is a B.Sc. graduate and a Medical Technology student at Universidad de Chile. He has a background in medical imaging and data analysis, with experience in image processing projects and a focus on practical healthcare applications.
Carla Jorquera
She is a Medical Technology student at the Universidad de Chile, with a strong foundation in anatomy and experience in medical imaging and data analysis. She has contributed to collaborative lab projects, particularly in image processing and applied research.
Carolina Bavestrello Ruiz.
She is a Medical Technology student at the Universidad de Chile, specializing in Imaging, Radiotherapy, and Medical Physics. She was born in Santiago, Chile. She is currently working on her thesis, developing an artificial intelligence algorithm to assess mammographic positioning in digital mammography.
Former Members
Daniela Acevedo
She is a Medical Technologist specializing in Imaging, Radiotherapy, and Medical Physics. She was born in Las Cabras. She completed a thesis focused on the validation of a deep learning algorithm for estimating mammary glandular density in breast tomosynthesis and digital mammography using magnetic resonance imaging.
Cristóbal Gutiérrez Malhue
He is a Medical Technologist from the University of Chile and was born in Santiago. He completed a thesis focused on validating a deep learning algorithm to estimate mammary glandular density in breast tomosynthesis and digital mammography using magnetic resonance imaging.
Esperanza Tobar
She is a Medical Technologist specializing in Imaging, Radiotherapy, and Medical Physics. She completed a qualitative thesis focused on strategies to reduce barriers to breast cancer screening among women with disabilities in Chile.
Anaís Acosta
She is a Medical Technologist specializing in Imaging, Radiotherapy, and Medical Physics. Her thesis focused on identifying strategies to reduce barriers to breast cancer screening among women with disabilities in Chile.
Vicente Cajas
He is a Medical Technologist specializing in Imaging, Radiotherapy, and Medical Physics. He completed a thesis focused on the development of a deep learning algorithm to estimate mammary density from T1-weighted breast magnetic resonance imaging.
Sebastián Millar
He is a Medical Technologist specializing in Imaging, Radiotherapy, and Medical Physics. He was born in Santiago, Chile. He completed a thesis focused on the development of a deep learning algorithm to estimate mammary density from T1-weighted breast magnetic resonance imaging.
Bastián Castelli
He was born in Santiago, Chile. He earned a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Chile in 2025. His research focused on the segmentation of arterial calcifications in breast tomosynthesis images using deep learning, particularly U-Net architectures and Vision Transformers.
Pilar Nilo
She was born in Santiago, Chile, and earned a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Chile in 2025. Her research focused on sperm head segmentation and classification using deep learning techniques.
Diego Bartolucci
He was born in Santiago, Chile and earned a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Chile in 2025. His thesis focused on the application of deep learning and Vision Transformer models to segment and quantify breast density in tomosynthesis images, aiming to improve accuracy in breast cancer risk assessment.