16/05/2019

Budget cuts for research were the subject of a news report.

Georgia e Rodrigo com amostras das flores e dos mosquitos ‘Aedes aegypti’ estudados / Foto: Fernando Lemos

Reproduction from the newspaper O Globo

By Renato Grandelle – Honorable mention in the Scientific Dissemination category of the 2018 IMPA-SBM Journalism Award

A group of scientists from UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) studying new methods to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquito, vector of diseases such as dengue, Zika, and chikungunya, will have to return R $ 570,000 to the Rio de Janeiro State Research Support Foundation (Faperj). The institution froze the funds, whose payment was overdue, due to the death of the team leader, biochemist Mário Alberto Cardoso da Silva Neto, the only one authorized to manage the resources.

Silva-Neto won five scientific project grants on Aedes mosquitoes and Chagas disease starting in 2013. According to the grant guidelines, he should have received approximately R $ 1.4 million. However, the funds were always disbursed at least six months late. Only one project received all the necessary resources for its completion. Another, "Flower Power"—the scientist's pet project—didn't receive a single cent. The funding that had been approved for its completion, as well as for the finalization of the other studies, will no longer be released by the state foundation due to budget cuts imposed by the government.

Shortly after the scientist's death in May, his wife, biochemist Georgia Atella, initiated a task force to cancel the purchase of materials made by her husband—including supplies ordered from foreign institutions. If they arrived at the laboratory, she would be forced to pay for them out of her own pocket.

The Faperj statute stipulates that, in the event of the principal investigator's death, the funds must be returned. Several professors and departments at UFRJ, including the vice-rectorate, appealed to the foundation not to freeze Silva-Neto's funds, allocating them instead to Georgia, head of the Lipid and Lipoprotein Biochemistry Laboratory, one of the twelve collaborators involved in the biochemist's projects.

Speaking to GLOBO, the state foundation stated that the vice-coordinator of the projects could be granted power of attorney to access the necessary funds for the projects, if there was an agreement among all team members. But this has not yet happened.

—Unfortunately, when researchers die, their ideas die too. We won't be able to continue the projects— laments Georgia. —Mario, in partnership with Fiocruz, collected Aedes mosquitoes from various points in the city. His intention was to compare them to the Aedes we use in the laboratory, which come from First World countries and have different DNA. This initiative could help us see which molecules might make the "carioca" Aedes more resistant to insecticide than the other, and how we could reduce its defense against the products. But, to carry out this genetic sequencing, we need R $ 73,000. We're not going to do it. We won't have these answers.

The Flower Power project was granted funding—the instrument for granting financial aid—in November 2015. However, it has not yet received its R $ 175,000 grant. According to biochemist Rodrigo Nunes, a postdoctoral researcher in Silva-Neto's laboratory, the scientist's proposal was to "prevent the first bite of the Aedes mosquito."

"We use the impatiens, one of the flowers most targeted by Aedes mosquitoes, to study how the mosquito feeds," he explains. "At the beginning of its life, the mosquito first sucks the plant's sap, and then the female begins to bite us. The project consists of genetically modifying the plant so that it can develop a protein in its sap that prevents the insect from seeking the blood of a mammal."

According to Georgia, the ornamental plants that would undergo this experiment would be distributed in locations with higher foot traffic, such as gardens and condominiums. The research group had already obtained a patent to produce their plant on a large scale.

Silva-Neto's team must wait for the opening of new calls for proposals from research funding programs—such as CNPq and Finep, both from the federal government, as well as another from Faperj itself—to obtain the necessary resources to complete the projects conceived by the biochemist. However, due to the country's economic crisis, the selections may only take place next year.

"If Faperj had paid all the installments on time, we would have already received all the money for the research. But we always deal with delays," emphasizes Rodrigo Nunes. "The change of project coordinator is common in federal agencies, so we asked Faperj if we needed to appoint someone to carry out transactions in Mario's place, since the transfers occur by nominative check. And the answer was: 'in reality you don't spend it. All the money is returned.' Therefore, everything that was planned will come to a halt."

The team's funds are almost empty. Georgia won two grants last year that would give her R $ 1 million to study diseases such as Chagas disease, malaria, schistosomiasis, and leishmaniasis, but the funds have not yet been transferred. The laboratories are sustaining themselves through bench fees—a fund created by funding agencies to maintain the basic operation of their structures. However, the disbursements are negligible. CNPq allocates R $ 1,000 per month; Faperj, R $ 2,800, insufficient for procedures such as maintenance and the purchase of equipment and supplies.

A setback of up to 20 years.

Faperj's budget has been reduced by more than 30% this year compared to January 2016. In figures, this means that scholarship payments and investment in science and innovation, which was around R $ 430 million, will not exceed R $ 300 million this year. It is estimated that up to 2,000 laboratories could be closed by December—which could cause a setback of up to 20 years in the state's scientific output, according to experts. Research centers in Rio de Janeiro contribute to 5% of the world's research on the Zika virus.