Unicamp received a donation of 3 thousand dollars from the company 400M that will finance the project that aims to expand the University's capacity to respond to endemic diseases. The project was approved through the international organization GlobalGiving, which promotes contact between companies and institutions that develop scientific, educational and solidarity projects. With the amount, Unicamp should expand its capacity for research and tests with NB3 safety level, which involve viruses and bacteria harmful to human health, which will make the country more prepared for situations such as the coronavirus pandemic.
"It is something that does not yet exist in Brazil, a center that is prepared to study diseases and propose prevention and treatment policies, epidemic control, good practices for dealing with diseases, that establishes criteria for clinical trials, treatments and everything else. We don't necessarily want to reach that point, in the long term, but what is missing in Brazil is a structure capable of responding more efficiently against these epidemics that appear and are appearing more frequently", details Marcelo Mori, coordinator of the Unicamp Task Force against Covid-19, which cites the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an international reference to be followed.
Marcelo also comments that the initiative aims to make the work carried out by the Unicamp Task Force permanent. "The idea is that we don't need voluntary mobilizations, from the bottom up, for when the next epidemic appears. What we want to do is set up this permanent structure so that we can be ready to face the emergence of emerging diseases and diseases whose prevalence has been increasing over time", explains the coordinator.
For Munir Skaf, Pro-Rector of Research at Unicamp, the achievement reinforces the University's vocation to be a pioneer in scientific innovations. "The idea is to create an embryo of this center for the study and control of emerging diseases that can serve as a reference for the state and the country as a whole. Unicamp usually plays a vanguard and pioneering role in this type of idea and that is what we are doing. This financing and others will allow us to mature and consolidate this center that is starting now", evaluates Skaf.
"Unicamp is more agile in adapting to new situations"
With the 400 thousand dollars received, Unicamp will expand its NB3 level security structure at the University, which is currently restricted to the Emerging Virus Studies Laboratory (LEVE), coordinated by professor José Luiz Módena. This will make it possible to carry out research with more sophisticated cell cultures, such as fluorescence microscopic analyzes and the evolution of viruses and bacteria over time.
Another objective that will be possible is the installation of a vivarium also with NB3 security, which allows experiments of this type on animals. According to Marcelo Mori, today this research needs to be carried out in partnership with the University of São Paulo, which has one of these structures. Unicamp's capacity to develop research that uses single cell analysis techniques, still little used in the country, will also be expanded. In the first semester of this year, a project presented by Mori and other researchers to implement this resource at the University was awarded funding from Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZN), a foundation linked to Facebook, worth 525 thousand dollars.
After these first steps, the idea is that, in the future, it will be possible to build a physical headquarters and install the Disease Study and Control Center (Cecod). To this end, the University seeks other sources of financing, such as the Project Studies Financier (Finep), and partner institutions. According to Mori, concentrating work on a single building will be important for the development of integrated projects. "We can build a vivarium in one place, a laboratory in another place, and continue collaborating remotely. But the example of the Task Force was so good to show how we can build new things, working in an interdisciplinary way. This shows that We really need to have an interdisciplinary center at Unicamp and we need to have people under the same roof working with Social Sciences, Engineering, Biology, Medicine, Mathematics, discussing projects together", analyzes the Task Force coordinator.
He also assesses that the University's management and the work dynamics of its researchers and professionals favor the installation of a pioneering Center like Cecod: "We have the Task Force as a success story and the structure that Unicamp has set up, from bottom to top , is serving as a reference for other institutions. Unicamp is more agile, more flexible in adapting to new situations. We have this characteristic, which is an advantage."
Example that values science and universities
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Unicamp has taken the lead in carrying out research to develop diagnostic tests for the coronavirus and analyzes related to Covid-19, in addition to providing essential health services for the Campinas region. At the end of August, the University, with support from the Public Ministry of Labor, surpassed the 70 thousand diagnostic tests held in more than 150 cities. Thanks to the support of partner institutions and companies, the work can be deepened and will guarantee greater health security for the country.
"In fact, it will help Unicamp, not only during this pandemic, because even if the number of cases decreases, we will continue to live with the disease, so studying Covid-19 remains in our plans. But also, and mainly, helps make Unicamp more prepared to respond to emerging diseases and possible pandemics. This benefits everyone, because if it weren't for the support provided by Unicamp to city halls in the Campinas region, it would have been very difficult for us to be able to test people and provide care in hospitals public", points out Marcelo Mori.
3M's support is the result of a positive relationship between the company and the University that yields good results for both institutions. "Unicamp has a history of long-standing relationships with 3M, whether in the training of students or in carrying out joint research. Several of our former students, former master's students, postgraduate students, particularly from the Institute of Chemistry and the Faculty of Chemical Engineering ended up occupying important positions at 3M", recalls Munir Skaf.
In Marcelo Mori's view, financing the project reinforces the importance of companies supporting science produced in the country. "3M is a North American, global company that decides to invest a large amount of money in Brazil in policies against emerging diseases. This is a good example for Brazilian companies, we need initiatives like this more. Not only in times of pandemic and also not just for projects that are of direct interest to companies", argues Mori.
