Group Members

Karin Chumbimuni-Torres Associate Professor Office: PSB 203 Lab: PSB 202 Phone: 407-823-2230 Email: Karin.ChumbimuniTorres@ucf.edu Biography Dr. Karin Y. Chumbimuni-Torres is [...]

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Karin Chumbimuni-Torres

Associate Professor

Office: PSB 203

Lab: PSB 202

Phone: 407-823-2230

Email: Karin.ChumbimuniTorres@ucf.edu

Biography

Dr. Karin Y. Chumbimuni-Torres is an Associate Professor in the Chemistry Department. A native of Peru, she earned her Master’s and Doctoral degrees at the University of Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. During her graduate studies, she worked at Auburn University in Alabama. After graduating, she was a postdoctoral researcher at Purdue University and at the University of California in San Diego. During that time, she also worked at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University. Before moving to UCF, she was research associated at University of Texas at San Antonio.

Her research interests focus on the understanding, characterization, and development of chemical sensors’ biological applications. Analytes of interest are biological ions and biomolecules such as microRNAs, RNA, and DNA. In this direction, her lab aims to integrate ultra-sensitive sensors into microchip platforms. Her group is also interested in studying the interactions at the interface of biomolecules and nanomaterials, the synthesis of nanoparticles, nanostructures, photoactive compounds, and the development of biocompatible materials for analytical devices. Her lab’s research interests have been extended to creation of optical sensors that can be controlled using visible light for biomedical applications.

Dr. Chumbimuni-Torres was funded by various federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Health, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Florida Department of Health, and Powers of America, among others. She holds various honors and awards, such as Fulbright Scholar, Outstanding Educator at Research Institution by the American Chemical Society-Orlando section, Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching at College and University level, Teaching and Research Incentive Awards, Life and faculty of excellence award for “Positively transforming the lives of students”, among others.

Curriculum Vitae

Post Doctorals

Graduate Students

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Julio Hector Ojeda Velarde

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Carlos Rodrigo Salazar Gallupe

Research: The development of ion selective electrodes (ISE) using paper and plastic as a substrate.
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Undergraduate Students

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Thais Ortiz Rodriguez

Research: Development of virus detection techniques. Currently, the project is focused on designing NASBA primers targeting various serotypes (1-4) of the dengue virus and their respective distinct genotypes.

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Cynthia Castro

Research: Nucleic Acid Sequence based amplification methods to be applied to biosensor technology, current projects are focused on optimizing the amplification steps used to prepare samples for detection.
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Skylar Scott

Research: Detection of biomarkers for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Current project focused on developing molecular imprinted polymers for the detection of Dopamine.