{"id":218273,"date":"2016-05-27T13:34:52","date_gmt":"2016-05-27T16:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/?p=218273"},"modified":"2016-05-27T13:34:52","modified_gmt":"2016-05-27T16:34:52","slug":"solutions-from-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/solutions-from-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Solutions from science"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"S\u00e3o

Eduardo Cesar<\/span>S\u00e3o Paulo symposium discussed potential applications of science to fields deemed strategicEduardo Cesar<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Researchers and representatives of public institutions and companies gathered at the Brazilian British Center in S\u00e3o Paulo for a marathon session of panels regarding the role of science in facing challenges in fields such as health, energy and the environment.\u00a0 Held December 2, 2015, the \u201cPaths of Science and Development\u201d symposium discussed potential applications of science.\u00a0 \u201cIn times of widespread crisis of confidence like the one we currently face, it\u2019s important to turn our attention to science in search of solutions,\u201d said Adriana Brondani, director of the Council for Information on Biotechnology (CIB), one of the event\u2019s hosts.\u00a0 Organized by the Elabora BioSolutions consulting firm, the symposium also received support from FAPESP, Pesquisa FAPESP<\/em> magazine and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).<\/p>\n

The first panel discussed scientific knowledge and development and included contributions from Jos\u00e9 Fernando Perez, president of Recepta Biopharma, a biotechnology company that focuses on potential cancer-fighting compounds, and Ladislau Martin Neto, director of R&D at Embrapa \u2013 the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation.\u00a0 Perez highlighted the importance of interactions between universities and companies.\u00a0 \u201cIt is through innovation that companies seek partnerships with a variety of universities and research institutes.\u00a0 This type of collaboration is needed so that these organizations can fulfill their role in society and generate new knowledge,\u201d he said.\u00a0 Martin Neto underscored the role of agribusiness within this context.\u00a0 \u201cIt is a strategic and competitive sector that requires automation in order to reduce costs and increase productivity,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

Invited to serve as moderator for this panel, FAPESP Scientific Director Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz noted that it is becoming increasingly common for scientists employed by companies to be engaged in conducting high impact research.\u00a0 According to him, the scenario has become more common in Brazil over the past two decades although the change has not diminished the role of the university.\u00a0 \u201cThere are different places in society in which advances are promoted to benefit the people.\u00a0 There are still many scientists who are making major discoveries at universities.\u00a0 At the same time, research activities are also being conducted in the private sector,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n

Another panel focused on the role of science in overcoming challenges related to the environment and quality of life.\u00a0 Andrew Simpson, a British biochemist who lives in Brazil, talked about advances in research at the Brazilian pharmaceutical firm Orygen on vaccines for fighting cancer.\u00a0 \u201cWe have a partnership with the Ludwig Institute as well as with research groups\u00a0 in Germany.\u00a0 Now we are looking for partnerships with hospitals in Brazil to begin clinical trials,\u201d Simpson said.\u00a0 In the field of genetics, Pamela Ronald, a researcher at the University of California, Davis, described some projects that have resulted in benefits for food production.\u00a0 She collaborated on studies that have led to a variety of flood-resistant transgenic rice, with triple the yield of normal rice.\u00a0 \u201cThe consensus of science is that these foods are safe.\u00a0 Use of certain genetically modified seeds has been able to greatly reduce the need for pesticides in the field,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

Economist Henrique Pacini, a representative of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) pointed to the importance of science in the field of renewable energy.\u00a0 \u201cThe greatest challenge of this sector is broadening access to modern energy.\u00a0 One strategy is by expanding the use of ethanol.\u00a0 This calls for countries to adopt incentive policies for biofuel production,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Event discusses paths for overcoming challenges in the different fields","protected":false},"author":421,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[166],"tags":[227,200],"coauthors":[740],"class_list":["post-218273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-policies-st-en","tag-energy","tag-environment"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/421"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218273\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218273"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=218273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}