University of São Paulo: Workshop celebrates 22 years of the Genome Project and debates future scenarios in the area of genomics
22 years ago, the cover story of the journal Nature brought the results of the first genomic sequencing project of the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa , the etiological agent of citrus variegated chlorosis (CVC), better known as amarelinho, which at the time caused great damage to citrus growers in São Paulo. The undertaking, conducted by the Onsa network (Virtual Organization for Nucleotide Sequencing), which brought together 191 researchers from 33 laboratories in the State of São Paulo, inaugurated the Fapesp Genome Project and qualified human resources for research in molecular genetics in the country.
“Genomics in Brazil was born at Fapesp,” says Marco Antonio Zago, president of the São Paulo Research Foundation (Fapesp), who, at the time, headed the Molecular Hematology Laboratory at the Ribeirão Preto School of Medicine ( FMRP) from USP, one of those who integrated the project’s network. “The complete sequencing of the Xylella fastidiosa genome was a heroic act at the time and its consequences were enormous.”
To celebrate the 22 years of the Genome Project, the Genome Workshop 20+2 will be held on November 21st and 22nd, in São Paulo . The event is part of the activities commemorating the 60th anniversary of Fapesp and, in addition to remembering the achievements of the past, has the purpose of debating current scenarios and future opportunities in genomics in three different areas of research: Pathogen Genomics, Cancer Genomics and Agro-Environmental Genomics . The complete schedule can be found at this link . The site will also feature a series of interviews with the main people responsible for the architecture and management of the project, as well as researchers involved and young scientists who were completing their master’s or doctorate two decades ago and today have a consolidated scientific career.
Project start
In the two interviews already published, José Fernando Perez, scientific director of Fapesp at the time of the launch of the Genome Project, and Fernando Reinach, then member of the Foundation’s Area Coordination – Biology, recall the main challenges of organizing, managing and monitoring a project which ranged from the distribution of the Xylella fastidiosa genome fragments to 33 research laboratories across the state, to the final assembly and annotation of the 2,900 genes at the central bioinformatics laboratory in Campinas.
“It was a US$ 10 million project, although at that time a dollar was worth a real. It was the biggest scientific project that was being financed in the history of Brazil”, says Perez, in an interview with the participation of the president of Fapesp. “We thought it would be really cool to have an international committee that could come here and evaluate, every two or three months, how things were going, since there was a risk that it wouldn’t go well. I needed someone to give the go-ahead that things were going well or, if they were going bad, [indicate] how to fix it,” Reinach recalls.
Schedule
On November 21, at 9 am, the opening panel will be attended by Zago, president of Fapesp, Luiz Eugênio de Mello, scientific director of the foundation, and Reinach, manager of the Pitanga Fund and one of the creators of the Fapesp Genome Project alongside Perez , currently CEO of Recepta Biopharma.
Next, USP professor Marie-Anne Van Sluys, who was part of the Onsa network when she was still a graduate student and is a member of the Adjunct Coordination of Special Programs and Research Collaborations at Fapesp, will be the moderator of the roundtable dedicated to the topic of Pathogen Genomics. “When I remember the performance of the Onsa network, I make an analogy with a symphony orchestra, in which each member had their own score and contributed to the whole. We had a conductor, Andrew Simpson, guiding us with his baton and there was a group of first violins. But the music only took shape with everyone playing”, says Marie-Anne. Perez, Alessandra Souza (Agência Paulista de Tecnologia dos Agronegócios), Jorge Elias Kalil Filho (USP), João Marcelo Pereira Alves (USP) and, to be confirmed, a researcher from the Arthropod Genomics Research Working Group – Ag100pests Initiative, from the Department of Agriculture in the United States.
In the afternoon, the Agro-Environmental Genomics round will be held , moderated by USP professor Luis Eduardo Aranha Camargo. Participants will be Paulo Arruda (State University of Campinas), Ana Tereza Ribeiro de Vasconcelos (National Laboratory of Scientific Computing), João Carlos Setubal (USP), Claudia Barros Monteiro-Vitorello (Esalq-USP) and Mark Blaxter (Sanger Institute Darwin Tree of Life).
On November 22, in the morning, Cancer Genomics will be the topic of the roundtable led by Anamaria Aranha Camargo, researcher at Hospital Sírio-Libanês and member of the Adjunct Coordination – Life Sciences at Fapesp. Andrew Simpson (Orygen Biotechnology), Emmanuel Dias Neto (AC Camargo Cancer Center), Sergio Verjovsky (Butantan Institute) and Rui Manuel Vieira Reis (Hospital de Amor) participate in the debate. During the session, a tribute will be paid to the legacy of Professor Ricardo Renzo Brentani, former scientific director of Fapesp, who died in 2011, ending with the conference Ricardo R. Brentani In Memoriam Lecture , to be given by Chi Van Dang, scientific director of Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research.
“The knowledge generated in recent decades about the cancer genome has allowed the development of new ways of diagnosing and treating the disease. The Brazilian contribution was extremely relevant, allowing the identification of new genes and defining the profile of gene expression in rare and high-incidence tumors in Brazil”, points out Camargo.