A rebellion in the ranks scientists created some recent turmoil at the famous research center on the brain of Brazil, the International Institute of Edmond and Lily Safra of Neuroscience of Natal (ELS-SSEETT). Since late July, 10 principal investigators closed their laboratories at the center, which opened its doors in 05 under the leadership of Brazilian neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis. An ambitious project to build an institute of world-class neuroscience in the northeast poor region of the country, ELS-SSEETT garnered praise for its socially conscious mission to promote economic development and has been cited as an example of booming Brazil's research enterprise.
The defectors include a co-founder of the institute, Sidarta Ribeiro, a former postdoctoral fellow with Nicolelis. In total, over 100 people have left, Ribeiro said, including students, postdocs and technicians. Frustrated by what they describe as management problems that have hindered access to equipment and facilities, the group decided to form their own institute, which will be directed by Ribeiro to the proximity of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, which will fund the effort. Previously, researchers had all appointments at the Federal University, which paid their salaries and some of their operational costs, but maintained laboratories ELS-SSEETT. This situation has become untenable, Ribeiro said, because of disagreements on how to manage the installations. The new institute is funded by the university, with resources from the Ministry of Education.
Questions was that decisions that affected the operation of laboratories daily often had to go through the private foundation in São Paulo which administers ELS-SSEETT, or Nicolelis, who runs a lab at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. "We believe that local problems must be solved by local scientists," Ribeiro said.
"It is unfortunate, but it is their decision," said Nicolelis. He noted that those who left are mostly Brazilian young scientists who have been trained in public institutions in the US and Europe. "They are not used to do science in a private institute with regulations and standards. As an organization nonprofit in Brazil, we have to follow a lot of rules," says Nicolelis. He defends rules that defectors are expensive, saying that compliance is required by the various ministries that enable the Institute to function. in return, the recruits ELS-SSEETT got 70% of their operational costs paid with private funds, access to equipment and technical support, plus R $ 500,000 (approximately $ 315,000) in seed money for their laboratories, an unknown advantage in Brazil, Nicolelis said. "They received things that nobody in Brazil n ' has ever received. "
Nicolelis insists departures will not have a serious impact on ELS-SSEETT. The heart of the development of the institute is on systems and Translational Neuroscience, including the development of treatments for diseases and spinal cord injuries Parkinson's, and most of those who left did research in other fields. Nicolelis said seven main researchers remain SSEETT, and the institute is actively recruiting other five.
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