FAPESP encourages the creation of facilities

The state of São Paulo is seeing more multi-user units with state-of-the-art scientific equipment for research in a variety of fields.

By Elton Alisson

Agência FAPESP – Since 2013, researchers in the Campinas region interested in conducting analyses in the fields of genomics, bioinformatics, proteomics and cell biology have had at their disposal a laboratory on the campus of the University of Campinas (Unicamp) that provides research support services.

This laboratory is the Central Laboratory of High Performance Technologies (LaCTAD), a multi-user unit designed after the facilities found in research institutions abroad.

Built to bring state-of-the-art scientific equipment, operating techniques and inputs together in a single place to optimize use of the resources and reduce the cost of conducting research, examples of facilities like LaCTAD have been on the rise in the state of São Paulo in recent years.

“Ten years ago, there was no talk about facilities for gene sequencing or for genomics, epigenomics and proteomics (the OMICs) in São Paulo,” said Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz, FAPESP scientific director, during a talk at the 1st Workshop on Multi-User-Equipment and Facilities, held June 4, 2014 at FAPESP.

“We now have more than 50 multi-user unit-labeled facilities that offer essential services for research in São Paulo, with significant support from the institutions in which they are housed. In addition, they increase the visibility of their host institutions,” said Brito Cruz.

Among the facilities recently installed in São Paulo with funding from the FAPESP Multi-User Equipment Program (EMU) are the Center for Research Support Facilities (CEFAP) at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences (ICB) of the University of São Paulo (USP) and the Centralized Multi-User Laboratory of Functional Genomics applied to Agriculture and Agroenergy at the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture at the USP Piracicaba campus.

Opened in August 2013, CEFAP offers cutting-edge gene sequencing to students and researchers at USP and other universities and research institutions.

To contract its services, which have varying fees according to the equipment used, researchers need to determine the equipment’s availability and schedule a date and time on the laboratory’s website for its use.

The Centralized Multi-User Laboratory for Functional Genomics applied to Agriculture and Agroenergy opened in 2012 and is conducting genetic sequencing, genotyping, transcriptomics, proteomics and bioinformatics services.

“More than 70 projects have already been conducted in the laboratory by groups of researchers from universities and research institutions in Brazil and abroad, in addition to companies,” said Mônica Veneziano Labate, associate researcher at Esalq, during her talk at the event.

“Most of the groups that needed to do DNA sequencing received training on how to prepare the samples, interpret the results and conduct bioinformatics analyses,” Labate explained.

Incentive for the facilities

An important factor behind the increase in the number of facilities in São Paulo was the issuance of a new call for proposals under the FAPESP EMU Program in 2009.

The program, which was established in 2005, has already granted more than R$250 million for the purchase of multi-user equipment installed in university research laboratories and national laboratories, such as the Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNANO) of the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), as well as facilities such as LaCTAD, CEFAP and the Centralized Multi-User Laboratory for Functional Genomics applied to Agriculture and Agroenergy at Esalq.

The second call for proposals under the program in 2009 emphasized that proposals for the installation of multi-user equipment in facilities would have greater weight in the evaluation.

The call for proposals also underscored the need for funding from universities and research institutions to provide the necessary resources in terms of suitable infrastructure and technical personnel to maintain the multi-user equipment in optimal working order.

“Institutional support is critical, not only in terms of equipment use,” said Brito Cruz. “To conduct internationally competitive science, researchers need institutional funding similar to what is found at universities such as Stanford, Cornell and North Carolina [in the United States]—not like here, when the researcher spends time that he could have been devoting to research ‘tied’ to a machine or rendering accounts.”

To ensure institutional commitment to the projects approved under the call for proposals, before granting the resources for the purchase of multi-user equipment, FAPESP conducts interviews with the researchers in charge of the project, deans of research and representatives from the institutions.

The universities and research institutions whose projects were selected in the second call for proposals under the program also signed documents stating their commitment to guaranteeing the proper operation of the equipment.

“FAPESP is establishing a series of requirements for the institutions funded by the Multi-User Equipment Program. They need to provide physical infrastructure and technical personnel in addition to establishing clear and visible rules and procedures on an Internet site that allows the research community access to the use of the multi-user equipment,” Brito Cruz explained.

New facilities

According to José Antonio Brum, professor at the Gleb Wataghin Physics Institute at Unicamp and Head Coordinator at the FAPESP Panel of Special Programs, the EMU Program has already approved more than 250 projects for the purchase of multi-user equipment.

During the second call for proposals under the program, in 2009, investments on the order of R$167 million were approved for 170 proposals to purchase several pieces of equipment, 200 of which were valued at more than US$50,000.

Since then, FAPESP has been encouraging the creation of new facilities in São Paulo, explained the professor. “The idea is that the facilities will allow us to optimize the use of very sophisticated and expensive scientific equipment that could cost between R$500,000 and R$1 million and otherwise end up not being used most of the time,” said Brum.

“The facilities will allow us to provide the entire scientific community access to this equipment, purchased with resources from various research-sponsoring agencies, with the greatest possible efficiency and quality,” he said.

Watch the workshop’s lectures at www.youtube.com/user/fapespagencia.