Ian Emanuel González Santos, a native of Puerto Vallarta, is 13 years old, and is only a few weeks away from becoming the youngest Biological Pharmaceutical Chemist to have graduated from the University of Guadalajara (UdeG).
It was during the presentation of his fourth annual report that the UdeG Rector Ricardo Villanueva applauded the achievements of this young man, who has become an example for the entire university network.
Ian said that from a very young age he always had many concerns that his teachers could not teach him in his regular classes. When the little boy became discouraged, he felt isolated because he could not get along in the environment in which he found himself. It was then that his mother, Sandra Santos, chose to educate him at home.
“Since I was little, I had knowledge of microbiology, hematology, and chemistry. That’s why I started looking for careers that had all those subjects that I like. The one I saw as the most convenient was Biological Pharmaceutical Chemist because it had branches of genetics, molecular biology, and mathematic. I said, ‘this is my ideal career’, and, to date, I am incredibly happy with it,” he said.
It was thanks to the invitation of the doctor in biomedical sciences, Francisco Josué Carrillo, to attend some of his classes as an auditor when he was barely 8 years old that his passion for these subjects was born. When he confirmed that he wanted to be a Biological Pharmaceutical Chemist, he took his entrance exam like any other student in the university network, and studies at the University Center for Exact Sciences and Engineering (CUCEI).
“I felt much better when I entered the university because there was a greater breadth of topics, and they went as deep as I wanted,” he said.
Although it might seem that it would be difficult for a minor to live with young people who are at least five years older than him, Ian said that this only happened at the beginning. But today, he has managed to make great bonds and friendships with his classmates.
“Being the first student my age to finish this degree is a great emotion. I feel incredibly proud of my university. I feel that I have learned a lot. I am completely grateful to this university because we searched a lot to be able to find that academic level, and it was thanks to the fact that the doors were opened for me here that I am about to finish my bachelor’s degree, and I have already finished my master’s degree,” said the young man, who has also completed his master’s degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics, thanks to a special process that he took at the UdeG.
He added that he already has several proposals to carry out his doctorate, but he has not yet decided what he will do.
However, today it is clear that his dream is to have a molecular biology company where he can carry out polymerase reduction diagnoses, invent cures for diseases, or promote projects such as the ones he leads today, such as the modification of an aspergillus niger tannase to insert that gene into bio trichodermato for the degradation of PET, or the regeneration of melanocytes with platelet-rich plasma in patients with vitiligo.