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Brazilian Society for Cell Biology
Cell Biology is a dynamic field that goes much beyond the idea of a scientist poring over a microscope, an image that easily comes to our minds when we tell our students how the cell was first studied. To be a cell biologist today means to be aware of new conceptual and methodological approaches, which involve live cell imaging, ultrastructure, molecular biology, nanotechnology, genetics, biochemistry, computational biology among others, and that end up to blur the frontiers and result in the integration of areas.
In Brazil, Cell Biology research and teaching is largely developed inside public Universities and Research Institutes; being mainly funded by governmental agencies, which means applying for grants and fellowships most of time. For many years, the Brazilian political and socio-economical conditions have brought many disadvantages to Cell Biology, especially because excellent researchers left the country, the budget was low, and consequently, equipments, supplies and well prepared personnel were scarce. However, efforts have been made to increase support and improve the quality of research and training. In that way, the funding coming from CNPq, CAPES, FINEP, and state foundations (FAPs) as FAPESP and FAPERJ has substantially augmented in the last two decades. Recently, new private research institutes have started to contribute to Cell Biology production and education as well. Though cell biologists are more concentrated in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, young teams are being formed from the south to north of the country, and the Brazilian Society for Cell Biology (SBBC) gathers these scientists during its own congresses, symposia and courses or during meetings of the Brazilian Federation for Experimental Biology (FESBE) and the Brazilian Society for Science Progress (SBPC).
SBBC was founded in 1978 by Professor Luiz Carlos U. Junqueira, who planned the first Cell Biology meeting. Since that time, 20 other symposia and congresses have been organized, and those first hundred cell biologists turned out to be more than 2000 affiliated in 30 years. In 1990, Prof. Gregorio Montes made an effort to make SBBC exist as a non-profitable entity that would be able to apply for governmental funding and represent the community. Under the leadership of Professors Eduardo Katchburian and Estela Bevilacqua, SBBC bylaws were revised and rewritten to catch up with a society that needed to be more integrative and could be considered a forum for cell biology in research, education and ethics.
The next step would be to insert the Brazilian Society in the international scenario and that task was accomplished by the 21st century presidents, Luiz Eurico Nasciutti, Estela Bevilacqua, Hernandes F Carvalho, Vilma Martins and Wilson Savino. Under their guidance, excellent biennial meetings have been organized, creating the opportunity to put together lively groups of students, the best cell biologists in the world and great scientists that built the concepts of cell biology in Brazil.
Currently, the SBBC board is working hard to represent the community at different instances of discussion that involve governmental policies; to increase the collaboration among Brazilian cell biologists from distant areas in the country; to stimulate the multidisciplinary approach through activities during the meetings, and finally to organize together with the International Federation for Cell Biology, the Congress that will be held in Rio de Janeiro in 2012. Based on these premises and on the fact that Cell Biology in Brazil will be able grow much faster than in the last 30 years, we believe that young cell biologists will face the challenge of answering old and new questions with modern techniques in a science without borders.
Written by the SBBC Board of Directors.
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About the SBBC