LABORATORY OF URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING
Head: Prof Adriane Moreira de Souza, PhD
Contacts: 55(12)3947-1127 - adriane@univap.br

The Laboratory of Urban and Regional Planning is a four-room complex equipped with computers for the use of students and staff in the Program. Teaching and research are carried out here in the field of urban and regional planning. Orientation/Advisor-student/guidance meetings (reuniões de orientação) are conducted in the laboratory, where the current studies are discussed, especially those dealing with: Planning, Public Policies and the Structuring of Space, and Planning and Social/Environmental Development, which are the research areas of the teaching staff of the Laboratory.

The LASER Laboratory has several devices it has already developed with companies related to medicine, cosmetics, industry, logistics, geo-environment, and aerospace.

The projects are divided into two groups: (1) Academic Projects and (2) Business Projects.

LABORATORY OF NATURAL REGISTERS

The scientists in the Laboratory of Natural Registers work to expand the use and application of studies about tree rings, as well as observational registers throughout Brazil, to better understand past climates and the country’s environmental history. Current research focuses on the use of data networks in regard to tree rings to study regional climate, global climate teleconnections, the interrelationships among Sun, the Earth, and Earth’s Climate, and the anthropogenic/human? impacts to them. By exploring new tree species in new regions, by creating new partnerships, and by developing new techniques to analyze temporal series, the researchers of the Laboratory are committed to the advancement of dendrochronology and paleoclimatology in Brazil, along with the ethics of good science.

In the Micro and Nano-particulate Laboratory studies are carried out in the development of liberation systems of drug/pharmaceutical ingredients (fármacos) in the form of micro and nano-particulates based on proteins and inorganic compounds. The goal is to promote scientific development that is broad-based among several fields, by combining protocols, techniques, and experiments from the fields of pharmaceutical technology, nanotechnology, and photobiology.

The research group receives students with Bachelor’s degrees in Engineering and Chemistry

LABORATORY OF EXTRA-GALACTIC ASTRONOMY

The Laboratory of Extra-Galactic Astrophysics and Interstellar Space (LAEM in Portuguese) was created in 2018 with support from FAPESP, FVE and UNIVAP(quer explicar as siglas?). In the Laboratory, studies are carried out regarding the interactions among galaxies, Active Galaxy Nuclei (AGNs), regions of star formation (SFs), astrobiology, and astrochemistry. Observational data from large-scale telescopes, such as the GEMINI telescope (Figure 1) and the SOAR telescope (Figure 2) are used in the research, along with several of the UNIVAP Institute for Research and Development labs (1). In addition to these studies, simulations are run from AGN and SF observational data, using the Cloudy code (www.nublado.org).

Besides the projects carried out by the Coordinator and Master’s and Doctoral students in the UNIVAP Graduate Program in Urban and Regional Planning, which has the support of CAPES, the Research Group in Urban and Regional Spaces currently develops its activities in collaboration with three inter-institutional partnerships, two through an official agreement/contract (convênio) and the third through a Scientific-Technical Protocol.

HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING LABORATORY

Located in Building 2 of the Research and Development Institute, the High Performance Computing Laboratory possesses a Hypercube Cluster mainframe that uses computationaldevices/components aligned with parallel processing techniques to deliver high performance computational resources to solve complex problems.

Research and development of advanced materials are carried out in these laboratories. Materials for high-tech applications are developed through the synthesis of materials, their processing, and their characterization. Calcium hexaluminate (hexaluminato de cálcio) ceramic materials are synthesized by different means for use as thermal insulators. Ceramic materials with a dense or scaffolded calcium aluminate concrete base are studied, along with their blends, for use as biomaterial to repair bone. Bioactive glass and composites with bioabsorbable polymers are being synthesized in particle form, such as microspheres or scaffolds for use in orthopedics.

Researchers in the Photobiology Lab for the Health Sciences carry out studies with different sources of light, both with and without photosensitive compounds, to discover new means to deactivate microorganisms, to treat cancer, and to achieve photobiologic modulation , among other research goals, by using concepts from applied photobiology, biophysics, and cellular biology.

The Laboratory is composed of four rooms: 1) the Cell Culture room, equipped with BioSafety compartments with Thermo Scientific Laminar Flow apparatus, a CO2 incubator (with a Thermo Scientific water jacket), BEL direct and inverted microscopes with camera and PC computers, a refrigerator, Eppendorf pipets (pipetadores), and vacuum for cell cultures (Aspire by Accuris), lab counters, tables, and chairs; 2) the Characterization room, equipped with a DeNovix DS-11 Drop (de gota) Photospectrometer, Mettler Toledo and Shimadzu .1 mg precision analytic scales, and Malvern Nano Zetasizer ZS90 measured (de medida) light scattering system, with and without applied potential, granite-top lab counters and anti-vibration table; 3) the Molecular room, equipped with a AnalutikJena Biometra Tone thermo/thermal cycler (termociclador) with temperature gradient, an Azure C150 Photodocumenter, Loccus LPS 4000V source/outlet (fonte), Bio-Rad cubes for electrophoresis, a microwave oven and a refrigerator, IKA magnetic shakers and Eppendorf pipets, granite-top lab counters, stainless steel sinks, and a chemical exhaust? hood; 4) the Main room, equipped with a Marcar Sartorius Arium Comfort Type 1 water system, a Thermo Scientific refrigerated rotor centrifuge for microtubes, tubes, and plates, Thermo Scientific and Scientific Fisher heating plates with magnetic shaker, IKA vortex shaker, IKA magnetic shaker, a freezer, a refrigerator, a liquid nitrogen container, a Quimis drying oven (estufa), a Logan double boiler, a Marconi refrigerated bath, a vacuum pump, a Metrohm Titrino Plus automatic metric potential titler, , titulador potenciométrico automático (Titrino Plus, marca Metrohm), a counter-mounted conductivity meter (condutivimetro de bancada), a washing machine for contaminated material.

The Group works toward the production and spread of knowledge through extension courses and action research in the field of urban and regional planning, studying the processes and participatory methodologies in the construction of social cartographies/maps. The results of this work generate/administrate(geram) and will continue to generate/administrate the instrumentalization of populations of precarious housing settlements or unauthorized neighborhoods in the construction of popular plans(qual tipo de plano?), as well as serve as the basis for methodological/theoretical reflection about the relationships, social production within the space, migratory movements, and the popular/grassroots organization of communities and their means of action. Master’s theses and doctoral dissertations are associated with this framework as part of the Graduate Program in Urban and Regional Planning. The concepts of social-spatial segregation, migration, oscillations (pendularidade), social movements, the right to the city and to housing, the legalization of rural and urban land plots

NANOTECHNOLOGY AND PLASMA PROCESSES LABORATORY

In the Nanotechnology and Plasma Processes Laboratory, studies are carried out to develop new materials, as well as new coatings and treatment techniques for surfaces by using plasma, nanotechnology concepts, and tribology. The research group is interdisciplinary, accepting students from the engineering fields and health sciences.

Professors from the following national institutes and universities collaborate with the UNIVAP research team: ITA, USP, UCS INPE, UNESP, and Unifesp-Sorocaba and Baurú campuses.

Research Group registered with CNPq (The National Research Council, a federal funding and development agency): Regenerative Therapy with human amniotic membranes- UNIVAP;” Research Group in bio-stimulation and tissue repair.

The Odontological and Applied Materials Laboratory carries out studies in Odontology and related fields. Studies seek to develop and apply biomaterials in the treatment of teeth and bones, as well as use laser photobiomodulation for health applications.

The laboratory collaborates with university professors and researchers in national institutes, including: UNITAU, UNICAMP, and UNIFESP.

BIOTECHNOLOGY AND ELECTRIC PLASMA LABORATORY

The laboratory is multi-disciplinary. There is a first part with a fully-equipped space that is dedicated exclusively to experiments on the use of plasma on microorganisms, covering a variety of species of fungi and bacteria. The second part of the laboratory is used to study astrophysics and space plasmas, which involve studies about thermal nuclear fusion and materials science. Researchers study instrumentation and measurement techniques with laboratory plasmas (tokamaks and stellarators); they also take in situ measurements in/of space plasmas. The group’s research concentrates on the technological application of plasmas, such as plasma-assisted combustion, the treatment of materials for microelectronics, optics, aerospace, energy, and biomedicine; nanotechnology, and electric propulsion, for which there are strong economic incentives.

The Laboratory provides the conditions to study the effects of Anti-microbial Photodynamic Therapy and of Organocalcogêneos Compounds on Funguses.

Activities and Recent Interactions:

Statistical analyses and mathematical modeling in the field of Health, with links to the Specialization Course in Hospital Administration (UNIVAP Graduate Programs) – advisors for 7 Final Projects for Degrees (and respective articles for publication)

Statistical analyses in the field of the Environment, with help from professors Maria Regina, Maria Angélica, Edvaldo, Walderez, and others

Mathematical Modeling of the COVID19 Pandemic- research activity as well as extension studies, with regular information releases to the public through the local media, including newspapers and radio

SPACE PHYSICS LABORATORY (IMAGER CONTAINER)

The UNIVAP Space Physics Group has established a network of ionosphere observatories across Brazil: (SJC-São José dos Campos, SP), (ARA – Araguatins, TO), (JAT – Jataí, GO), and (MAN – Manaus, AM).

The GeoLab acts as a laboratory classroom and research facility for the Urban and Regional Planning and Urbanism program for activities linked to geotechnologies. It offers space for seminars and study for students in the Program.

The City and Memory Laboratory seeks to develop and preserve research and studies obtained from oral documents, photography, and other documents pertaining to the city in general. It is responsible for collecting interviews and statements, using methods of oral history. The interviews are transcribed and made available through the Laboratory of Research and Historical Documentation, which is also a part of the Institute of Research and Development, for use by researchers at UNIVAP and outside the university. The Center for Memory is responsible for the storage of the Oral History Archives for all the oral, written, and videotaped statements. Among all the work underway at the Laboratory, the following activities deserve special mention: the transcription of interviews, preservation and conservation measures to protect magnetic and digital tapes, as well as support and meet the needs of researchers who want to work with oral history methodology or biographic method, by serving as a source for their research.