Genomics in Latin America: Reaching the Frontiers

When an undergraduate student in science from Latin America is asked about career goals, the answer will probably invoke dreams of using cutting-edge technologies to investigate the frontiers of science. For these students, the realities of life in their countries almost always reduce their options for achieving this goal to only one: Emigrate to a developed country. Although many of these countries produce numerous international scientific papers relative to their small research budget (Macilwain 1999a), their access to the latest-generation technology is fairly limited. This is particularly true in the field of genomics, in which the need for automated, high-throughput equipment raises the cost even more. However, when done wisely, genomics research and development has proven to be an affordable reality for developing countries. Choosing the right model organism, organizing laboratory networks instead of megalaboratories, and concentrating funding on one large project instead of splitting it among many smaller ones are the methods by which genomics is succeeding in Latin America. The need for training scientists in disease-endemic countries led the World Health Organization (WHO) to pledge almost US $1 million to launch the Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), which was the first broad genomic initiative involving Latin American countries. The goal of TDR was to analyze the genomes of three protozoan and two helminth parasites that seriously affect developing countries:Trypanosoma cruzi (Chagas disease), Trypanosmoa brucei (African sleeping sickness), Leishmania major(leishmaniasis), Burgia malayi (filariasis), andSchistosoma mansoni (Schistosomiasis). The TDR projects were meant to increase knowledge of the molecular biology of these parasites and were especially oriented toward the development of therapies, vaccines, and diagnostics. North–South and South–South collaboration networks were organized so that expertise and technology could be transferred and distributed throughout these networks (Degrave et al. 1997; Johnston et al. …