International Chemistry

The São Paulo School of Advanced Sciences in Chemistry was held from August 14-18, 2011 at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), under the auspices of the FAPESP’s São Paulo School of Advanced Sciences (ESPCA) funding line.

By Fábio de Castro

Agência FAPESP – The São Paulo School of Advanced Sciences in Chemistry was held from August 14-18, 2011 at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), under the auspices of the FAPESP’s São Paulo School of Advanced Sciences (ESPCA) funding line.

Bringing together one hundred post-graduate students, half of which foreigners, and 20 of the world’s top specialists in areas like medicinal chemistry, organic synthesis and natural products – four of which Nobel laureates – the event was coordinated by  Vanderlan Bolzani, professor at Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) and member of the BIOTA-FAPESP coordination team.

According to Ronaldo Pilli, dean of research at Unicamp and member of the school’s scientific committee, the event gives young post-graduate scientists the opportunity to have an up-close look at the work of some of the leading scientists of the day, to have daily contact with them and to discover more about their professional paths, what led them to embrace an academic career and how they had the ideas that guaranteed them international recognition.

“For someone at the beginning of their academic career, this is paramount. It is something that will last their whole life and should stimulate these young students to get motivated to pursue greater objectives in their professional lives,” he told Agência FAPESP.

Furthermore, according to Pilli, the event should show foreign students and those from other states the potential that São Paulo offers for developing high quality research. “Our visitors are truly surprised by the good level of projects, the conditions of our laboratories and the infrastructure that our universities offer researchers,” he said.

According to him, it is also a means to reinforce the number of qualified researchers in São Paulo State. “We want to show that the state offers excellent opportunities with the support of FAPESP and federal agencies. We are experiencing a very promising moment to attract people from abroad, perhaps even in virtue of the global economic conditions,” he highlighted.

Pilli affirms that attracting foreign students is fundamental to strengthening Brazilian science. “Only internationalized science can be excellent. On the other hand, exceptionally high level science must also be interdisciplinary. ESPCA’s choice of topics was made with this in mind,” he said. The subtitle of the ESPCA on Chemistry is: “Natural products, medicinal chemistry and organic synthesis – Integrated solutions for the world of tomorrow.”

The natural products area in Brazil, according to him, is one of the outstanding sectors on the international scenario. “The country has the largest biodiversity on the planet, which is still little explored and could in the future lead us to make significant global contributions . For this to happen, we need to appropriate these resources in an intelligent manner.”
 
Medicinal chemistry, dedicated to the development of new drugs, is a robust area in Brazil, according to him. Over half of the drugs currently on the market are based on or inspired by natural products, according to Pilli.

“On the other hand, organic synthesis focuses on developing processes for large scale production of anything of technological interest. Nature only rarely offers something of high-added value and major importance for society in a large enough quantity to meet demand. If a new molecule leads to a new drug, one must find a way for it to be produced on a large scale and organic synthesis is there for this reason,” he affirmed.

According to Glaucius Oliva, president of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and also a member of the ESPCA’s scientific council, the event offers young Brazilian and foreign students the opportunity for long-term interaction with groups abroad.  

“This FAPESP initiative of creating this cycle of schools of advanced sciences is fantastic because it brings together young, talented scientists from Brazil and abroad with some of the leading scientists in the area. I don’t know a better way to promote the internationalization of science and generate research with an impact,” he affirms.

According to Oliva, the contact with renowned scientists is also important to demystify science as something unachievable. “The students need to see that they need audacity. And that is what they saw in the workshop given by Ada Yonath, for example,” explained Oliva, referring to the Israeli scientist who won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering the molecular structure of ribosomes.

“Yonath began to think about crystallizing a ribosome to find its structure almost 30 years ago. For 20 years, she had no luck. The chances of her giving up in the first year were enormous. Resources were limited. She did not have support because no one believed that it would be possible to do what she did,” he affirmed.

According to him, while scientists struggled to resolve protein structures with a mass of 20 or 30 kilodaltons using crystallography, Yonath managed to resolve the ribosome structure of a 2.5 million dalton mass.
“It is fundamental to show these youth this example of tenacity in science, so that they recognize what it is to be persistent in the pursuit of a dream,” he affirmed.

More information: www.espcachemistry.iqm.unicamp.br/ESPCA.