With the aim of improving Biotechnology capabilities in the Northeast region of the country, specialists from CONICET and the National University of the Northeast (UNNE), participate in a project with the Glycomedicine Laboratory of the Institute of Biology and Experimental Medicine (IBYME, CONICET). and the Rosario Institute of Biotechnological and Chemical Processes (IPROBYQ, CONICET – UNR). The initiative allows a group of six specialists from Chaco and Corrientes to participate in training and collaborative work with teams led by the prestigious CONICET researchers, Gabriel Rabinovich and Hugo Menzella.
This is a project that began in 2023 and was promoted by UNNE, together with science and technology organizations from the provinces of Chaco and Corrientes. Its main objective is to promote the development of Biotechnology as a key vector for productive development in the region.
CONICET researchers at the Institute of Basic and Applied Chemistry of Northeastern Argentina (IQUIBA – NEA, CONICET – UNNE), Juan Pablo Rodríguez and Luciano Fusco, participate in the project; the CONICET researcher at the Northeast Botany Institute (IBONE, CONICET – UNNE), Sebastián Samoluk; the CONICET researcher at the UNNE Institute of Regional Medicine, Javier Mussin; the CONICET researcher at the UNNE Institute of Ichthyology of the Northeast, Marcos Guidoli and the UNNE researcher at IQUIBA – NEA, Soledad Bustillo.
Through this project, specialists based in the NEA region—who have outstanding careers in different scientific lines—are participating in various training events. One of the first actions, which will allow participants to acquire and develop new skills in a short time, was carried out at the institute directed by Menzella, in which one of the members of the Northeast team, Soledad Bustillo, participated.
“For us it is very important to generate federal networks and advance jointly with Biotechnology issues, that is why together with Hugo Menzella we got involved and joined this project from the beginning. We want to build ties for a more federal biotechnology, which allows for more equitable development throughout the country,” said Rabinovich. In this sense, he highlighted that one of the members of his team in the Glycomedicine Laboratory, the CONICET researcher at IBYME, Juan Manuel Pérez Sáez, visited the Corrientes laboratories a few weeks ago to share work strategies with local researchers. which they use for the production of monoclonal antibodies and recombinant proteins. Soon, they are scheduled to receive the NEA teams at the IBYME.
“We seek to have experts with high potential to produce developments not only in our university but in the entire region of influence, contributing to our institutes becoming reference centers in training and technological assistance for this entire geographic area, which includes several provinces,” highlighted the Secretary of Science and Technology of the UNNE, Laura Leiva, one of the promoters of this project.
The team has already begun working on the synthesis of recombinant proteins and obtaining monoclonal antibodies. These methodologies, explain those responsible for the project, are tools of wide application, which allow obtaining scientific developments, such as drugs or industrial enzymes, which in many cases achieve their transfer to the productive sector.
