Mulheres na ciência: relato do caso do projeto 'Meu verão na Fiocruz' / Women in science: a case report of the 'My summer at Fiocruz' project

RESUMO No início do ano de 2020, foi realizado no Instituto de Pesquisas Aggeu Magalhães (IAM), unidade da Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz) em Pernambuco, o projeto 'Meu verão na Fiocruz', cujo objetivo era permitir o acesso de meninas de escolas públicas do ensino médio aos laboratórios da instituição, para desenvolver curtos projetos de iniciação científica e, adicionalmente, debater sobre o tema da luta feminista para redução da desigualdade de gênero e raça no campo da ciência. Este artigo é um relato de experiência sobre o projeto. A divulgação do projeto foi realizada em oito escolas pelo Observatório Feminista do Nordeste, a inscrição para seleção foi feita por meio do envio de vídeos de um minuto, e a orientação nas pesquisas foi realizada por pesquisadoras de cinco laboratórios do IAM. No total, foram selecionadas 12 meninas que frequentaram os laboratórios de janeiro a fevereiro de 2020. O projeto culminou com a realização de um evento ocorrido no Dia Internacional das Mulheres e Meninas na Ciência. Ao final, foram identificados gargalos que dificultam o acesso de jovens de comunidades periféricas aos programas de iniciação científica, e os caminhos que podem ser seguidos para acelerar esse processo na academia, principalmente no campo da saúde.

ABSTRACT From January to February of 2020, the 'My summer at Fiocruz' project was carried out at the Aggeu Magalhães Institute (IAM), an Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) unit located in the state of Pernambuco, whose aim was to allow girls from public high schools to access the institution's laboratories in order to develop short scientific research projects, and additionally, to debate the theme of the feminist struggle to reduce gender and race inequality in the field of science. This article is a case study about the project. The project was publicized by the Feminist Observatory of the Northeast at eight schools, the application for selection was done by sending one-minute videos, and the mentoring was carried out by women researchers from five IAM laboratories. In total, 12 girls were selected, who attended the laboratories from January to February 2020. The project culminated with an event held at the institution on February 11, 2020, the date on which the International Day of Women and Girls in Science is celebrated. Finally, the main difficulties for access to undergraduate research programs were identified, as well as the ways that could be followed to accelerate such a process in academia, mainly in the field of health.

Sensitivity of RT-PCR method in samples shown to be positive for Zika virus by RT-qPCR in vector competence studies

Abstract Tissue samples from mosquitoes artificially infected with Zika virus and shown to be positive by RT-qPCR were reexamined by RT-PCR. Using these samples we compared the two methods employed in virus RNA detection for vector competence studies. Results demonstrated that, albeit useful, RT-PCR gave false negatives with low viral loads (< 106 RNA copies/ml).

Spatial and temporal country-wide survey of temephos resistance in Brazilian populations of Aedes aegypti

The organophosphate temephos has been the main insecticide used against larvae of the dengue and yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) in Brazil since the mid-1980s. Reports of resistance date back to 1995; however, no systematic reports of widespread temephos resistance have occurred to date. As resistance investigation is paramount for strategic decision-making by health officials, our objective here was to investigate the spatial and temporal spread of temephos resistance in Ae. aegypti in Brazil for the last 12 years using discriminating temephos concentrations and the bioassay protocols of the World Health Organization. The mortality results obtained were subjected to spatial analysis for distance interpolation using semi-variance models to generate maps that depict the spread of temephos resistance in Brazil since 1999. The problem has been expanding. Since 2002-2003, approximately half the country has exhibited mosquito populations resistant to temephos. The frequency of temephos resistance and, likely, control failures, which start when the insecticide mortality level drops below 80%, has increased even further since 2004. Few parts of Brazil are able to achieve the target 80% efficacy threshold by 2010/2011, resulting in a significant risk of control failure by temephos in most of the country. The widespread resistance to temephos in Brazilian Ae. aegypti populations greatly compromise effective mosquito control efforts using this insecticide and indicates the urgent need to identify alternative insecticides aided by the preventive elimination of potential mosquito breeding sites.

High prevalence and lack of diversity of Wolbachia pipientis in Aedes albopictus populations from Northeast Brazil

The use of Wolbachia as a tool to control insect vectors has recently been suggested. In this context, studies on the prevalence and diversity of this bacterium in wild populations are relevant. Here, we evaluated the diversity of two Wolbachiagenes (ftsZ and wsp) and the prevalence of this endosymbiont in wild Aedes albopictus. Using semi-nested polymerase chain reaction, our results showed that 99.3 percent of the individuals were superinfected with Wolbachia. In regards to genetic diversity, the two genes showed no variation within or among mosquito populations. An analysis of other Wolbachia markers may help to clarify the relationship between insect and endosymbiont.

Abordagem molecular no diagnóstico laboratorial da filária linfática: Wuchereria bancrofti / Molecular approach in the laboratorial diagnosis of the lymphatic filariasis by Wuchereria bancrofti

A utlização dos testes parasitológicos sanguíneos no diagnóstico da infecção pela filária linfática Wuchereria bancrofti possui um fator limitante, o horário da coleta. Na maioria das regiões do mundo esse parasita apresenta uma periodicidade noturna quanto às suas microfilárias presentes no sangue periférico do hospedeiro humano, com picos de densidade entre 23 horas e 1 hora da manhã. A proposta da presente revisão foi a de enfatizar novas perspectivas no diagnóstico laboratorial da infecção pela W. bancrofti que possam ser utilizadas com amostras diurnas. A aplicação de técnicas de biologia molecular no diagnóstico, na busca do DNA (estrutural ou livre) filarial, parece bastante promissora tanto em pools de mosquitos como nos diversos líquidos biológicos, na medida em que essas técnicas permitem detectar: 1) DNA em amostras sanguíneas coletadas no período diurno; 2) DNA livre em infecções ocultas; 3) DNA livre circulante em líquidos biológicos com coleta não-invasiva; 4) menos de 1 por cento de DNA de uma microfilária em um pool de até cem mosquitos. Desta forma, a presente revisão chama a atenção do leitor para a disponibilidade de ensaios que envolvem a biologia molecular e utilizam a técnica da reação em cadeia da polimerase (PCR) como fonte alternativa de diagnóstico da bancroftose. Permitem ainda diagnosticar especificamente infecções causadas pela W. bancrofti em áreas onde coexistem outras filárias.