Genomics Politics through Space and Time: The Case of Bioinformatics in Brazil

Abstract

The emergence of scientific disciplines, as well as the policies aimed to steer them, have geographical implications. This becomes visible in areas such as genomics and related fields. In this paper, the relation between scientific evolution, political decisions and geographical configuration is studied. The recent formation of bioinformatics in Brazil is focused on. The study involves an analysis of data collected on the website of CNPq, a funding agency attached to the Ministry of Science and Technology. Furthermore, I conducted fieldwork in four cities, interviewing 15 bioinformaticians. In the history of Brazilian bioinformatics, three periods can be identified. In the first period (1900-1996), bioinformatics was actually absent, but biology research groups were formed which would subsequently explore bioinformatics. The second period (1997-2006) was marked by the emergence of the discipline and geographical concentration of major research groups in the southern part of Brazil. A third period can be pointed to (2007-2014), in which political choices have turned geographical diffusion and institutional equality into a national target. As a consequence of the recent shifts, genomics and bioinformatics researchers have been involved in a debate, some defending the existence of few specialized research and sequencing platforms, whereas others welcoming the constitution of a scientific scenario based on decentralized platforms. I defend an intermediate solution, whereby some places would be selected to be genomics hubs. This would fit the regional diversity of this vast country, in addition to tackling the scientific weaknesses of the northern area.

Establishment of computational biology in Greece and Cyprus: Past, present, and future

“…As reported in other cases—and in the context of this collection in PLOS Computational Biology [5–19], Brazil [20], India [21], and elsewhere [22–24], the role of smaller countries in the global scene takes a special dimension, creating both specific responsibilities and significant opportunities. A general conclusion from those reports is that small(er) countries need to support global initiatives, by contributing to materials and methods within international projects and, in return, obtain access to data and training resources as well as build their own national agendas for the use of new technologies in certain fields of regional priority.…”

Transdisciplinary Approach for Bioinformatics Education in Southern Brazil

“…The quick development of Bioinformatics is also often uneven spatially, with some regions developing faster than others, and often each group specializing in a very limited scope of the field of temporary interest for their research, neglecting other possibilities that mightif consideredimprove their capacities. For example, as a research field, bioinformatics has been concentrated in the Southeast Region of Brazil, especially in the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais (Bicudo, 2016). Even with government initiatives to spread research facilities all over the country (from 2007 onwards), such as BioMicro nucleation effort (CAPES, 2008) and a major Computational Biology financial laid call (CAPES, 2013), other regions remained underrepresented (Bicudo, 2016).…”

“…For example, as a research field, bioinformatics has been concentrated in the Southeast Region of Brazil, especially in the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais (Bicudo, 2016). Even with government initiatives to spread research facilities all over the country (from 2007 onwards), such as BioMicro nucleation effort (CAPES, 2008) and a major Computational Biology financial laid call (CAPES, 2013), other regions remained underrepresented (Bicudo, 2016). This also results in numerous groups working in specialized subfields, with little knowledge of other areas, which further hampers development of usefully complete Bioinformatics curricula.…”

Bioinformatics in Mexico: A diagnostic from the academic perspective and recommendations for a public policy

“…Regarding the need in Mexico to create special postgraduate programs, there are some examples to be followed. Brazil created a multi-center postgraduate program by the Association for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (AB3C) and the University of Minas, in such a way that knowledge has been transmitted from regions with considerable research experience to states with a greater need to acquire it [35]. The implementation of this multi-center graduate program is partially responsible for the high number of publications of Brazil in Bioinformatics [10].…”

“…Some Latin American countries have also obtained excellent results through the use of collaborative networks for Bioinformatics development. In 2006, ten Bioinformatics research networks were formed in Brazil, facilitating the development of agricultural and livestock areas [35]. At the Central America region, the Central American Bioinformatics Network (BioCA-NET) focuses on providing computer support for molecular biology, as well as a service platform for the analysis of applied biomedical data.…”