Evolution will be the topic of a São Paulo School of Advanced Sciences Event

Roughly 80 students and researchers from Brazil and abroad will meet in Ilhabela, São Paulo, from August 19 to 31 to interact with some of the world’s top specialists in multiple areas of Evolutionary Biology.

By Fábio de Castro

Agência FAPESP – Roughly 80 students and researchers from Brazil and abroad will meet in Ilhabela, São Paulo, from August 19 to 31 to interact with some of the world’s top specialists in multiple areas of Evolutionary Biology.

The first São Paulo School of Advanced Sciences-Evolution (SPSAS-Evo) event will be organized in conjunction with Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Universidade Estadual de São Paulo (Unesp) and Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp).

The event, organized under the auspices of the São Paulo School of Advanced Sciences (ESPCA), a FAPESP program, will include a series of conferences on the latest advances in the area of Evolution, organized discussions in the form of directed studies and poster presentation sessions.

According to Antonio Carlos Marques, professor of the Department of Zoology at USP’s Biosciences Institute and the coordinator of SPSAS-Evo, one of the main objectives of the event is to discuss recent advances in research on evolution in its multiple aspects.

The topics cover practically all biological sciences, from “micro” approaches to evolutionary development, which study an isolated species’ trajectory in evolution, to “macro” fields such as biogeography, which seeks to understand how biota is distributed around the globe.

“Evolution is an area that connects and justifies all biology, since biological diversity is ultimately the final result of an evolutionary process developed over hundreds of millions of years.  Therefore, evolution permeates biology as a whole through perspectives that range from the genetics and the physiology of organisms to studying their geographic distribution,” Marques explains to Agência FAPESP.

SPSAS-Evo will seek to contemplate several aspects of evolutionary studies. For this reason, the organizers invited lecturers from some of the most diverse research areas. “Eight of the 14 professors who will give courses are foreigners and 6 are Brazilian. All are leading researchers in their areas with highly relevant and global-reaching scientific contributions,” says Marques.

The topic of evolution will be covered in three main modules, according to Marques: “Microevolution,” “Macroevolution” and “Integrated Approaches.”   Microevolution takes a populational approach using genetic tools. Macroevolution involves evolutionary studies above the level of species.

Integrated approaches unite the “macro” and “micro” aspects, using elements of genetics, molecular biology, geology and chemistry to raise fundamental questions regarding the evolutionary paradigm.

“We will have 80 students, including 60 graduate students, 10 undergraduate students and 10 post-doctorate students. At least half of the group will be from other countries. We opted to bring together members of the three levels to generate an integration process in which those with higher education levels will be faced with the need to transmit their knowledge to others,” explains Marques.

Visiting researchers

The three modules, each lasting three days, will be interspersed with visits to some of the most important evolution research sites in the São Paulo area. Ilhabela, according to Marques, is a strategic location that allows participants have an immersion experience while simultaneously getting to know the existing equipment and parks on the northern coast of the state, including USP’s Marine Biology Center (Cebimar).

“Cebimar has installations with excellent conditions for research and includes several high level scientific projects. We are also in talks with USP’s Oceanography Institute to plan a possible visit to Alpha Crucis, the oceanography ship FAPESP acquired and that is en route to Brazil,” explains Marques.

In parallel to the field activities, there will be group projects within the format of directed studies, seminars, conferences and round tables with the speakers.

“We will also have 6 to 9 guests that will be high level São Paulo researchers in the area of evolutionary studies. They will have the opportunity to present their work and laboratories to students and invited professors,” says Marques.

One of the school’s intentions is to draw foreign students and researchers interested in working on evolution research projects in Brazil. According to Marques, several aspects have contributed to making São Paulo attractive to researchers in the area.
 
“With the support of agencies like FAPESP, we have had the opportunity to create an excellent research structure in São Paulo. Furthermore, we have a critical mass of researchers and high-level faculty producing relevant work. Finally, São Paulo has a natural evolution laboratory with the surrounding forests and savannahs and an immense ocean,” he explains.

In addition to Marques, the scientific commission that coordinates the event includes professors Marcello Simões, of Unesp in Botucatu (SP), and André Freitas of Unicamp. According to Marques, in addition to FAPESP funding, SPSAS-Evo has a series of institutional sponsorships:  IB-USP, Unesp’s Biosciences Institute in Botucatu, Unicamp’s Biology Institute, Cebimar and USP’s Marine Biodiversity Research Center (NP-Biomar).

For more information, visit: www.ib.usp.br/zoologia/evolution