Speakers

Michael van Dusen
Executive Vice Presidente of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars  

Michael van Dusen is Executive Vice President of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He has been a member of the Wilson Center’s staff since 1999. Prior to his time as the Wilson Center, Mr. Van Dusen worked for close to thirty years in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving as staff consultant and then staff director of the Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East of the Committee of Foreign Affairs, then Chief of Staff of the Committee on Foreign Affairs; and finally as Democratic Chief of Staff of the Committee on International Relations. He has been published in media outlets such as The Middle East Journal, Political Elites in the Middle East, the New York Times, The Middle East Journal, and the International Journal of the Middle East. Mr. Van Dusen holds a doctorate from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. 
 
 

Anthony Harrington 

Anthony S. Harrington, chairman of the WWICS Brazil Institute Advisory Board, has a background in business, law, and public service. He is President and CEO of the Albright Stonebridge Group, an international strategic advisory firm. A former U.S. Ambassador to Brazil, he also served as Chairman of the President’s Intelligence Oversight Board and Vice Chairman of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. He was previously a senior partner in the law firm of Hogan & Hartson and a founder and director of several companies in the communications industry. 

 

Celso Lafer
President of the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)

Celso Lafer is a full-professor at Universidade de São Paulo’s Law School, where he completed his degree (1960-1964) and has taught since 1971 (International Law and Jurisprudence). Mr. Lafer completed his graduate studies in Political Science at Cornell University in New York (M.A. 1967, PhD 1970). He served as the Brazilian Minister of Foreign Relations (1992 and 2001-2002) and in 1999, the Brazilian Minister of Development, Industry and Trade. From 1995 to 1998 he was the Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Brazil to the WTO, the UN and the specialized agencies in Geneva. At the WTO, he served as the Chairman of the Dispute Settlement Body (1966) and Chairman of the General Council (1997). Mr. Lafer is also a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and the Brazilian Academy of Letters. He took the helm of FAPESP in September 2007.


Cora B. Marrett
Deputy Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF)

Dr. Cora Marrett was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 26 to serve as Deputy Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Previously, Marrett served as the assistant director for NSF’s Education and Human Resources (EHR) directorate from 2007-2009. From 1992-1996, Marrett served as NSF’s assistant director for social, behavioral and economic sciences (SBE). Prior to returning to NSF in 2007, Marrett served as the University of Wisconsin’s senior vice president for academic affairs for six years. Marrett holds a B.A. from Virginia Union University, and MA and PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, all in sociology. She received an honorary doctorate from Wake Forest University in 1996, and was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1998 and the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1996.
 

Daniel Janies
Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics Department of College of Medicine at Ohio State University Medical Center
daniel.janies@osumc.edu
http://biomed.osu.edu/bmi/directory/faculty/janies

Dr. Janies’ current work is focused on hypotheses driven research and methods development in emergent infectious diseases, phylogenetics research for applied and natural sciences, and phenotype-genotype correlation studies. His planned activities include: expansion of our understanding of the tree of life (e.g., the evolution of echinoderms and their development), research on the evolution and spread of pathogens (e.g., Dengue virus), and ongoing efforts to increase international collaboration and data sharing (e.g., Influenza genomes, genetic data on regulatory biology of the grasses).


Paulo Sotero
Director of the Brazil Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Paulo Sotero Marques is the director of the Brazil Institute of the Woodrow Wilson Center. He began his career in his native São Paulo at Veja, in 1968, and worked for the magazine in São Paulo, Recife, Brasília, Paris. He was Veja’s correspondent in Lisbon for three years after Portugal’s democratic revolution of April 25, 1974. In the US since 1980, he was the Washington correspondent for Estado de S.Paulo from 1989 until he joined the Wilson Center in 2006. An adjunct lecturer of the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, Mr. Sotero holds a B.A. in History from Catholic University of Pernambuco and an M.A. in Journalism and Public Affairs from American University. 

 

Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz
Scientific Director at São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)
brito@fapesp.br

Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz holds a BSc in electronic engineering from ITA Instituto Tecnológico da Aeronáutica (Aeronautics Institute, 1978). Mr. Brito concluded his Master’s degree (1980) and PhD (1983) at the Gleb Wataghin Physics Institute of Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp). In 1981, he was a researcher at the Quantum Optics Laboratory of the Italo-Latin American Institute of Università Degli Studi in Rome. The following, he became an associate professor at Unicamp’s Physics Institute. He has worked as a visiting resident at AT&T Bell Laboratories in Holmdel, N.J. (1986-1987) and has been visiting scientist for three months at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ (1990). His research interests are ultra-fast lasers and ultra-short pulses, with emphasis on the study of electronic processes on a femtosecond timescale in optically non-linear materials, centered on application in optical communications. From 1991 - 1994, and again from 1998 - 2002, he served as director of Unicamp’s Gleb Wataghin Physics Institute. From 1994 to 1998, he was also dean of research at Unicamp. He has also served as vice-president of the Brazilian Physics Society and is a member of the International Advisory Committee for the Optical Society of America. In 2000, he became a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. Mr. Brito was FAPESP’s president from 1996 to 2002 and rector of Unicamp from April 2002 to April 2005. Currently, he is the president of Technology and Competitiveness at FIESP, the São Paulo State Federation of Industries. He has been the scientific director at FAPESP since April 2005.


Hugo Fragnito
Director of the National Institute of Photonics Science and Technology for Optical Communication (Fotonicom) and Director of the Optics and Photonics Research Center at Universidade Estadual de Campinas
hugo@ifi.unicamp.br
http://fotonicom.ifi.unicamp.br

Hugo Luis Fragnito obtained his PhD from Universidade Estadual de Campinas (1984), and was a visiting researcher at Università di Roma, Italy (1980-1981) and at Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, USA (1987-1989). He is full professor at Unicamp’s Gleb Wataghin Physics Institute, director of the National Institute of Photonics Science and Technology for Optical Communications (http://fotonicom.ifi.unicamp.br/), and director of Unicamp’s Optics and Photonics Research Center (www.ifi.unicamp.br/foton). His research interests include non-linear optical effects in waveguides, fiber-optic parametric devices, and advanced communications systems.

Abstract
THE OPTICS AND PHOTONICS RESEARCH CENTER AT UNICAMP

We present a brief description of the Optics and Photonics Research Center at Unicamp (CePOF-Unicamp), its main research facilities, and selected topics of current research in the fields optical fiber (conventional and micro-structured) fabrication, semiconductor devices nanofabrication, modeling of photonics devices, ultrafast optical phenomena, and optical communication (biophotonics is covered by Prof. Lenz).  We present also an overview of KyaTera, a dark fiber optical testbed in the state of Sao Paulo and that is one of the largest projects at our Center.   


Paulo Nussenzveig
Professor of Experimental Physics at the Physics Institute of Universidade de São Paulo
nussen@if.usp.br
http://fep.if.usp.br/~lmcal

Paulo Nussenzweig works in the field of experimental quantum optics and quantum information. In the past, he has worked in Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics (Cavity QED), investigating the interaction of light and matter at its most fundamental level, during his doctoral studies in Paris. He then began studying cold atoms and their interactions, before starting his own lab at the Universidade de São Paulo. His contributions include the first direct generation of three-color quantum entanglement among bright beams of light.

Abstract
MULTICOLOR QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT

Quantum mechanics allows for correlations stronger than any classical counterpart. At present, this is considered a valuable resource for future information technology. Quantum communications and quantum computing are viewed as challenging, but exciting perspectives. Different physical systems are under study to provide the necessary hardware. In order to exchange information among these systems, entangled light of different frequencies will be used. Our research group has pioneered the investigation of multicolor quantum entanglement. Indeed, recently we demonstrated three-color entanglement of bright beams of light. Our source of bright and colorful entangled light is the starting point of future quantum information networks.


Carlos Lenz Cesar
Full Professor at the Gleb Wataghin Physics Institute, Universidade Estadual de Campinas
lenz@ifi.unicamp.br

Carlos Lenz Cesar holds a Master’s in Physics (1977) and a PhD from the Gleb Wataghin Physics Institute of Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp, 1985). His post-doctoral experience includes work at AT&T Bell Laboratories (1988-1990). Mr. Cesar also holds two international and three national patents; has published 100 papers in technical and scientific journals; and has received 1186 citations in scientific literature. As a professor, he has supervised six PhD theses and 13 MSc dissertations. Mr. Cesar’s main line of research is in the field of photonics and biophotonics, working with non-linear Ultrafast Optics, Quantum Dots, Optical Fibers, Non-linear Optics Microscopy and Optical Tweezers. He developed the first 120 fs color center laser in 1990 and produced the first PbTe quantum dot in 1995. He is also responsible for developing the first Optical Tweezers, SHG/THG, FLIM and CARS images acquisition in Brazil. His main goal at the moment is to integrate all photonic microscopies in one instrument to allow simultaneous acquisition of images during cell processes.

Abstract
TOTALLY INTEGRATED LINEAR AND NON-LINEAR OPTICS MULTIMODAL MICROSCOPY PLATFORM TO UNDERSTAND SINGLE CELL PROCESSES

A process is a sequence of events in time in which the order of events matters and can lead to different results. Cell biology relies upon spatial and time-organized events where biochemistry and biomechanics play important roles. In order to understand cell biology function, it is necessary to use tools offering real time non-destructive observations in space and time. This shows the importance of one integrated multimodal platform capable of gathering all available information during each one-cell process, instead of sequential observations that require the cell process to be restarted at each modality imaging. All tools must be integrated in one instrument capable of acquiring images simultaneously.
We are setting up a totally integrated multimodal instrument that includes the following microscopy techniques: multi/single photon spectral confocal, Coherent AntiStokes Raman Scattering (CARS), Second/Third Harmonic Generation (SHG/THG), Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging (FLIM) and Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS). In a matter of 1-2 months we will include confocal Micro-Raman spectroscopy; Multiple Optical Tweezers/Laser Microdissection and, finally, a tip-enhancement/Atomic Force Microscopy near field optical microscopy. Optical Tweezers and tip-enhancement/AFM are somewhat different from the other techniques because these allow direct interference on the cell processes, and not only observation. They also allow for performance bio-mechanical measurements, while near field allowed us to perform super resolution 10-20 nm spatial resolution microscopy.
We will describe the installation this system and provide examples of the use of this multimodal integrated tool. This platform is not only available for the life-science research community, but is also being used to accelerate the learning curve on how to use all these techniques to extract the most relevant dynamic cell biology information.


Vanderlei Bagnato
Full professor at the Physics Department of Universidade de São Paulo and coordinator of the Center for Research in Optics and Photonics
vander@ifsc.usp.br
http://cepof.ifsc.usp.br

Vanderlei Bagnato completed his BSc in 1981 with a double major in Material Science Engineering (Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Brazil) and Physics (Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil). He also holds a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1987) and became a full professor at Universidade de São Paulo (USP) in 1993. Mr. Bagnato’s scientific research activities are focused on laser cooling and trapping of neutral atoms and biophotonics applications and fundaments. He is presently working on Bose-Einstein, Time and Frequency Metrology and Photo-Dynamic-Therapy for the treatment and diagnostic of cancer. A strong relation between basic research and industry is one of the characteristics of his work, resulting in the implementation of high technology industries in the field of optics. Science diffusion and dissemination is also among his activities. Mr. Bagnato has published over 300 papers with more than 3,000 citations. As a professor, he has supervised more than 50 graduate students in research. He is currently the coordinator of USP’s Center for Research in Optics and Photonics - FAPESP.

Abstract
TURBULENCE IN ATOMIC QUANTUM FLUIDS

Besides the existent variety of techniques to generate vortices, new techniques can always provide new and exciting ways to explore this topic. In this work, we present a new technique to nucleate vortices in a BEC, where an oscillating field generated by a set of coils is superimposed to the trapping field creating displacement, rotation and deformation of the trap potential. As a function of the amplitude of oscillation of the external magnetic field, we observe several different behaviors of the condensate cloud allowing the construction of a diagram for stable structures. For small amplitudes, the condensate oscillates its axis in a banding mode. Increasing the amplitude, we observe the formation of one, two, three or more vortices in the cloud. Above certain amplitude of oscillation, we observe uncountable vortices in every direction, producing a tangled vortex configuration which can be considered the emergence of a turbulent regime in the cloud. At the same time, in a few special configurations, a three vortex/anti-vortex cluster seems to be observed. Variations of behavior during TOF for the cloud may be a signature of the turbulent regime. Finally in extreme conditions of oscillation, a fragmentation of the cloud is observed. Analysis involving the fragmentation of the quantum atomic fluid due to the presence of oscillation is presented through an analogy involving time oscillation and random spatial field.


Michal Lipson
Associate Professor at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell University, Ithaca NY
lipson@ece.cornell.edu
http://people.ece.cornell.edu/lipson

Michal Lipson is an Associate Professor at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell University, Ithaca NY. Her research focuses on novel on-chip Nanophotonics devices. She holds numerous patents on novel micron-size photonic structures for light manipulation, and is the author of over 100 technical papers in journals in Physics and Optics. She has pioneered several of the critical building blocks for silicon photonics including the GHz silicon modulators. Professor Lipson’s honors and awards include OSA Fellow, IBM Faculty Award, and NSF Early Career Award. Dr. Lipson received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D from the Israeli Institute of Technology.

Abstract
THE REVOLUTION OF SILICON PHOTONICS

Photonics on chip could enable a platform for monolithic integration of optics and microelectronics for applications of optical interconnects in which high data streams are required in a small footprint. This approach could alleviate some of the current bottlenecks in traditional microelectronics. In this talk I will review the challenges and achievement in the field of Silicon Nanophotonics and present our recent results. Using highly confined photonic structures, we have demonstrated the critical ultra-compact passive and active silicon photonic components for large on-chip networks. I will also discuss our on-going collaboration in the past 5 years with researchers in Sao Paulo including a field test work of these novel nanophotonic devices demonstrating high performance over tens of km.


Ricardo Brentani
President of the Board of Directors at the FAPESP and president at Hospital AC Camargo
rbrentani@accamargo.org.br
http://www.accamargo.org.br

Ricardo Brentani is president of the Board of Directors at the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) and also of the Board of Directors at Hospital AC Camargo. He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Science, the Brazilian National Academy of Medicine and the American Association for Cancer Research. Mr. Brentani’s particular field of research interest is in cellular prion protein physiology and oncogenomics. He has published over 170 research publications, including seminal works in Science (1985) and Nature (1997).
 

Thomas E. Lovejoy
University Professor at George Mason University
tlovejoy@gmu.edu

Thomas E. Lovejoy is a University Professor at George Mason University. He also holds
the Biodiversity Chair at the Heinz Center, where he had previously served as President from 2002-2008. Before coming to The Heinz Center, Dr. Lovejoy was the World Bank’s Chief Biodiversity Advisor and Lead Specialist for Environment for Latin America and the Caribbean and Senior Advisor to the President of the United Nations Foundation. Dr. Lovejoy has been Assistant Secretary and Counselor to the Secretary at the Smithsonian Institution, Science Advisor to the Secretary of the Interior, and Executive Vice President of the World Wildlife Fund–U.S. In 2001 he was awarded the prestigious Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. (Biology) from Yale University.


CLIMATE CHANGE, BIODIVERSITY, AND THE AMAZON

Reynaldo L. Victoria
Full professor at the Center for Nuclear Energy Applied to Agriculture (CENA) at Universidade de São Paulo and coordinator of the Fapesp Research Program on Global Climate Change
reynaldo.victoria@gmail.com
www.cena.usp.br

Reynaldo L. Victoria holds a BSc in Agronomic Engineering from Luiz de Queiroz Agriculture School at Universidade de São Paulo (USP-ESALQ, 1972), an MSc in Nuclear Energy Applied to Agriculture (CENA-USP, 1975) and a PhD in Soils and Plant Nutrition (ESALQ/USP 1980). Mr. Victoria did his specialization in the Use of Isotopes in Agricultural and Environmental Research at the University of Saskatchewan (Canada, 1976-1977) and his postdoctorate at the University of California-Davis (U.S.A, 1982). He was a visiting fellow at the School of Oceanography, University of Washington in Seattle (U.S.A., 1992-1993) and interim science officer for the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (2000). He also served as the director of the Center for Nuclear Energy Applied to Agriculture (CENA-USP, 2002-2005), where he is full professor (Isotope Ecology - CENA/USP). He was named a Commander of the National Order of Scientific Merit (Comendador da Ordem Nacional do Mérito Científico) in 2002 and is a full member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences in the area of Earth Sciences (2009).

Abstract
THE FAPESP RESEARCH PROGRAM ON GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

In 2008, the FAPESP Research Program on Global Climate Change (RPGCC) was launched with the objective of further advancing knowledge of the consequences of global climate and environmental changes at the state and national levels. Since 2008, FAPESP has invested more than US$ 30 million on research on the subject.

The program now has 21 projects that will last up to six years. One of the Global Climate Change program’s major goals is to implement a Brazilian Model of the Global Climate System, giving emphasis to regional interests such as the Amazon and the South Atlantic.

The RPGCC considers proposals for research which fall within the scope of the following areas:
a) Consequences of global climate change in the functioning of ecosystems, with emphasis on biodiversity and the water, carbon and nitrogen cycles.
b) Balance of radiation in the atmosphere, aerosols, trace gases and changes in land uses.
c) Global climate change and agriculture and livestock farming.
d) Energy and greenhouse gas effects: emissions and mitigation.
e) Climate change and effects on human health.
f) Human dimensions of global climatic changes: impacts, vulnerabilities and social and economic responses, including adaptation to the climate changes.


Gilberto Câmara
General Director of Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE)
gilberto.camara@inpe.br
www.dpi.inpe.br/gilberto

Gilberto Câmara is the general director of the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) for the 200-2012 period and leader of INPE’s research group on Geoinformatics, Spatial Databases, and Environmental Modelling. Mr. Câmara is a professor in INPE’s graduate programs in Earth System and Computer Sciences. As a professor, he has advised 17 PhD and 21 Master’s students. He has published more than 100 papers in referenced conferences and journals, which have been cited more than 4,000 times.

Abstract
LAND CHANGE AND HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIONS IN AMAZONIA: INTEGRATIVE MODELLING APPROACHES

The talk will describe recent research done at Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) on the development of computational and analytical methods for modelling the interaction between society and nature in Amazonia. The Amazonia tropical forest is one of the world’s most diverse environments and has important contributions to the global carbon budget and to the global climate balance. In the last 20 years, Amazonia has been subject of major changes resulting from human actions. It is thus an important place for studying the interactions between the natural and social environments.

This talk will describe three research initiatives:
• Development of methods to represent and extract information from spatiotemporal data associated to land change in Amazonia.
• Development of computational methods that can represent institutional arrangements to assess and predict land changes in Amazonia.
• Assessment of the institutional arrangements in Amazonia as to their contribution to deforestation and their suitability for a possible REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) regime.


Robert O. Green
Senior Research Scientist at the Imaging Spectroscopy Department of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at California Institute of Technology
robert.o.green@jpl.nasa.gov
http://jpl.nasa.gov

Robert Green research area is environmental imaging spectroscopy (Earth and Planetary) with a focus on model based quantitative spectroscopic inversions as well as measurement calibration and validation. As a JPL Senior Research Scientist, he is the experiment scientist for the NASA AVIRIS airborne imaging spectrometer, co-investigator on the CRISM imaging spectrometer for Mars, the Instrument Scientist for the M3 imaging spectrometer for the Moon, and Project Scientist for AVIRIS Next Generation, CAO-VSWIR and NEON-DVU. Robert is also co-lead for the NASA Earth Decadal Survey Mission HyspIRI that includes a global coverage imaging spectrometer aimed at a suite of science and science application objectives including understanding the role of ecosystem feedback in climate change and ecosystem impact, adaptation and vulnerability in the presence of climate change.

Abstract
MEASUREMENT OF THE EARTH’S TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS FROM SPACE: CONCEPT FOR A 21ST CENTURY GLOBAL BIOCHEMISTRY AND BIODIVERSITY MISSION

There are a limited number of observables available to Earth orbiting remote measurement missions. High fidelity imaging spectroscopy in the solar reflected spectrum uniquely provides direct access to a range of critical biochemistry and biophysical properties of terrestrial vegetation. Global imaging spectroscopy of Earth from space is only now enabled by technology of the 21st century. This spectroscopically derived information enables new science and science applications not currently possible at the local, regional and global scale. Examples of key unanswered ecosystem questions critical to the tropics and other latitudes are:
 
• How does the geography of the terrestrial ecosystem composition, function and canopy chemistry control and influence the biospheric feedback to climate change?
• What is the relative importance of the major contributors – including changes in vegetation growth and mortality, distributions of plant functional types, and vegetation disturbance – to the global biospheric feedback?
• What are the dominant vulnerabilities, impacts, and adaptation pathways of terrestrial ecosystems globally in the presence of climate change?

The full suite of Earth science and science applications addressable with imaging spectroscopy measurements span the disciplines of geology, ecology, inland waters, agriculture, soil science, coastal
oceanography, biomass burning, urban studies, the atmosphere, and others. This mission concept is uniquely positioned to be the first global imaging spectrometer and first to have the global science and science applications impact across the full set of relevant research areas.


Carlos Joly
Full professor in Plant Ecology at Universidade Estadual de Campinas
cjoly@unicamp.br

Carlos A. Joly hold a BSc in Biology from Universidade de São Paulo (1976), an MSc in Plant Biology from Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp,1979) and a PhD in Botany from University of St. Andrews (U.K., 1982). He became a full professor in Plant Ecology at Unicamp in 1998. Mr. Joly has been a fellow of the Brazilian Academy of Science since 2009. His main areas of research are Plant Ecophysiology and Biodiversity Conservation, with a special interest in the structure and functioning of the Atlantic Rainforest.

Abstract
BIOTA + 10: A SUCCESSFUL EXPERIENCE IN COMBINING BIODIVERSITY RESEARCH, PERSONNEL TRAINING, BIOPROSPECTION AND PUBLIC-POLICY IMPACT, IN SAO PAULO, BRAZIL

BIOTA-FAPESP, the Virtual Diversity Institute (www.biota.org.br), is an ongoing research program in the State of São Paulo, Brazil, that may be a useful example of how to translate knowledge into public policies and bridge the gap between scientists and policy makers. Although better known for its economic development, producing 1/3 of Brazil’s GDP, 40% of the country’s exports and hosting 1/5 of its population (≈ 42 million inhabitants in an area similar to the U.K. in size), the State of São Paulo is also extremely rich in terms of species diversity (for example, it hosts at least 7,200 species of Phanerogams).

Between 2006 and 2008, BIOTA-FAPESP researchers made a concerted effort to synthesize data for use in public-policy-making. Scientists worked with the State Environment Secretary and NGOs to produce two synthesis maps, identifying priority areas for biodiversity conservation and restoration based on more than 151,000 records of 9,405 species, as well as landscape structural parameters and biological indices from over 92,000 fragments of native vegetation. These maps and a book offering detailed information were adopted by the São Paulo state government to improve and/or create new legislation, including new protected areas, the agro-ecological zoning of sugarcane expansion and the list of 180 native tree species to be used in gallery forest restoration. There are now 19 legal instruments that quote the BIOTA-FAPESP guidelines.

Considering these results, together with the high productivity of papers published (> 900) and human resources trained (169 MSc, 108 PhD and 79 Pos Docs) over 10 years, in 2009 the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) renewed its US$ 2.5 million to US$ 3 million funding for another 10 years with a view to prolonging and enhancing the rewards of a coordinated research investment that combines biodiversity research, personnel training, bioprospection and public-policy impact.  
 
 

Humberto R. Rocha
Full professor at the Atmospheric Sciences Department of Universidade de São Paulo
humberto@model.iag.usp.br
www.dca.iag.usp.br/www/material/humberto/index.php

Humberto Rocha is a full professor in the Atmospheric Sciences Department at Universidade de São Paulo (USP). His research focuses on understanding the environmental services of Brazilian ecosystems, with an emphasis on the water and carbon cycles, productivity, flood control, water production, and the relationships with biodiversity and oscillations of climate. He coordinates the USP’s Climate and Biosphere Laboratory, which conducts field observations through flux towers and wi-fi networks, and numerical modelling of ecosystem functionality with the help of bright students and a multidisciplinary inter-institutional partnership.

Abstract
STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES WITH TECHNOLOGICAL TOOLS TO HELP DECISION MAKING

The patterns of the water and carbon cycles help to describe ecosystem functionality, which depends on the biotic structure of communities and organisms and their relationships with the climate. Such patterns compose a number of ecosystem services and are affected especially by disruptions caused by land use changes and climate oscillations. For example, stream flow, flood control, water availability for agriculture, water quality in urban areas, habitat quality and rarity, and carbon sequestration are amongst the key environmental services.

We have tested a suite of technological tools, which include field observations and numerical modelling of water and carbon budgets over native and agricultural ecosystems in Brazil to help in assessing regional environmental services. With the purpose of helping in decision-making processes and the consolidation of public policies, we tested the components of a scientifically defensible problem-solving tool to assess where and how, for example, policies of conservation and adaptation to climate change can be tackled in critical areas. Our case included investigations ranging across hot spot Brazilian ecosystems from Atlantic Forest and Cerrado, to the Amazonian tropical forest and over agricultural systems (sugarcane and eucalyptus). We run flux towers to measure the long-term hydroclimatology (weather elements, evapotranspiration, CO2 flux, soil moisture, water table and discharge), to calibrate physical biosphere models connected to continuous-time and distributed basin scale river models, and also deployed a wireless sensor network in dense humid forest environments to assess the feasibility of collecting large data streams and the ability to survey hydroecological phenomena at other spatial scales.

Model simulations prescribed by different land cover classes, and also forced with changes in temperature and rainfall based on the IPCC scenarios, showed substantial changes in the hydrological regime, which included the peak daily hydrographs and the minimum seasonal discharge. 

 

Paulo Artaxo
Professor of Physics at the Physics Institute of Universidade de São Paulo
artaxo@if.usp.br
www.if.usp.br

Paulo Artaxo is an expert on environmental physics, particularly on the climatic effects of aerosol particles in Amazonia. His research includes the microphysics of cloud
droplets, effects of aerosol particles on the radiation budget, and other issues relevant to the Amazonian ecosystem. He also works on urban air pollution, studying the effects of vehicular emissions on the urban climate and its impacts.

Abstract
THE CHANGING ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION IN AMAZONIA

The Amazonian environment is a very dynamic system and we need to understand the main process governing the functioning of the complex Amazonian environment. The carbon balance, atmospheric composition changes, radiation balance, changes in the aquatic ecosystems, climate feedback etc. are among the key issues that are being addressed recently. In particular, aerosol particles are a critical ingredient in the functioning of Amazonian ecosystem. It controls cloud properties, radiative balance, nutrient cycling and other important ecosystem functions. In terms of radiative forcing, aerosols from biomass burning can provide a negative forcing average of -38 watts/m2. This is a very high atmospheric forcing, and has important impacts on carbon uptake by the ecosystem. Aerosols increase the diffuse radiation and plants enter photosynthesis more efficiently in forests with a larger fraction of diffuse radiation. Aerosols from biomass burning also make efficient cloud condensation nuclei that could alter microphysics very significantly.

We observed a 25% to 60% increase in cloud cover when aerosol loading increases due to biomass burning emissions. These changes in cloud cover and cloud microphysics have important links to the hydrological cycle. The droughts of 2005 and 2010 in Amazonia show that the system is quite sensitive to changes in precipitation rate, strongly affecting carbon uptake by the forest. The changes in aerosol particle sources,
from natural biogenic aerosol particles and biomass burning emissions are important because of the
change in cloud condensation nuclei population that affects cloud microphysics. 

 

Ana Carnaval
Assistant Professor of the Biology Department at the City University of New York (CUNY)
acarnaval@ccny.cuny.edu
www.sci.ccny.cuny.edu/biology/Carnaval/Carnaval_Lab/Welcome.html

Ana is interested in spatial patterns of biodiversity and their underlying evolutionary and ecological processes, with the explicit aim of improving biodiversity prediction and conservation in tropical regions. Her lab focuses on biogeography, comparative phylogeography, GIS-based distribution models, current environmental data and paleoclimatic simulations, and the impacts of global anthropogenic changes and host-pathogen interactions on amphibian diversity. Ongoing collaborative projects are mainly devoted to understanding how biological responses to Late Quaternary climate change impacted current biodiversity patterns in lowland and high-elevation areas of the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest.

Abstract
EVOLUTIONARY BIOGEOGRAPHY AND BIODIVERSITY PREDICTION IN THE ATLANTIC FOREST HOTSPOT: AN EXAMPLE OF A SUCCESSFUL BRAZIL-US PARTNERSHIP

Scientific partnerships between Brazil and the US are significantly advancing biodiversity research in South America. Here, I describe our recent findings on biological responses to Late Quaternary climate change in the Atlantic rainforest hotspot. Thanks to a concerted effort, CUNY, UC Berkeley, USP, UNESP, and UFBA biology labs have been conducting joint field trips, integrated lab work, cross-institutional workshops, and collaborative write-ups. As a result of this work, which combines the tools of climate-based species distribution models, paleoclimatic reconstructions, and comparative phylogeography, we have proposed and validated a novel evolutionary biogeographical hypothesis that explains current diversity patterns in several widespread taxa in the Atlantic forest lowland and mid-altitude regions. This hypothesis, now referred to as the “Carnaval-Moritz model”, postulates higher Late Quaternary climatic stability in the northern portion of the forest relative to the south. As a corollary, high levels of narrow endemism are predicted for lowland and mid-altitude species in the north, which not only suffer from higher anthropogenic threat, but have been significantly less studied relative to those in the southern states. New field data confirm predictions and document several new species in northern Minas Gerais and Bahia. We are now extending the approach to high-elevation areas of the biome, with the explicit goal of improving prediction of narrow montane endemics in the Atlantic forest. Our preliminary data suggest that the Last Glacial Maximum did not impact cold-adapted forms as much as they affected Brazil’s coastal lowland taxa, and that the southern mountains, unlike southern lowland forests, were climatically stable in recent history. 

 

John Wenzel
Director of the Center for Biodiversity and Ecosystems at Carnegie Museum of Natural History
wenzelj@carnegiemnh.org
www.carnegiemnh.org/powdermill/index.html

John Wenzel was Professor at The Ohio State University for 17 years, where he served as Director of the OSU Museum of Biological Diversity, before joining the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in 2011. His expertise is the evolution of complex behavior in insects, particularly ants, bees, and wasps. He was a pioneer in the modern use of behavioral characteristics in phylogenetic analysis. He initiated the popular Phylogenetics Workshop taught at UNESP Rio Preto, now in its fourth year.

Abstract
GROWTH OF PHYLOGENETIC SYSTEMATICS IN BRAZIL, AND IT SIGNIFICANCE TO STUDIES OF BIODIVERSITY

Phylogenetic systematics is a critical foundation for all studies of biodiversity. Because of its particularly rich nature, Brazil has challenged taxonomists and systematists for more than 200 years. As the sophistication of the community of systematists developed in Brazil, so did concepts of biodiversity. It is easy to recognize that good taxonomy must precede any measures of biodiversity, but the relationship is much deeper than the need to name species. Phylogenetic perspectives change concepts of diversity greatly from simple indices that are popular with ecologists because biodiversity includes historical dimensions not described by information theory. The fundamental concept of endemism, and areas of endemism, all rely implicitly on a phylogenetic perspective. Recent proposals of evolutionary “hot spots” often have curious features, such as that the central Amazon is not listed, because numbers of species per se is not what we are most interested in when evaluating biodiversity.
 

Marie Anne van Sluys
Full professor at the Botany Department of Universidade de São Paulo and director of the GaTE lab
mavsluys@usp.br or mavsluys@gmail.com
https://gate.ib.usp.br/GateWeb

Marie Anne Van Sluys’ research work has shed light to some interesting questions in the area of DNA repair, transposition and regulatory networks. Transposition of Ac element, first described by B McClintock, undergo cycles of activity and inactivity. Dr Van Sluys work on Arabidopsis thaliana not only demonstrated that the element was active in heterologous systems but was the first to demonstrate that specific DNA methylation was targeted to the element and was directly involved in the cycling of activation/inactivation. Her work on genomics and transposable elements contributed to unravel the association of these moving units with genomic islands that define species and pathotypes in Xanthomonas. Her approach in eukaryotes studies their association to plant speciation using solanaceae and sugarcane as model systems.

Abstract
NOISE OR SYMPHONY: HOW TO MAKE SENSE OF TRANSPOSABLE ELEMENTS

Repetitive sequences are integral components of all genomes and have differing levels of amplification. Among these repetitive sequences, transposable elements (TEs) are by far the most highly represented in plant genomes. Recent studies have posited that TEs may contribute to the structure of regulatory networks. We have addressed this question using two distinct plant models: solanaceae and sugarcane. While in the first model we have direct functional evidence, in sugarcane a description of the TE landscape is first required. BAC based sequence of the sugarcane genome supports the hypothesis that TEs are responsible for the increase in genome size in comparison to sorghum. Both Ty1/Copia and Ty3/Gypsy are well represented moreover FISH analysis shows that each lineage has its own territorial footprint. Expressed elements can be found in heterochromatic and euchromatic regions, within introns, intergenic regions or capturing exons. Leaf derived 21 and 24 nt smRNAs were mapped onto sequenced BACs defining clusters of TEs, structural rDNA and expressed genes, suggesting that these regions are marked by methylation or targeted for post transcriptional inactivation. Distribution of 21 and/or 24 nt smRNA is specific to each TE even within a single lineage. Sugarcane is a hybrid polyploid genome and understanding allelic variation is fundamental to breeding selection, but also to our understanding of evolutionary diversity. In summary, our approach aims to provide tools for distinguishing noise from key speciation events so that sugarcane specific hierarchical regulatory network arrangements can be identified. 
 
 

Paulo Arruda
Professor at the Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering Center of Universidade Estadual de Campinas
parruda@unicamp.br

Paulo Arruda’s main research interests are directed towards understanding the regulation of gene expression in plants and its impact on plant growth, development and metabolism. He has contributed to understanding amino acid and storage protein metabolism in maize seeds and the plant response to biotic and abiotic stresses. He is also interested in sugarcane genomics and biotechnology.

Abstract
FROM GENOMIC SCIENCE TO A BIOTECHNOLOGY STARTUP: THE ALELLYX EXPERIENCE

Genomic Science was introduced in Brazil in 1997 when FAPESP launched the genome program aiming to sequence the genome of plant pathogenic bacteria. A network of 25 labs sequenced the complete genome of the citrus pathogen Xylella fastidiosa and soon thereafter the network was expanded to sequence other plant bacterial pathogen and to unravel the transcriptome of sugarcane and eucalyptus. The expertise in genomic science created in São Paulo attracted the attention of investors. In late 2002, a group of five scientists from the three São Paulo state universities created the startup ag-biotech company Allelyx Applied Genomics. Alellyx developed a platform for gene discovery focusing on increasing biomass yield of sugarcane and eucalyptus and develop citrus plants resistant to bacterial diseases. Genes involved in increased sugarcane biomass and boosting cellulose production in trees showed their proof of concept in sugarcane and model plants. The experience of creating a biotech company by university scientists and the problems and opportunities of plant biotechnology in Brazil will be discussed. 
 
 

Erich Grotewold
Director of the Center for Applied Plant Sciences at Ohio State University
grotewold.1@osu.edu
www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/pcmb/osu_pcmb/faculty_sites/Erich/index.html

Dr. Grotewold’s research focuses on the plant systems biology, primarily in understanding the control of gene expression in plants, establishing the architecture of plant gene regulatory networks, using transcription factors to manipulate plant metabolism and studying the transport of phytochemicals. Dr. Grotewold is the Director of the newly established Center for Applied Plant Sciences at OSU, and also the Director of the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center (ABRC).

Abstract
FROM PLANT SYSTEMS BIOLOGY TO RENEWABLE FUELS

Establishing the architecture of gene regulatory networks and linking system components to agronomic traits is an emerging theme in plant systems biology. Our laboratory focuses on developmental pathways, as well as on metabolic routes leading to the formation of various phenolic compounds. We combine second generation sequencing methods with a number of high-throughput approaches to identify the genes that specific transcription factors regulate, furnishing valuable tools for rational metabolic engineering. In the reference plant Arabidopsis, we have concentrated on the identification of gene regulatory circuits responsible for epidermal cell differentiation [1-5]. In maize, we have identified novel phenylpropanoid regulators that can activate or repress genes in the lignin pathway [6]. Research in our lab is complemented by the development of two public databases, AGRIS (http://arabidopsis.med.ohio-state.edu/) for Arabidopsis [7] and GRASSIUS (www.grassius.org) for maize and other grasses [8], containing information on transcription factors, promoters and their interactions, facilitating the identification and visualization of gene regulatory networks. Funding in the Grotewold laboratory on gene regulatory networks is provided by NSF DBI-0701405. 
 
 

Glaucia Souza
Coordinator of the FAPESP Program for Research on Bioenergy (BIOEN) and the Chemistry Institute at Universidade de São Paulo
glmsouza@iq.usp.br
http://bioenfapesp.org

Glaucia Souza is a professor at the Universidade de São Paulo’s Chemistry Institute and coordinates the FAPESP Program for Research on Bioenergy (BIOEN). Her group develops biotechnological tools to alter carbon partitioning, increase sucrose content, increase yield and develop drought-tolerant plants. Her research focuses on sugarcane genome sequencing, transcriptome analysis, transgenic plants and gene networks. Dr. Souza is developing the SUCEST-FUN Database for the integration of agronomic and molecular data for sugarcane (http://sucest-fun.org).

Abstract
FAPESP PROGRAM FOR RESEARCH ON BIOENERGY (BIOEN)

The BIOEN Program aims to integrate comprehensive research on sugarcane and other plants that can be used as biofuel sources, thus assuring Brazil’s position among the leaders in the area of bioenergy.
Research includes everything from biomass production and processing to biofuel production and its impacts. The BIOEN Program is built on a solid core of academic exploratory research. It is expected that these exploratory activities will generate new knowledge and the human resources essential for advancing industry capacity in ethanol related technologies. FAPESP establishes partnerships with industry for cooperative R&D activities between industrial and academic laboratories, which are to be co-funded by FAPESP and industry. For these collaborations, themes are specified according to the interest of the private partners and to FAPESP’s commitment to fostering research in the State of São Paulo. Other research agencies in Brazil and abroad participate in the program through partnerships. The program has 59 projects underway at 34 institutions in the State of São Paulo in collaboration with other institutions in Brazil and in 13 countries. The program has five divisions: Biomass (research with focus on sugarcane, including plant improvement, breeding, biotechnology and farming); Biofuel Technologies (industrial technologies for first, second and third generation biofuels); Biorefineries (sugarchemistry, alcohol chemistry, oil chemistry and synthetic biology); Engines (ethanol applications for motor vehicles, otto cycle engines and fuel cells); and Impacts (social, economic and environmental, sustainability aspects). Overall the program is being led by over 300 researchers. (http://bioenfapesp.org). 
 
 

Andre Meloni Nassar
General director of the Institute ofTrade and International Negotiations Studies (Icone) and a member of the coordination team for FAPESP’s Research Program on Bioenergy

Andre Meloni Nassar holds a degree in agronomic engineering from the Luis de Queiroz School of Agriculture at Universidade de São Paulo (USP), and a PhD in Economics with a Specialization in International Business from the USP’s Applied Economics School (FEA/USP). He was also a visiting research at Georgetown University in the United States. Mr Nassr has been the general director of the Institute of Trade and International Negotiations Studies (Icone) since 2007.
He has 16 years of experience working for private sector companies, sector associations, research institutes, international organizations and as a private consultant on activities and projects related to different sectors of agribusiness. He was coordinator or lead analyst on several projects, including many sponsored by international organizations and foundations like FAPESP (one project), the World Bank (three projects), Inter-American Development Bank (one project), the Multilateral Investment Fund (one project), the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (two projects), International Food and Policy Research Institute (one project), International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (four projects), Rabobank International (one project) and the British Embassy (one project). He has broad knowledge and experience in modeling and development of quantitative tools to analyze and project trade, supply, demand and land use for agricultural and biofuel commodities. 
 
 

Carlos Calmanovici
Director of ETH Bioenergia

Carlos Eduardo Calmanovici holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering from the Poly­technic School of Universidade de São Paulo, a Master’s from Universidade Federal de São Carlos and a PhD from Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse (France) in Process Engineering. Mr. Calmanovici has been a researcher at IPT and held different executive positions in the technology and innovation area at Rhodia and Oxiteno. Working in the Odebrecht organization since 2007, he has lead innovation and technology teams at Braskem in vinyl, polyolefin and the corporate area. In 2010 he joined ETH Bioenergy, responsible for the innovation and technology area. Calmanovici is part of the Editorial Board of the Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering, is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Brazilian Association of Chemical Engineering and president of National Association of Research and Development in Innovative Companies.

Abstract
BUILDING AN R&D PROGRAM FOR BIOENERGY PRODUCTION FROM SUGARCANE IN BRAZIL

ETH Bioenergia is a new player in the bioenergy space. Starting operations in 2007, ETH represents 9 sugarcane mills, 7 of which are “greenfield” projects in the Center-West region of Brazil dedicated to the production of Ethanol, Crystal Sugar and Power. The recently created Innovation & Technology Area articulates ETH’s R&D initiatives according to a stage-gate methodology program. ETH initiatives follow an Open Innovation approach encouraging external partners to bring new Technologies and different solutions to the Brazilian Bioenergy sector. 

ETH R&D program is three folds:
• Agricultural technologies for new frontier environments
• Industrial technologies for Biorefinery concept
• New technology platforms including new products

The main initiative concerning agricultural technologies is the regional development of sugarcane varieties adapted to local edapho-climatic conditions. Working together with established Sugarcane Breeding Programs (Genetic Improvement) it is possible to speed up the development of new varieties in 2 or 3 years with higher probability of success. For the industrial operations, ETH is focusing an overall integrated simulation tool in order to optimize energy and mass balances and to allow optimum integration with new production facilities as for the biorefinery concept. Within the fermentation process, yeast cells responsible to convert sugarcane juice to bioethanol are often exposed to severe stresses as prolonged cell recycling, ethanol toxicity, and osmotic, oxidative, and temperature stresses. Several indigenous yeast strains have been isolated in Brazil that combine excellent adaptation to this hostile environment and high performance in bioethanol fermentation due to their heterogeneous genome architectures. By adopting genetic manipulation strategies preliminary results indicate that it is possible to create new yeast strains that are much more likely to succeed in large scale industrial applications. Finally, considering new technology opportunities from sugarcane, ETH established a roadmap with more than 100 possibilities which was further reduced to eight opportunities by means of appropriate filters. ETH is now deep diving these opportunities to select the ones that show a better fit with the strategy of the company. 
 
 

Lee Lynd
Professor of Engineering and an Adjunct Professor of Biology and of Earth Science at Dartmouth College; Professor Extraordinary of Microbiology at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, and Director and Chief Scientific Officer of Mascoma Corporation
lee.lynd@dartmouth.edu

Lee Lynd is a Professor of Engineering and an Adjunct Professor of Biology and of Earth Science at Dartmouth College; Professor Extraordinary of Microbiology at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, and Director and Chief Scientific Officer of Mascoma Corporation, a biomass energy start-up he co-founded. He has been a member of the Dartmouth Faculty since 1987. Dr. Lynd holds a B.S. in biology from Bates College, an M.S. in bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin, and masters and doctoral degrees in engineering from Dartmouth College. Professor Lynd is an expert on utilization of plant biomass for production of energy. His contributions span the science, technology, and policy domains, and include leading research on fundamental and biotechnological aspects of microbial cellulose utilization 

Abstract
BIOFUELS, SUSTAINABILITY, AND BRAZIL


Fernanda Gandara
Senior Vice President of Business Development at Synthetic Genomics Inc.

Ms. Fernanda Gandara is the Senior Vice President of Business Development at Synthetic Genomics Inc., a company which seeks genomic-driven commercial solutions to revolutionize many industries. Prior to joining SGI in 2007, Ms. Gandara worked at British Petroleum (BP) in several areas including Technology Strategy and Venturing, focused on Bioenergy deals. Prior to BP Fernanda worked with management consulting. Ms. Gandara earned a MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business in California and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Escola de Engenharia Maua in Brazil. 

 
Tullo Vigevani
Full professor at the Political Science Department at Universidade Estadual de São Paulo (UNESP) and coordinator of the National Science and Technology Institute for U.S. Studies (INCT-INEU)
vigevanit@uol.com.br
www.inct-ineu.org.br

Tullo Vigevani is an expert on international relations and full professor at Universidade Estadual de São Paulo. He is also coordinator of the National Science and Technology Institute for U.S. Studies (INCT-INEU). He has conducted extensive research focused on Brazilian foreign policy and analysis of international relations with emphasis on subjects related to trade. He is the author of several books and articles, some of which on U.S. – Brazil relations.

Abstract
A CENTER FOR U.S. STUDIES IN BRAZIL

A center for U.S. Studies in Brazil: (www.inct-ineu.org.br): There is in fact something paradoxical regarding cultural relations between Brazil and the U.S. On the one hand, Brazil is intensely exposed to American culture in its various forms: cinema, literature, sports, etc., through every type of media — books, newspapers, magazines, radio, TV and the internet. On the other hand, the lack of serious studies on the U.S. among Brazilians is noticeable. Paradox? Not exactly. The lack of reflection is to a great extent a consequence of a feeling of closeness generated by the overload of information.

On the other hand, in the U.S., the situation is quite the opposite. The average American citizen does not know much about Brazil or even Latin America as a whole. Notwithstanding, research on Brazil and the Latin American region thrives in academic circles, which often results in excellent studies. However, among Brazilians this situation has been changing over a number of years. The uncritical assimilation of American cultural content continues, but within academic circles there is a new interest in that country as object of research.

The work at the Science and Technology Institute for U.S. Studies (INCT-INEU) is creating conditions for the multiplication of competencies developed in parallel to research projects and for publicizing the large-scale knowledge thus produced. The specificity of this research field is circumscribed within two clear limitations: 1) its subject matter is not the American society, economy, politics or culture at large, but U.S. foreign policy — naturally, in order to develop a profound understanding of this subject matter, INCT-INEU examines an unlimited range of economic, social, cultural and political factors, but within our field of studies these will come up already “sieved,” and only to the extent where they are relevant to comprehend American foreign policy.

Based on INCT-INEU research, the following topics have been deemed relevant: multilateralism, again focused on the phenomena of over extension and how the U.S. debates it; 2) INCT-INEU when examining one of the many contexts where American foreign policy exerts its influence, not necessarily focused on the wealth of information and endless particularities within each of these contexts, but, yet again, just on those elements which show themselves significant in order to understand the aforementioned policy. INCT-INEU’s subjects of study are: 1. U.S. role in international governance; 2. democratic and human rights issues for U.S. foreign policy; 3. U.S.-Latin American relations focused on U.S. policy making; 4. U.S. and international monetary subjects; 5. U.S. influence on international organizations.

These activities are relevant, having attained significant results: books, academic articles, 40 Master’s degrees and 25 PhDs. Some 30 senior researchers are involved. One main result is the Political Observatory on the United States (OPEU) (www.opeu.org.br). OPEU’s role is to build an analytical bridge between information in its original form and its meaning for the reality of Brazil and the international community. The newsletter, published since September 2010, makes the most of the consultative characteristic of the U.S. political system with a key role for intra-governmental negotiations in Congress, the Executive and Judiciary, to gather and interpret data in the light of their political motivations and effects on Brazilian foreign policy-making.

Despite the risk of oversimplification, INCT-INEU indicates the following targets: a) Produce new knowledge following the lines of investigation mentioned above; b) Encourage the production of monographs, dissertations and theses on the topics covered by this project; c) Promote events (exhibitions, lectures, round-tables, flash courses, etc.) on these topics through contacts with interested partners within society, so as to broaden the access to such events; d) To regularly update information regarding ongoing research at the project’s website; e) To enhance the knowledge of international environments which are relevant for national enterprises with information and analyses on United States; f) The exchange of professors and students. 
 
 

Tulia G. Falleti
Associate Professor of Political Science and Senior Fellow of the Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics of the Political Science Department at University of Pennsylvania
falleti@sas.upenn.edu
www.polisci.upenn.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=73

Prof. Falleti is the author of Decentralization and Subnational Politics in Latin America (Cambridge University Press, 2010). Her articles on federalism, decentralization, authoritarianism, and qualitative methods have appeared in the American Political Science Review, Comparative Political Studies, Publius, Studies in Comparative International Development, Qualitative Sociology, among other journals and edited volumes. Her second book studies the structural and institutional determinants as well as the political and welfare consequences of local community participation in public health.

Abstract
UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE AND LOCAL COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN BRAZIL

Prof. Falleti’s presentation traces the policy reforms that led to universal health care, municipal provision of primary health, and civic participation in Brazil’s public health system. It shows that a process of state-society transformation in the context of the authoritarian regime (1964-1985) facilitated the infiltration of the state bureaucracy by a reformist health care group. The sanitaristas reoriented the authoritarian policies toward new goals, and gradually moved the health care system toward universal coverage, municipal provision of basic care, and local civic participation.

Further reading:
Falleti, Tulia G. 2010. “Infiltrating the State: The Evolution of Health Care Reforms in Brazil, 1964-1988” in James Mahoney and Kathleen Thelen (eds.) Explaining Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency, and
Power, New York: Cambridge University Press, Chapter 2, 38-62. (This chapter can be downloaded from Prof. Falleti’s University of Pennsylvania website) 


Elizabeth Stein
Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of New Orleans
http://poli.uno.edu/Faculty/Stein.cfm

Elizabeth A. Stein is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of New Orleans. Dr. Stein’s research focuses on the media’s influence on political activists. Her research has examined this relationship in the context of the former dictatorships of Latin America, and has extended her research to protesters’ contemporary use of media in regions struggling against authoritarian regimes. Dr. Stein received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2008. Prior to coming to UNO, Dr. Stein spent a semester-in-residence as a fellow at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in 2007.

Abstract
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM & COLLECTIVE ACTION IN BRAZILIAN DEMOCRACY: A POSITIVE LEGACY OF AUTHORITARIAN REPRESSION

In this talk I discuss how repressive tactics used during the dictatorship may have served to encourage a more professional investigative style of journalism. For example, in my research on the alternative media during the military dictatorship, many journalists felt that in learning to work around censorship, they had a better training than any journalism school might provide. In addition, through campaigns like Diretas Já and earlier anti-authoritarian protests, members of the opposition learned a more active style of civic participation. The combination of the two have helped invigorate Brazilian society and improved democratic accountability. We first saw this during Fernando Collar de Mello’s presidential crisis and subsequent impeachment trial and then with the Mensalão scandal under Lula. Today we witness mass anti-corruption demonstrations in response to the recent resignations of many of Dilma’s top advisors. I argue that these have occurred, in part, as a reaction to Brazil’s experience with oppressive dictatorship, which has led to a more vibrant, participative democracy. 
 
 

Marta Arretche
Associate Professor of the Political Science Department at Universidade de São Paulo and director of the Center for Metropolitan Studies (CEM)
arretche@usp.br
http://buscatextual.cnpq.br/buscatextual/visualizacv.do?id=K4785798D4

Marta Arretche holds a PhD in Political Science from Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp). She is an associate professor at the Political Science Department of Universidade de São Paulo (USP) and director of the Center for Metropolitan Studies (CEM). Ms. Arretche’s areas of interest are the comparative analysis of state institutions and public policies with special attention to federal states and social policies.

Abstract
SUBNATIONAL GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC POLICIES IN BRAZIL

In Brazil, subnational governments are the main providers of social services, whereas the federal government is in charge of redistributive income policies. In spite of the decentralization of policy-making, metropolitan governance as well as subnational government policies are highly affected by the regulatory and redistributive role performed by the central government. Centralization of revenue-collection along with federal-level regulatory powers and bureaucratic capacities create favorable conditions to federal-led policies even when policy-making is decentralized. The Union has extensive regulatory powers which allow it to determine how constituent units (CU) collect their own taxes, execute their own policies and spend their own revenues. As states’ and municipalities’ policy decisions are highly affected by central-level rules and supervision, models that take into account only local factors – such as median voter preferences or party competition -- are not sufficient to fully explain subnational policy decisions. Instead, a model that includes central-local relations allows for a more comprehensive understanding of service-policy provision.

Although vertical coordination largely reduces CU’s policy decision-making autonomy, there is room for self-rule. First of all, decentralized policies are differently regulated by federal authorities. While health and education expenses are moderately regulated, for example, garbage collection and urban development policies are loosely regulated and supervised. Moreover, policy execution provides room for self-rule given inevitable autonomy provided at the implementation phase. Finally, political autonomy guarantees space for policy innovation. Under these conditions, CU’s policy initiatives clearly work as laboratories for innovation. 


Fernando Limongi
Coordinator of the Politics and Society Area at the Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning (Cebrap), Universidade de São Paulo
fplimongi@gmail.com
www.fflch.usp.br/dcp/html/fernandolimongi.html
www.cebrap.org.br/v1/template.php?area=3&pagina=21&pesquisador=8&lang=en  

Fernando Limongi received his PhD in Political Science at the University of Chicago. He is the coordinator of the Politics and Society area at Cebrap. He is currently the chair of the Political Science Department at USP. He is also the coordinator of the USP’s Comparative and International Studies Center. He received the Gregory Luebert Award for the Best Paper in Comparative Politics 1997-98 from the American Political Science Association-Comparative Politics Section (“Modernization: theories and facts”. World Politics, vol 49, no 2, pp 155-83, jan. 1997 co-authored with Adam Przeworski), the ANPOCS/CNPq Award for the Best Social Science Book of 1999 (“Executivo e Legislativo na nova ordem constitucional”. Rio de Janeiro, Fapesp/Editora FGV, 1999 co-authored with Argelina Figueiredo), the Woodrow Wilson Foundation Prize – Best Political Science Book of the Year (Democracy and Development: political institutions and well-being in the world, 1950-1990 Cambridge University Press, 2000, co-authored with Adam Przeworski, José Antonio Cheibub and Michael Alvarez), and ABCP/Olavo Brasil Lima Jr. Award Best Paper on Political Science and International Relations (“Processo orçamentário e Comportamento Legislativo: Emendas Individuais, apoio ao Executivo e Programas de Governo”. Dados - Revista de Ciências Sociais, Vol. 48, 2005, nº 4, pág 737-776 co-authored with Argelina Figueiredo). Professor Fernando Limongi´s research interests cover areas such as democratization, democracy, legislative studies and elections.

Abstract
DEMOCRACY AND LEGISLATIVE STUDIES

The Cebrap group’s research addresses the workings of the Brazilian democratic system, with a focus on the legislative branch and its relations with the executive. Until the mid 1990s, the Brazilian Congress had been understudied, despite the prominent role assigned to it in the literature, which in many cases saw it as a cause of what was considered a weak and problematic democratic regime. This negative view had been inherited from the transition literature and its focus on democratic consolidation.

It is fair to say that Cebrap’s research shifted the literature’s analytical focus and contributed to the emergence of a new scholarly approach to the study of the legislature and government performance in the Brazilian presidential system. Our main contributions arose out of a greater dialogue with the emerging, and later increasingly influential, neo-institutionalist approach, with studies centered on the U.S. Congress, and last but not least, with the comparative literature on coalition government and government performance in parliamentary systems. This novel approach allowed us to challenge widespread and profoundly entrenched views, moving the literature away from the study of consolidation to a focus on the democratic regime, and explicitly comparing Brazil to the performance of other democracies, rather than treating it as a sui generis case.

Obviously, we were not the only ones to undertake efforts in this direction. However, our research group has made some original contributions. While most analysts emphasized congressional committees’ new constitutional prerogatives, we argued that the agenda-setting powers held by the Executive Branch and by congressional party leaders had an impact on government performance. In doing so, we privileged a new set of institutional variables. We argued that electoral legislation, the system of government, and the federal organization of the state were not that crucial. Instead, our analysis emphasized the decision-making process.

Papers we published as early as 1994 showed that Executive-Legislative relations in Brazil did not lead to legislative paralysis and deadlock. The Executive Branch was able to approve most of the bills it proposed, largely because of institutional prerogatives established in the Constitution. These agenda powers allowed the Executive to structure stable patterns of political support in the legislature. We demonstrated that the executive could count on the support of a disciplined coalition. But that does not mean that the Executive can impose its will on the Legislative majority. On the contrary, in accordance with developments in the literature on parliamentary regimes, we argue that agenda powers are weapons used by majorities to solve their internal bargaining problems. These arguments represent a break with the conflictual model of Executive-Legislative relations that dominated most of the literature on the subject. 
 
 

Scott Desposato
Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego
swd@ucsd.edu
http://swd.ucsd.edu

Dr. Desposato is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. His general research interests include democratic institutions, campaign­ing, mass behavior, and political methodology. Published research has appeared in The American Journal of Political Science, The Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Studies, and Political Analysis. His latest project, for which he has received a National Science Foundation award, examines the determinants and impacts of negative campaigning across different institutional settings. Dr. Desposato received his PhD in Political Science in 2001 from the University of California, Los Angeles. 

Abstract
Social science research is increasingly using randomized controlled trials to test theories. In Brazil, this poses a set of new ethical and logistical challenges. I discuss these issues with reference to two of my experiments in Brazil - one on racial attitudes, and another on negative campaigning.
 
 

Donald Francis
Executive Director of Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases
dfrancis@gsid.org

Dr. Francis has been working on the control of epidemic diseases for over 30 years. With training in pediatric infectious disease and a doctorate in virology, Dr. Francis has confronted some of the most dangerous and challenging infectious diseases in multiple countries of the world. He was assigned to the World Health Organization as part of the international team that eradicated smallpox and as a member of the first team to confront Ebola virus. He did some of the early studies of the hepatitis B vaccine and was one of the earliest scientists to uncover the secrets of AIDS. He now heads Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases that works around the world to develop vaccines and diagnostic tests to combat dangerous infectious diseases in less developed countries. GSID’s current focus is on HIV vaccines, dengue vaccines, low cost diagnostics and vaccine delivery.

Abstract
BUTANTAN: DEVELOPING A DENGUE VACCINE FOR BRAZIL

Dengue virus, transmitted by mosquitoes, is estimated to cause over 30 million febrile cases each year in tropical regions of the world. The most severe form of the disease has a high mortality rate resulting in 21,000 estimated deaths annually. Although mosquito control provides some effect on decreasing cases, true control will be realized only when a safe and effective vaccine is produced and delivered. But dengue is caused by 4 immunologically distinct dengue virus strains. Thus, a successful vaccine will require 4 separate components representing each of the strains. Dengue infection is unique in virology in that a second infection with a different strain can be far more severe than a similar infection in absence of antibody from the first infection. It has been shown that the pre-existing antibody actually increases virus replication from a second virus. Thus, safety is a major concern in dengue vaccine development.
Three dengue vaccine candidates are moving through the development process. The most advance is a yellow fever virus recombinant vaccine being developed by Sanofi . It is in late stage testing in Thailand. Next is the delta-30 vaccine invented by the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases that is being developed by the Institute Butantan in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The third is the DEN 2-PDK 53 vaccine invented by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that is being developed by Inviragen, in Fort Collins, Colorado. Several years of testing remain ahead to ensure that each of these vaccines is safe and effective. 

 
Jorge Kalil
Director of the Butantan Institute
jkalil@butantan.gov.br / jkalil@usp.br
www.butantan.gov.br

Jorge Kalil is an immunologist, physician and full professor at Universidade de São Paulo’s Medical School. Mr. Kalil holds a MA and PhD in Human Biology from the University of Paris VII in the Unit of Professor Jean Dausset, Nobel Prize for Medicine. Kalil is director of Butantan Institute, director of Incor’s Immunology Laboratory, chairman of the Zerbini Foundation Board of Trustees, researcher 1A of CNPq, coordinator of INCT, Institute for Research in Immunology, vice-president of the International Union of Immunology Societies (IUIS) and will as president in the upcoming 2013-2016 term. He is also member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. He is founder of the Brazilian Association of Organ Transplants and the Institute of Sciences at Hospital Alemão Oswaldo Cruz. He also serves as president of the Latin American Association of Immunology, the Brazilian Society of Immunology and the Board of Education and Research at the Clinical Pathology Laboratory within Hospital Sírio Libanês, where he is also a member of the Medical Board. In the past, Kalil has served as vice-director of Hospital das Clínicas. Kalil also presided over the XIII International Congress of Immunology. Kalil is dedicated to the study of the mechanisms of immune recognition and distinction of own and not own, fundamental concepts for the understanding of the immune system. His academic production consists of over 350 articles internationally indexed by ISI, 76 shares in book chapters and 50 articles. He is the holder of several patents, some for new vaccines. He pioneered the deployment of the technology of monoclonal antibodies in France. More than 20 years ago, he installed the production of monoclonal antibodies on an industrial scale, in conjunction with the Butantan Institute, where the anti-CD3 was developed. He was International Scholar of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He was decorated as a Commander and later a recipient of the Grand Cross of the National Order of Scientific Merit. He was also awarded the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) prize, considered the Nobel Prize for developing countries. In the administration of national science, Kalil served in the World Bank’s Support Program for Scientific and Technological Development (PADCT) as coordinator of the Advisory Committee on Biotechnology, coordinator of the Technical Group and member of the Steering Committee. He was also coordinator of the Advisory Committee on Biomedicine of CNPq, of the Evaluation Committee of Pronex and member of the Advisory Board of FINEP, among other activities.

Abstract
BUTANTAN INSTITUTE: RESEARCH AND PRODUCTION IN IMMUNOBIOLOGICALS

Butantan Institute created in 1901 is the major public producer of Immunobiologicals. Last year we represented over 50% of the total Vaccines production and almost 60% of the total production of Serum in Brazil. Due to nearly 200 researchers we have several vaccines in clinical trials at the moment and several others under development.

The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) have contributed in a decisive way in the research activity of Butantan Institute way beyond the resources for the execution of individual research projects of the order of R$ 5,000,000.00 per year (average of the last three years) have funded the training of human resources through scholarships at various levels (IC, M, D and PD) with resources of R$ 3,500,000.00 per year
(average last three years).

This funding allowed the development of the Institute’s scientific production quality and quantity of 280 publications in 2008 to 325 in 2010 with increment in the average impact rate of 1.65 to 1.88 respectively.
Creating and expanding multi-user Laboratories as Confocal, FACS, Protein Sequencing are crucial to increase the number of research projects. Projects of high visibility such as CAT-CEPID, as well as the participation of the Institute as the genome projects have enabled the insertion of these technologies in the study of venomous animals and vaccines. 
 
 

Hugo Armelin
Senior Investigator and coordinator of the Center for Applied Toxinology at Butantan Institute
haarmeli@iq.usp.br

Hugo Aguirre Armelin holds a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Universidade de São Paulo (USP, 1969). He was an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow at University of California San Diego (1972) and a J. S. Guggenheim Fellow at Harvard Medical School (1983). Mr. Armelin was also a professor of Biochemistry at Universidade de São Paulo’s Chemistry Institute from 1985-2009. He currently serves as senior investigator at the Butantan Institute, São Paulo. His main areas of research include: cell signaling; signaling and metabolic networks; particularly, cell cycle control; peptide growth factors: FGFs, EGF, PDGF; oncogenes: ras, c-myc, fos and jun families.

Abstract
CELL SIGNALING AND TOXINS

The steady state functioning of signaling and metabolic networks is presently monitored by analytical instruments that yield high throughput quantitative molecular data (transcriptome, proteome, metabolome, etc), which cannot be interpreted by simple qualitative cartoons of molecular pathways. Actually, a new discipline, Systems Biology, was established to deal with the challenge of analyzing the complexity of biological signaling networks. Natural venoms are complex mixtures comprising many peptide toxins with biotechnological potential, which efficiently break apart the highly robust homeostatic systems of cell signaling. In the last 10 years, investigators of the Center for Applied Toxinology of Butantan Institute, have been able to isolate novel peptide toxins of biomedical importance from venoms and secretions of caterpillars, fishes, snakes, spiders, and ticks. These different toxins elicit complex biological responses, namely, analgesia, tumor cell growth inhibition, cell survival and proliferation, inflammation inhibition or stimulation, most of them involving alterations in cell cycle control. Experimental and computational approaches of Systems Biology are being used to uncover molecular targets and mechanisms of action of these peptide toxins and, also, to design and test proofs of concept for promising technological innovations. 
 
 

Sara Lustigman
Head of the Laboratory of Molecular Parasitology at Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute New York Blood Center
slustigman@nybloodcenter.org
www.nybloodcenter.org/Molecular-Parasitology.do?sid0=76&page_id=260

Dr. Lustigman earned her Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and presently is the head of Molecular Parasitology at the Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute, New York Blood Center. Her research is focused on understanding the biology of Onchocerca volvulus, Brugia malayi, and Plasmodium falciparum, the causative agents of Onchocerciasis, Lymphatic Filariasis, and malaria, respectively. She also studies the host-parasite interactions in order to uncover the key pathways essential for parasite development, and which could be targeted by novel drugs or vaccines.

Abstract
PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM IN BRAZIL: RED BLOOD CELL VARIANTS & PARASITE INVASION

The specificity of malaria parasites for red blood cell (RBC) depends on a number of ligand-receptor interactions that are not static in Plasmodium falciparum, and provide a greater flexibility to the parasite to overcome the variability in host cells and to evade immune responses. Field isolates may show even greater variability than the laboratory isolates, in which these pathways have been defined. The underlying hypothesis of our study was that both host and parasite genetic factors may drive the emergence of distinct RBC invasion pathways in Brazilian P. falciparum endemic regions. Our study integrated known aspects and assays that can influence or measure invasion of RBC by the infective stage parasite into a single study where the interrelationships between host and parasite factors were assessed at the molecular and functional levels. In particular we focused on the polymorphisms in glycophorin B (GPB), a known receptor for parasite invasion taking advantage of the highly admixed Brazilian Amazon population. Moreover, we studied the impact that the parasites’ repertoire of invasion ligand variants has on the variety of invasion pathways used by P. falciparum Brazilian field isolates. Our studies has generated a greater focus on GPB as an important RBC receptor for field isolate invasion, and will encourage future studies focused on the GPB parasite ligand, which could then become also an important vaccine candidate. Our studies could also impact development of global vaccines against P. falciparum malaria that target multiple determinants of merozoite invasion. 


Licio Veloso
Professor of Internal Medicine at the Internal Medicine Department of Universidade Estadual de Campinas
lavelloso.unicamp@gmail.com

Licio Velloso obtained his MD at Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp) in 1986 and his PhD in Medicine at the University of Uppsala, Sweden in 1993. He was a post-doctoral Fellow at Unicamp and Harvard Medical School from 1994 to 1997. Currently, Mr. Velloso is a professor of medicine at Unicamp. His field of expertise is the characterization of molecular and cellular mechanisms leading to obesity and Type 2 diabetes. Most of the research work at his lab is devoted to the search for potential therapeutic targets for these diseases.

Abstract

NEW TARGETS FOR DRUG THERAPY IN OBESITY AND RELATED DISORDERS

Obesity currently affects ½ billion subjects in the world and its prevalence is expected to accelerate, reachi­ng 1 billion in 15 years. A number of highly lethal diseases, such as atherosclerosis, hypertension and
diabetes, are associated with obesity and measures to prevent and treat obesity are expected to provide the best means to control these comorbidities. High body adiposity results from the failure of the homeostatic control of caloric intake and energy expenditure. Most of this control is exerted by a complex network of hypothalamic neurons that integrate hormone, nutrient and neuronal signals involved in the sensing and responsiveness to the fluctuations of the body energy status. This complexity explains, at least in part, why most drugs used to treat obesity lack specificity and produce poor clinical outcomes. The identification of optimal targets is a prime condition in order to develop safer and more effective drugs to treat obesity. We will present the approaches used by our group to search for new targets to treat obesity. In addition, we will present new methods employed to evaluate the human brain in obesity. 
 
 

Mayana Zatz
Professor of Genetics in the Genetics and Evolution Biology Department of Universidade de São Paulo; director of the Human Genome Research Center and Institute of Stem-cells in Genetic Disorders and president of the Brazilian Muscular Dystrophy Association
mayazatz@usp.br
http://genoma.ib.usp.br

Mayana Zatz is professor of genetics, director of the Human Genome Research Center, director of the Institute of Stem-Cells in Genetic Disorders at Universidade de São Paulo (USP) and president of the Brazilian Muscular Dystrophy Association. Her research focuses on neuromuscular disorders and stem-cells. Ms. Zatz has published 260 peer-reviewed papers, which have been cited 6,000 times. She has received 21 prizes, including: L´Oreal/Unesco for Women in Sciences, TWAS in Medical Sciences, Mexican Prize of Science and Technology. She has been actively involved in the approval of the Embryonic Stem-Cells Bill in Brazil. She is currently working on stem-cells as a potential for cell therapy and as a tool for understanding gene function in genetic disorders.

Abstract

STEM CELLS INVESTIGATION TARGETING CELL THERAPY AND AS A TOOL FOR UNDERSTANDING GENE FUNCTION IN GENETIC DISORDERS

Our group is investigating stem-cells with the objective of utilization in cell therapy, particularly in neuromuscular and craniofacial disorders and as a tool to enhance our understanding of gene expression in genetic disorders. In order to achieve the first aim we are comparing the potential of adult mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) from different sources to differentiate in muscle and bone “in vitro” and “in vivo” in different animal models. All “in vivo” experiments are done without immunosuppression. We observed that human MSCs from dental pulp and fallopian tube were able to accelerate bone repair in rats with a critical bone defect. For neuromuscular disorders, we have injected human adipose (AMSCS) and umbilical cord (UCMSCs) in affected muscular dystrophy mice and golden retriever muscular dystrophy (GRMD) dogs. Systemic injections of AMSCS and UCMSCs into affected mice, showed that cells from both sources were able to reach the muscle and had a beneficial effect. However, only AMSCs expressed human muscle proteins in recipient muscles. Our results suggest that factors released during muscle degeneration direct homing. Systemic injections of AMSCS and UCMSCs into GRMD dogs showed similar results. Human cells were found 6 months after the last injection but not after 12 months indicating that multiple injections are required for therapeutic purposes. Two years after the last injection the dogs are healthy supporting the safety of the procedure. Regarding the second aim we established a stem-cell bank from patients with different genetic disorders. Almost 300 samples were collected to date. Gene expression studies in cell lineages derived from clef-palate and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients revealed novel results confirm­ing the robustness of this approach. 
 
 

Ricardo Brentani
President of the Board of Directors at the FAPESP and president at Hospital AC Camargo
rbrentani@accamargo.org.br
www.accamargo.org.br

Ricardo Brentani is president of the Board of Directors at the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) and also of the Board of Directors at Hospital AC Camargo. He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Science, the Brazilian National Academy of Medicine and the American Association for Cancer Research. Mr. Brentani’s particular field of research interest is in cellular prion protein physiology and oncogenomics. He has published over 170 research publications, including seminal works in Science (1985) and Nature (1997).

Abstract
MOLECULAR GENOMICS AND GENETICS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF CANCER

Hospital A.C.Camargo, the largest cancer hospital in Brazil, sees 16,000 new cancer cases/year and performs 11,000 surgeries/year. It is the only private hospital to have a graduate course in oncology (including PhDs) that is accredited by CAPES, having received the highest evaluation. The hospital is responsible for 60% of the country’s oncology papers. It is also the only private hospital that is both a FAPESP Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center (CEPID) and a National Science and Technology Center (INCT) under the auspices of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). A decade ago, the hospital participated in the Human Cancer Genome Project, jointly funded by FAPESP and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, then housed at the Hospital. All tumor samples studied by 30 labs came from the hospital and were hand-dissected by our pathologists. This was the world’s second largest contribution to the human transcriptome and showed that untranslated transcripts were abundant. cDNA array chips constructed both with exonic and intronic elements were shown to be of value in confirming diagnosis, defining prognosis and predicting response to therapy. Next we have tagged cDNA libraries, pooled them and sequenced the mixture. Then we used this technology, coupled to a novel statistical tool, to identify a panel of genes predictive of biochemical recurrence in prostate cancer. Another line of research focuses on p53 mutations, present in 50% of sporadic tumors and in the hereditary Li-Fraumeni syndrome. We have found a novel mutation (R337H) which produces a protein whose conformation is pH-dependent and delays onset of cancer by 17 years. This mutation has been found only in the southeastern region of Brazil and since it co-segregates with a very rare haplotype indicating a founder effect. We estimate that 0.3% of that area’s population have the mutation, rendering its detection a major public health priority. 
 

 

Fernando F Costa
Full professor of Hematology and Hemotherapy at the School of Medical Sciences at Universidade Estadual de Campinas
ferreira@unicamp.br
www.inctsangue.hemo.unicamp.br

Fernando F. Costa graduated and obtained his MD, MSc and his PhD degrees from Universidade de São Paulo’s Ribeirão Preto School of Medicine, where he also served as a faculty member. After being a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale School of Medicine, he joined the School of Medical Sciences at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), where he became a full professor of Hematology and Hemotherapy. He has published more than 200 papers in international journals and received numerous awards.

Abstract
POTENTIAL DRUG TARGETS FOR VASO-OCCLUSION IN SICKLE CELL DISEASE: ENDOTHELIAL CELL INTERACTIONS AND INFLAMMATION

Vascular occlusion in sickle cell disease (SCD) decreases organ perfusion, causing tissue infarction and leading to the clinical complications that are associated with SCD, including intermittent, painful vaso-occlusive episodes, splenic autoinfarction and consequent infections, acute chest syndrome, stroke and cumulative multi-organ damage. The vaso-occlusive process is now believed to comprise a multi-cellular process involving interactions between sickle red cells, activated leukocytes, endothelial cells, platelets and plasma proteins. Recurrent vaso-occlusion, the presence of cell-free heme and processes of ischemia-reperfusion and consequent vascular endothelial cell activation and injury induce a continuous inflammatory response in the SCD individual that is propagated by elevated levels of inflammatory cytokines, a decreased nitric oxide bioavailability, oxidative stress and the production of vaso-constrictive factors. Sickle red cells over express surface adhesion molecules that mediate their adhesion to activated endothelial cells. Leukocytes also circulate in an activated state in SCD individuals, and their adhesion to the vessel wall may play a primary and initiating role in the vaso-occlusive process. Activated platelets participate in the formation of heterocellular aggregates, and may release a plethora of potent inflammatory mediators, contributing to the perpetuation of vascular inflammation. Hydroxyurea therapy (HU), in addition to stimulat­ing fetal hemoglobin (HbF) production and reducing hemolysis, has been found to significantly reduce the adhesive properties of red cells, leukocytes and platelets in SCD. New evidence in SCD mice suggests that the acute administration of HU, together with an inflammatory stimulus that induces a vaso-occlusive-like process, prevents subsequent red and white cell adhesion to vessel walls and the onset of vaso-occlusion. HU appears to have immediate benefits on endothelial/ leukocyte/red cell interactions that are independent of its HbF-inducing properties, possibly mediated by the nitric-oxide donating property of this drug. Other drugs that could prove useful for reducing the activation of endothelium and the adhesion of leukocytes and red cells to the vessel wall include statins and cGMP-elevating drugs. 
 
 

Valder Arruda
Associate Professor at University of Pennsylvania/The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
arruda@email.chop.edu

His research Interests is the development of gene-based strategies for the treatment of bleeding and thrombotic diseases. In a collaborative effort, we and others have carried out early-phase clinical studies on adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors for the treatment of severe hemophilia B (factor IX deficiency). Current projects are focused on translational research studies on the efficacy and safety of intravascular delivery of AAV vectors to skeletal muscle or liver of dogs and mice with severe hemophilia. We are also identifying biological factors that modulate AAV vectors transduction and the risk of inadvertent germline transmission in animal models. Blockage of blood vessels causes many serious human diseases, including myocardial infarct, ischemic strokes, and venous thrombosis. They contribute to the mortality and morbidity of septic shock, chronic inflammatory injury, and vascular complications of systemic diseases. The protein C anticoagulant pathway plays a major role in the interface between coagulation and inflammatory processes. Venous thrombosis is most commonly the result of defects in the proteins that participate in the protein C anticoagulant pathway. Activated Protein C (APC) mediates anticoagulant effects and signals cellular responses that are anti-inflammatory in nature. The current notion that occlusive vascular diseases such as atherosclerosis are forms of systemic diseases in which underlying inflammatory and thrombotic processes play a critical role led us to postulate that APC could offer an alternative therapeutic option. Ongoing studies are aimed at elucidat­ing in vivo functions of APC in a series of animal models for thrombotic and/or inflammatory diseases. Together, these studies should improve our understanding of the interface of blood coagulation and inflammation and to identify novel therapeutic strategies for coagulation disorders and other diseases. 

Abstract
GENE THERAPY FOR GENETIC DISEASE: TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS MOVING NOVEL THERAPIES FROM BENCH TO BEDSIDE

Genetic disease represents a substantial burden for humanity and health care. Replacement of a diseased gene through gene therapy is a straightforward concept, however, the translation to clinical application is highly complex. Over the last two decades the field of gene therapy moved from cell and animal studies to early-phase clinical trials. The first round of human trials paved the way for the current successful studies with evidence of therapeutic effects and amelioration of the disease such as primary immunodeficiencies, inherited blindness, and neurogenerative diseases. We will review our experience in developing a gene-based strategy for hemophilia, a severe bleeding disease. Hemophilia is an X-linked disease due to the deficiency of clotting factor VIII (hemophilia A) or factor IX (hemophilia B) that affects 1:5,000 male births worldwide. The current treatment is based on replacement of the missing protein to control bleedings. However, due to it expense only 20% of patients, mostly in the developed countries, are on regular therapy. We performed preclinical studies in large animals to find out that a single delivery of a gene therapy vector with factor IX gene to the liver resulted in expression of factor IX protein over periods longer than 9 years. These data provided the basis for the first human trials and for an ongoing second generation of clinical studies that resulted in sustained therapeutic levels of the factor IX in adult males with severe hemophilia B. These encouraging data support further development of gene therapy approaches for hemophilia A and other diseases. 
 
 

Walter Colli
Professor of Biochemistry at Universidade de São Paulo
walcolli@usp.br

Walter Colli is an expert on the cellular biology and the biochemistry of Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent of Chagas Disease. His work has been focused on the parasite cell membrane, aiming to define molecules that may be responsible for host-parasite interaction. Amongst these molecules his group discovered glycophosphoinositolceramides (GIPL-1), a new class of compounds structurally similar to protein anchors. Mr. Colli’s group was also the first to identify the glycoprotein family of surface molecules, known as Gp-85 (Tc85), to which the enzyme trans-sialidase belongs.

Abstract

TRYPANOSOMA CRUZI: PARASITE INTERACTION WITH MAMMALIAN HOST CELLS

Trypanosoma cruzi is the etiological agent of Chagas’ disease, a pathological condition manifested by a variety of symptoms from heart disease to digestive dysfunctions. WHO estimates that about 10 million people are infected, mainly in Latin America, although the disease is appearing with increasing frequency in the U.S. due to human migratory currents from the South. Epidemiological measures (assassin bug elimination) seem to have stalled transmission in some South American countries but not in others. The infective form of T. cruzi, the trypomastigote form, has a sugar rich surface containing glycoinositolphospholipids, mucins and 85 kDa glycoproteins (gp85 or Tc85). The latter are a family with ca. 700 active genes and 700 pseudogenes. A cloned member of that family, Tc85-11, was shown to bind to laminin and cytokeratin-18 and it is likely that other members also bind to other different extracellular matrix (ECM) elements, strongly suggesting the involvement of Tc85 glycoproteins in parasite adhesion to host cells. In spite of different degrees of sequence variation, all members of that family contain a common C-terminal peptide (VTVxNVFLYNR, FLY for short). FLY-synthetic peptide enhances host cell infection in vitro and in vivo. FLY interacts with the endothelium with a higher affinity for the heart vasculature, as shown by using a combination of endothelial cell immortalization and phage display phage techniques. FLY also interacts with cytokeratin 18 and other members of the intermediate filaments and may be implicated in T. cruzi cell invasion and tissue homing. Differential phosphorylation of trypomastigote proteins have also been detected upon adhesion of trypomastigotes to ECM elements. 

 

Wondwossen Gebreyes
Associate Professor in the Department of Veterinary Preventative Medicine at Ohio State University
gebreyes@cvm.osu.edu
http://vet.osu.edu/IDMEL

Dr. Gebreyes is an Associate Professor in the Department of Veterinary Preventative Medicine at Ohio State University. He received his DVM degree in 1990 from Addis Ababa University in Debrezeit, Ethiopia. Following graduation he spent four years as a Field Veterinarian for the Department of Agriculture and four years as the Head Veterinarian at the Southern region Veterinary Department in Ethiopia. In 2001, he received his PhD in the Comparative Biomedical Sciences (CBS) Program in the Department of Population Health and Pathobiology at North Carolina State University. Prior to joining OSU, Dr. Gebreyes was an Assistant Professor of Food Safety and Molecular Epidemiology at North Carolina State University. He is currently in the process of creating the Infectious Diseases Molecular Epidemiology and Detection Laboratory (IDMEDL). Research in his laboratory will focus on the molecular epidemiology of foodborne and other zoonotic pathogens, the molecular characterization of antimicrobial resistance, as well as the development of rapid and sensitive detection methods.

Abstract

VPH-BIOTECH GLOBAL CONSORTIUM

The discuss will be about a consortium that was established among partners from the U.S., Brazil, sub Saharan Africa and also Asia pacific countries. The goal is to develop a sustainable capacity in research and training in the areas of zoonotic diseases, diseases at the human and animal interface including the ecosystem. 
 
 

Daniel Janies
Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics Department of College of Medicine at Ohio State University Medical Center
daniel.janies@osumc.edu
http://biomed.osu.edu/bmi/directory/faculty/janies

Dr. Janies’ current work is focused on hypotheses driven research and methods development in emergent infectious diseases, phylogenetics research for applied and natural sciences, and phenotype-genotype correlation studies. His planned activities include: expansion of our understanding of the tree of life (e.g., the evolution of echinoderms and their development), research on the evolution and spread of pathogens (e.g., Dengue virus), and ongoing efforts to increase international collaboration and data sharing (e.g., Influenza genomes, genetic data on regulatory biology of the grasses).

Abstract
SUPRAMAP – WEATHER MAPS FOR DISEASES BASED ON ANALYSIS OF GENOMIC AND GEOGRAPHIC DATA

Rapid genetic sequencing is becoming widespread. Next, we must develop analytical and visualization tools to better use these data to advance science and healthcare.
To these ends, Dr. Janies’ current research concerns the global spread of disease spreading organisms. Dr. Janies’ team develops software such as Supramap (http://supramap.osu.edu) to map pathogen strains over geography. In contrast to syndromic surveillance, Supramap places genetic sequence and functional data on pathogens and hosts in an evolutionary and geographic context. Supramap’s results are akin to weather maps for disease.

The use of a geographic information system allows scientists to integrate information on pathogens with diverse data layers. Examples of these layers include underlying host distribution, population data, transit systems, and environmental conditions. When layers are assembled, the user can focus on pathogen evolution relative to specific places, times, animals, human activities, and climates that are hypothesized lead to outbreaks of disease. Moreover, a unique capability of Supramap allows the user to study regionally specific mutations that allow pathogens to jump from animals to humans, confer resistance to drugs, or cause deadly or debilitating infections - all key sources of intelligence that allow for anticipation, diagnosis, and response to an epidemic.

Dr. Janies and his team have applied Supramap’s capabilities to better understand various strains of influenza, SARS-coronavirus, viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus, Dengue virus, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli. In addition, they have reached out to diverse groups of students and researchers, public health scientists, and policy makers by making the tools user-friendly and computing resources freely
accessible. As a result, other users have applied Supramap to plant pathogens, biodiversity, ecogeographic
genetic epidemiology, and human cultural evolution. 
 
 

Jane Buikstra
Regents’ Professor of Bioarchaeology and the Director of the Center for Bioarchaeological Research at Arizona State University
buikstra@asu.edu 

Dr. Buikstra is the Regents’ Professor of Bioarchaeology and the Director of the Center for Bioarchaeological Research at Arizona State University. She is also President of the Board of Directors of the Center for American Archeology in Kampsville, Illinois, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Buikstra has performed field work around the globe, written 18 books and published numerous articles. She received her Ph.D. in Physical Anthropology from the University of Chicago in 1972. 

Abstract
TUBERCULOSIS: A DEEP TIME PERSPECTIVE

Glossed as the “white plague” during the 19th century, tuberculosis was considered a minor health risk during the second half of the 20th century.  Today, however, the disease has re-emerged as a global threat.  Long thought to have appeared in the Eastern Mediterranean approximately 8,000 years ago when herd animals transferred bovine Mycobacterium tuberculosis to our species, tuberculosis is now considered to be as old or older than H. sapiens.  This shift in perspectives results from rapidly accumulating molecular evidence.  In this lecture, I will integrate such molecular perspectives and archaeological evidence to explore the long-term relationship between our species and this persistent pathogen.
 
 

Vera Calich
Professor of Immunology at Universidade de São Paulo
vlcalich@icb.usp.br

Vera Calich joined the faculty of Universidade de São Paulo in 1978 and is currently a professor of Immunology. She has trained 27 predoctoral students and six postdoctoral fellows. Their research focus is on the immunopathogenesis of pulmonary paracoccidioidomycosis, an endemic deep mycosis of Latin America. Most of Ms. Calich’s current group is involved in identifying the receptors of innate immune cells that recognize fungal components and determine the protective or deleterious effects of adaptive immunity that further develops.

Abstract
REGULATORY T CELLS, TH17 CELLS AND TLRS: CRUCIAL ROLES IN THE IMMUNITY TO PARACOCCIDIOIDES BRASILIENSIS INFECTION

Upon recognition of pathogen-derived or endogenous ligands, toll-like receptors (TLR) directly or indirectly regulate the function of Th1 and Th2 cells but also of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and Th17 cells. Here we summarize recent findings which have increased our appreciation of the crucial role of Tregs, Th17 and their regulation by TLRs in the immunopathogenesis of paracoccidioidomycosis, an endemic deep mycosis in Latin America. TLRS are expressed in diverse innate immune cells and their activation triggers a signaling cascade that results in inflammatory responses and initiation of antigenic-specific adaptive immune response. As described for other microorganisms, in pulmonary paracoccidioidomycosis TLR2, TLR4 and the adaptor molecule MyD88 were shown to control the phagocytic rates, cell migration and activation, cytokine and chemokine secretion as well as dendritic cells activation. Interestingly, TL2 and TLR4 exert antagonistic roles in immunity. While TLR4 signaling enhances Th17 immunity and reduces Treg cells expansion, TLR2 inhibits expansion of Th17 cells and promotes Treg cells differentiation. Absence of MyD signaling, however, leads to a severe fungal infection, an impaired generation of Th1/Th1/Th17 and Treg cells, and precocious mortality of hosts. In addition, employing the experimental model of genetic susceptibility and resistance to P.brasiliensis infection, the deleterious effects of Treg cells expansion associated with decreased Th1/Th2 and Th17 immunity were also characterized. In conclusion, in pulmonary paracoccidioidomycosis TLR signaling control the reciprocal generation of Th17 and Treg cells and the final balance between the beneficial and deleterious roles mediated by these elements of host’s immunity will ultimately determine the disease outcome. 



Sergio Shenkman

Full professor in the Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology Department at Universidade Federal de São Paulo (Unifesp)
sschenkman@unifesp.br or sergioschenkman@gmail.com
www.ecb.epm.br/˜sschenkman

Sergio Schenkman holds a degree in Biological Sciences (1977) and PhD in Biochemistry (1981) USP) from Universidade de São Paulo. He completed postdoctoral training at Institute Pasteur, Paris and at EMBL, Heidelberg (1981-1983). He has previously been an assistant professor at Universidade Federal de São Paulo (Unifesp, 1984-1997)and a visiting scientist at New York University Medical Center (1987-1991). Mr. Schenkman is currently a full professor of Microbiology at Unifesp (1997- present). He is an expert in Molecular and Cellular Biology of Trypanosomes with focus on sialidases, gene expression regulation and nucleus organization.

Abstract
POST-GENOMIC STUDIES OF TRYPANOSOMES: TOWARDS PARASITIC DISEASE CONTROL

Since the 1909 discovery of Trypanosoma cruzi, the protozoan parasite that causes Chagas Disease in many South American countries—and now in United States, Europe and Asia, due to population emigration—efforts to control this disease has lacked efficient drugs and pathogenesis comprehension. Clinical studies and knowledge of the parasite itself have increased in the last decades, thanks to the efforts of several South American clinicians and investigators. Due to its relative magnitude, these studies also contributed to development of several areas of basic parasitology. In 2005, the completion of the genome of T. cruzi and other trypanosomes have been published providing additional tools to achieve the disease control, mainly regarding new drug development. Nevertheless, there are still large challenges to be overcome, due to the complex and a still unknown biology of the parasite as compared to other organisms. The key remaining issue is the understanding of the conditions required for the establishment of parasitism, i.e. the mechanisms that control the adaptive mechanism to survive and develop inside the host. In this sense, our laboratory has been investigating the signaling cascades that allow trypanosomes to undergo specific transformations. We’ll present data regarding the signaling mechanism involved in protein synthesis regulation, a key regulatory component of trypanosomes. 
 
 

Elodie Ghedin
Assistant Professor in the Department of Computational and Systems Biology at the University of Pittsburgh
elg21@pitt.edu
www.cvr.pitt.edu/personnel/view.asp?uid=elg21

Elodie Ghedin is an Assistant professor in the Department of Computational and Systems Biology at the University of Pittsburgh. She earned her B.S. and Ph.D. from McGill University in Canada. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) (1998-2000) until she joined The Institute for Genomic Research where she stayed until 2006. Dr. Ghedin is also a member of the Center for Vaccine Research. The underlying theme in Dr. Ghedin’s research is the genomics of infectious diseases. She has worked on the causative agents for African sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, cutaneous and visceral leishmaniases, and lymphatic filariasis. During her time at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR). Dr. Ghedin led the Viral Genomics group, working on the design of high throughput pipelines for virus discovery and characterization. Dr. Ghedin is the recipient of a 2011 MacArthur award.

Abstract
HOST-PATHOGEN INTERACTION NETWORKS IN PARASITIC INFECTIONS VIEWED BY DEEP SEQUENCING

High-throughput genomic technologies have revolutionized research in infectious diseases by providing data that allow a more in depth and integrated view of how the pathogen interacts with its host. I will discuss how next-generation sequencing platforms and comparative genomics are used to study host-pathogen interaction networks in parasitic infections. Our studies include the parasitic nematode Brugia malayi responsible for lymphatic filariasis. This disease threatens 1/5th of the world population. The nematode harbors an endosymbiotic bacteria, Wolbachia with which it has a complex relationship that represents a potential therapeutic target. 
 
 

Marcelo Urbano Ferreira
Professor of Parasitology at the Biomedical Sciences Institute of Universidade de São Paulo
muferrei@usp.br
muferrei@gmail.com
www.icb.usp.br

Marcelo Ferreira holds an MD and a Ph.D. He is also professor of Parasitology at Universidade de São Paulo and vice-chair of the Pathology Department. Mr. Ferreira is an expert on molecular epidemiology, including population structure and evolution of malaria parasites, clinical aspects of malaria, and immunoepidemiology.

Abstract
ORIGINS AND EVOLUTION OF ANTIGENIC DIVERSITY IN MALARIA PARASITES

Each year, malaria parasites cause more than 500 million infections and 0.5-3 million deaths worldwide, mostly among children under five living in sub-Saharan Africa. In contrast with several viral and bacterial pathogens, which elicit long-lived immunity after a primary infection, these parasites require several years of continuous exposure to confer partial, usually non-sterilizing immune protection. One of the main obstacles to the acquisition of antimalarial immunity is the high degree of antigenic diversity in potential target antigens, which enables parasites to evade immune responses elicited by past exposure to variant forms of the same antigen. Allelic polymorphism, the existence of genetically stable alternative forms of antigen-coding genes, originates from nucleotide replacement mutations and intragenic recombination. In addition, malaria parasites display antigenic variation, whereby a clonal lineage of parasites expresses successively alternate forms of an antigen without changes in genotype. This review focuses on molecular and evolutionary processes that promote allelic polymorphism and antigenic variation in natural malaria parasite populations and their implications for naturally acquired immunity and vaccine development. 
 
 

Nikolaos Vasilakis
Assistant professor of the Pathology and Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases at University of Texas Medical Branch
nivasila@utmb.edu
www.utmb.edu/pathology/faculty/vasilakis/vasilakis_bio.htm

Abstract
DENGUE - A VIRUS WITHOUT BORDERS

Dengue viruses (DENV) are by far the most important arboviral pathogens in the tropics around the world, putting at risk of infection nearly a third of the global human population. DENV are members of the genus Flavivirus in the Family Flaviviridae and comprise four antigenically distinct serotypes (DENV-1-4). The four DENV serotypes that currently circulate among humans emerged independently from ancestral sylvatic progenitors that were present in non-human primates, following the establishment of human populations that were large and dense enough to support continuous inter-human transmission by mosquitoes. This ancestral sylvatic-DENV transmission cycle still exists and is maintained in non-human primates and Aedes mosquitoes in the forests of Southeast Asia and West Africa. Herein, we provide an overview of the ecology and molecular evolution of sylvatic DENV and its potential for adaptation to human transmission. We also emphasize how the study of sylvatic DENV will improve our ability to understand, predict and, ideally, avert further DENV emergence.