UNU-BIOLAC's 2024: A Positive Balance for our Scientific Programme Amidst difficulties

Despite the lack of financial help from the region, UNU-BIOLAC fully supports the advancement of Biotechnology in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) thanks to the initial donation made by Venezuela almost 50 years ago. In 2024, UNU-BIOLAC reached more than 1,000 researchers as associates to our academic/research program, either as conveners of advanced courses, supervisors, mentors, or experts in various fields, all committed to delivering capacity building in Biotechnology in LAC. Men and women from over 50 countries, most from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, France, Spain, the USA, Uruguay, and Venezuela– around a third of them have acted generously as evaluators of our academic activities and Open Calls.

Particularly, UNU-BIOLAC feels proud of its circa 400 fellows (1988-2024), most of which have not only received specialized training but have also contributed to the generation of scientific knowledge, the advancement of biological solutions, the creation of biotech enterprises in the Americas, and lastly, but not less importantly, the furthering of their own personal and professional growth. In addition, the more than 11,000 attendees of our UNU-BIOLAC co-sponsored courses (around 380 until 2024) all over the region jointly represent the young, human face of capacity building.

Entirely based on the original system implemented by Camilo Daza (UNU-BIOLAC's first Coordinator from 1988 to 1999), the Programme faces the present and future challenges with a frugal pragmatic optimism: solve by doing.

Thanks to all for your continuing participation in the program.

UNU-BIOLAC fosters capacitation in Biotechnology by supporting technical and professional knowledge-sharing activities

In 2024 alone, UNU-BIOLAC co-sponsored thirteen (13) advanced practical training courses in 10 different universities and institutes in 4 countries: Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Uruguay. More than 200 trainees from all over LAC attended these courses– most financially helped by UNU-BIOLAC. All of the courses this year were aimed at capacitating young researchers in LAC in the acquisition of practical abilities in:

• ‘Omics’(proteomics, genomics, metabolomics and metagenomics) and organoids
• Biological control of plant diseases
• Advanced optics, spectrometry, and electron microscopy
• Microbiome analysis in health and disease
• Basic and applied general virology and specific arboviral diseases
• Applied Bioinformatics

Our allies trained young researchers and students from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, India, Italy, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, the USA, Uruguay and Venezuela. The UNU-BIOLAC direct investment exceeded USD 200,000. We would love to welcome LAC's private sector to our efforts to advance Biotechnology in the region.

Supported by UNU-BIOLAC, decision-makers in LAC work towards capacitation in biotechnology

Since 2023, UNU-BIOLAC has pursued the theoretical capacitation of law- and decision-makers in the region on the basics of genetic improvement through a strategic alliance with Allbiotech, an enterprise of young biotechnologists from Mexico and Central America, among other participants.

This year, the first set of webinars, Introductory Workshop on Biotechnology and Genome Editing, targeting Mexican legislators and governmental functionaries, was finished; several legislators and other high-ranking officials attended the activities. More than 80 attendees participated.

In September 2024, a similar set of webinars, Strengthening Capacities in Biotechnology and Genome Edition for Lawmakers of Public Policies in Guatemala and Central America, started.  Legislators and other government representatives, including the Secretary of Science of Guatemala, were enthusiastically present.

The need for capacitation in the region varies among countries. Still, interest in the more recent advances of gene and genomic editions has made more evident the importance of our compromise, as UNU members, to be ready and willing to help decision-makers of LAC to navigate the complex world of genetic improvement. In that order, our next targets include the rest of Central America, the Caribbean, and South America.

UNU-BIOLAC puts innovation in the hands of the youth in LAC

Through our Fellowship Programme, we foster Biotechnology in a learning-by-researching fashion while financing the quest for much-needed biological solutions in the region. For example, in 2024, we chose to support research projects that offered alternatives for (bio)decontaminating water and fighting against fungal, viral, and bacterial pathogens. Additionally, while some delved into the modulation of the gut-brain axis microbiome by neurotransmitters or the design of new biotechnologically advanced cancer therapies, others were looking for elements of impact aiming at a more sustainable and resilient agribiotechnology.

Over the past two years, a trend has emerged in the focus that young LAC biotechnologists place on broad but specific areas of interest and research:

• Climate Change and the preservation of the quality of life under pressing conditions
• Microbial resistance to antibiotics and new avenues for effective antibiosis
• Challenges posed by viruses in plants and animals, particularly arboviruses and SARS-CoV2
• Food production and food security, including postharvest management
• Frugal innovation for a wide range of problems and their Biosolutions

For the academic year 2025, we received a historically elevated number of applications (more than a hundred!) attesting to a solid biotechnology research sector in LAC, a renewed interest in UNU-BIOLAC, and the urgent need to find practical approaches to the challenges imposed by climate change, a growing biological knowledge of ourselves and our limits as species, along emergent and old diseases. What couldn't we achieve with more external funding to help more dreamers find their way?

Courses cofinanced by UNU-BIOLAC during 2024

1. Postharvest fungal diseases in fruits: the use of sustainable biocontrol strategies, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Argentina
2. Microbial Genomics for One Health, Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular, Argentina
3. Metagenomics for Health and Industrial Applications, Planta Piloto de Procesos Industriales Microbiológicos (PROIMI), Argentina
4. I Latin-American School on Cryo-Electron Microscopy: Fundamentals and Applications in Biotechnology Research, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Argentina
5. Hands-on molecular approaches for honeybee research in health and disease, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas ¨Clemente Estable", Uruguay
6. Organoids: from basics to applications, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Uruguay
7. Proteome analysis by Mass Spectrometry, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Uruguay
8. Training Course on Molecular, Physical, and Computational Virology, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Uruguay
9. Making Metabolomics Matter: Targeted Approaches for Translational and Precision Medicine, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México / Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, Mexico
10. New insights in dengue and other arboviruses: from molecular biology to public health, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Mexico
11. Theoretical-Practical Course on the Study of Neglected Diseases: Diagnosis, Molecular Epidemiology and Applied Bioinformatics, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico
12. Metabarcoding and Shotgun Metagenomics: applications for Environment, Agriculture and Health Research, Universidad Mayor, Chile
13. Optics, Forces & Development, Universidad de Chile, Chile.

Fellowships financed by UNU-BIOLAC during 2024

1. Design, microfabrication, and start-up of microfluidic systems with low-cost materials to detect and quantify microplastics (MPs) present in drinking water, Mónica Elizabeth Mosquera Ortega, from Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires (Argentina), to Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia (Brazil).
2. Antifungal compounds produced by Burkholderia gladioli MB39 with the potential to control fungal diseases in extensive crops of economic importance, Gisele Teixeira Gomes, from Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Tucumán (Argentina), to Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa (Brazil).
3. Impact of modulation of the microbiota-gut-brain axis by GABA-producing L. brevis in colonic fermentation models, Pablo Gabriel Cataldo, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Tucumán (Argentina), to Universidade de Araraquara, Araraquara (Brazil).
4. Chemical Characterization of biological silages from food industry residues, Franco Matías Sosa, from Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Juan Bosco, Comodoro Rivadavia, to Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta (Chile).
5. Speeding up cell-free biosensor design, Matías Villarruel Dujovne, from Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires (Argentina), to Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago de Chile (Chile).
6. Fengycins, a powerful antibiotic produced by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens MEP218: Biophysics applied studies of the antibacterial effects on membranes models, Daniela Medeot, from Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto, Córdoba (Argentina), to Universidad de Antioquia, Medellin, and Universidad de Los Andes, Bogota (Colombia).
7. Native Trichoderma strains as sustainable agents for agriculture applications, Martina María Pereyra, from Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Tucumán (Argentina), to Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City (Mexico).
8. Enzymatic synthesis of phenolic galacto-conjugates by a Bifidobacterium β-galactosidase, Andrea Carolina Ramírez Gutiérrez (Venezuela), from Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata (Argentina), to Centro de Investigación y Asistencia en Tecnología y Diseño del Estado de Jalisco, Guadalajara (Mexico).
9. Use of mass spectrometry coupled to chromatography (LC-MS/MS) for the identification of changes in the metabolism of the microorganism Amycolatopsis sp. because of abiotic stress (i.e., presence of heavy metals), Maria Julia Silva Manco, from Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Tucumán (Argentina), to Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima (Peru).
10. Post-genomic studies in Trypanosoma cruzi: identification, classification and characterization of gene families involved in parasite-host interaction, Aldana Alexandra Cepeda Dean, from Universidad Nacional de San Martin, Buenos Aires (Argentina), to Institut Pasteur, Montevideo (Uruguay).
11. Changes in vaginal bacterial communities of beef heifers under an artificial insemination protocol, Candelaria Gonzalez Moreno, from Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Tucumán (Argentina), to Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Basseterre (St. Kits and Nevis).
12. Collaborative Work Plan for Enhancing Rhizobia-Legume Symbiosis: A Computational and Experimental Approach to Nitrogen Fixation in Phaseolus vulgaris under drought stress, Glacy Jaqueline da Silva, from Universidade Paranaense, Umuarama (Brazil), to Universidad de Granada, Granada (Spain).
13. Create a cell line modified by CRISPR/Cas9, specifically the SHSY-5Y cell line, where the IDS gene, which is the gene that when mutated causes mucopolysaccharidosis type II, will be deleted, and test a new recombinant IDS enzyme derived from the yeast Pichia pastoris, Francielly Dias Pereira, from Universidade Federal Do Rio Grande, Rio Grande (Brazil), to Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogota (Colombia).
14. Training in the use of techniques and tools based on Bacterial Genomic DNA Sequencing and Metabolite Determination by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry in stool samples, Alexander Pabón Moreno, from Universidad de Santander, Bucaramanga (Colombia), to Universidad de Málaga, Málaga

(Spain).

1. Scale-up of production and formulation of yeasts (Meyerozyma guilliermondii and Vishniacozyma victoriae) for postharvest application against fruit pathogens, Ximena Sepúlveda Brito, from Universidad de Concepción, Concepción (Chile), to Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Tucumán (Argentina)
2. Understanding the mobilome of critical bacterial pathogens, Daniel Plaza Sáez, originally from Chile, comes from the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) and went to the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires (Argentina).
3. Nanopore-based genomics sequencing and analyses of Porphyromonas gingivalis isolates from Chilean patients: pangenomic approach, Josefa Núñez Belmar, from Universidad Mayor, Temuco (Chile), to Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo (Brazil).
4. Design, obtain, and characterize a human IL-2-derived mutein for use in cancer therapy: A computational approach, Paola Alejandra Lagos Muñoz, from Universidad de Concepción, Concepción (Chile), to Institut Pasteur, Montevideo (Uruguay).
5. Ancestral reconstruction of streptococci and molecular dynamics of bacterial adhesion pili as a focus of study for alternatives to antibiotics, Ivana Solange Orellana Beltrán, from Universidad Mayor, Temuco (Chile), to Institut Pasteur, Montevideo (Uruguay).
6. Biophysical characterisation of new inhibitors of the Mpro enzyme of SARS-CoV-2, Sofía Carolina Jiménez Mármol, from Universidad de Las Américas, Quito (Ecuador), to Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City (Mexico).
7. Exploring the bacterial diversity within the gut microbiota of Latin American native bees, Leticia Loreley Castelli, from Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable, Montevideo (Uruguay), to The University of Puerto Rico, San Juan (Puerto Rico).