International Education Day

INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION DAY
Recover and Revitalize

Education for the
COVID-19 Generation
#EDUCATIONDAY
We've asked UNU-BIOLAC's

experts four insightful questions— to
share their valuable input and
experiences regarding the shift of
biotechnology education for Latin
America and the Caribbean, due to
the COVID-19 pandemic.
Do you think that the
SARSCoV2 pandemic
outbreak has positively
affected scientific research?
Without a doubt, the SARSCoV2 pandemic
has positively affected research in
virology. Our knowledge regarding this
kind of virus has improved. However,
research in other areas has been
negatively affected, since many
laboratories are, or have been, closed
due to the pandemic. There is a delay
in the experimental work, presentation
of theses, etc.
— Ulrike Kemmerling Weis

MSc in Sciences | PhD in Sciences | UNU-BIOLAC Expert
SARSCoV2 pandemic
Although many researchers are currently
with limited access to their labs, the
outbreak also had positive outcomes
on research. The scientists rapidly
developed vaccines and developed
d i a g n o s t i c t e c h n i q u e s, f o r e x a m p l e .
Therefore it had both pros and cons.
— Roberto Giugliani
MSc in Genetics | PhD in Sciences | UNU-BIOLAC Expert
SARSCoV2 pandemic
Absolutely. The pandemic has given the
scientific community the possibility
to show how valuable research
contribution is to society. The
SARSCoV2 pandemic has made
visible in a short time that scientific
research is not an expenditure
but an investment.
— Romina Pagotto
PhD in Science | UNU-BIOLAC Expert
Do you think that the SARSCoV2 pandemic
outbreak has positively affected scientific
research?
Without a doubt, the pandemic has greatly benefited both
science and scientists. Society and governments revalued
the pivotal role of science and its protagonists, as
those trained soldiers capable of facing, from their
laboratories, the war against the pandemic. It goes
without saying that there was a huge investment in
COVID 19 scientific projects and its consequences
worldwide. Being, of course, obtaining effective
vaccines, the main current scientific achievement.
It is the first time in the history of science that
vaccines have been developed and approved for
public use in such a short period of time. Even more
surprising is that such vaccines are saving lives today.
New technologies in the development of vaccines
are also opening the door towards the end of other
diseases that are affecting humanity today which could
be eradicated or effectively controlled in the short term.
— Julian Dib
B.Sc. Biochemist | PhD in Science | UNU-BIOLAC Expert
Do you think that the SARSCoV2 pandemic
outbreak has positively affected scientific
research?
SARSCoV2 pandemic outbreak had, certainly, a big impact on scientific
research, but I am not sure to qualify uncritically this impact as
positive. It is certain that the pandemic put science in the center of the
discussion and let clear that we need more science and more research to
face new challenging situations like this. But not everybody thinks in this
way. Many anti-scientific speeches also increased their intensity, and social
media amplified their impact on people. The huge rejection of vaccines among
French people, an economically and scientifically developed country with a
powerful education system, says that the phenomena could be more complex
than we thought.
Nowadays, a huge amount of information, even primary scientific production,

is available for everybody on the internet. The politic of open source was
conceived itself as a pass ahead into science's democratization. However,
that fact that scientific knowledge was available at the same level, and under
similar formats, that newspapers or fake news sites, was deliberately used by
anti-science militants to generate misinterpretations and confusion. We
don´t have to minimize this situation. In my opinion, it is necessary, at least,
to revise deeply the way we communicate science.
— Esteban Serra
PhD in Sciences | UNU-BIOLAC Expert
SARSCoV2 pandemic
I do not believe that the pandemic
has had positive effects in any area,
as it has forced many researchers to
abandon their lines of research to
get to work on the emergency. Also,
since the Sars-CoV-2 outbreak
reflects a global environmental
deterioration, you can't have any
positive thoughts about it.
— Claudia Piccini
M.Sc. PEDECIBA | PhD. PEDECIBA | UNU-BIOLAC Expert
Due to the telecommuting
working arrangement, how
has your specific area of
research been affected
during the pandemic?
My specific area, host-parasite
interaction, has been affected
negatively due to the fact that our
University closed the laboratories and
access to the Faculty. However, I was
able to publish a very significant
number of manuscripts.

Due to the telecommuting working
arrangement, how has your
specific area of research been
affected during the pandemic?
D u e t o t h e r e m o t e w o r k , w e h a d t o m a k e s o m e a d a p t a t i o n s.
The monitoring of our studies and visits to the observational
centres were not and still cannot be carried out in order not
to put rare disease patients, their families and the entire
multidisciplinary team that accompanies them at risk of
contamination. Coronavirus is in the spotlight, but other
rare diseases also have a difficult diagnosis, restricted and
expensive treatments. Due to the pandemic, we had delays
at the beginning of the construction of the centre for the
care of rare diseases - Casa dos Raros - in which I am one of
the creators and which will offer gene therapy and state-of-
the-art treatments for patients with rare diseases.
arrangement, how has your specific
area of research been affected
I work in the area of cell culture
technology, where most of the
activities require presence. During the
first months of the pandemic, laboratory
activities were reduced to a minimum
level. On the other hand, activities like
writing papers, elaborating research
proposals, or analyzing data were
prioritized. In this context, teleworking
allowed us to keep working from home on
our research while looking after
everyone's health.
— Romina Pagotto
arrangement, how has your specific area of
research been affected during the pandemic?
In our field, the main scientific tasks occur daily in the laboratory.
It is there where we develop our experiments to carry out projects and
developments, in my particular case, in the microbial biotechnology
area. The pandemic has forced us to readjust and try to set us in the
right track. In the beginning, laboratories were closed. Then, our group
began working from home focusing on more intellectual and empirical
work, changing the laboratory benches, for a desk job.
The first thing we did was focusing on the analysis of results already
obtained, writing scientific articles and publishing them in specialized
journals. In this sense, we reached our objectives with flying colours and
we even got international grants for our projects. Not only have we
devised new projects but we have also improved our working protocols, in
such a way that we are ready for the reopening of the laboratories. Overall,
the pandemic has challenged us to continue generating knowledge,
even outside our traditional workplaces.
— Julian Dib
arrangement, how has your specific area of
research been affected during the pandemic?
During 2020 we have learned that many activities, like personal or group
meetings and teaching, can be done at home using online tools. As
expected, there was a learning curve to transit; but results were in many
cases, surprising. We know now that virtuality arrived to stay. Certainly,
face-to-face and virtual activities will coexist from here to the future,
perhaps configured into new hybrid forms. However, in our work, some in-
person activities cannot be replaced. The lockdown of the Universities and
Research Centers had, and still has, a strong impact in the advance of
projects. Even if the situation was partially reverted nowadays, science is a
gregarious activity and new normality impose restrictions that promote
isolation and make the laboratory work a less reach and, could say a more
sterilized experience.
On the other hand, the teaching of experimental disciplines has also

suffered a lot. Even though the number of in silico resources we have
learnt, some hand practices are very hard, if not impossible, to
internalize without a real experience in the laboratory. I really hope that
in the near future, thanks to vaccines, we could recover the whole experience
of teaching and investigate at laboratories, our true passion.
— Esteban Serra
arrangement, how has your specific
area of research been affected
Yes, since my research area is Microbial
ecology and diversity and we could
not perform samplings, lab work,
sequencing, etc.
— Claudia Piccini
Maintaining an academic curriculum
has always been challenging, but
due to the quarantine — what new
pedagogies have had to be applied
to keep performance on its peak?
Our courses had to be adapted into the
online version. It was quite challenging at
the beginning of the pandemic, however,
some activities have improved. For
instance, we changed traditional
microscopy laboratories for histology
teaching into “virtual microscopy”.
Virtual Microscopy allows us to show
better images and improve the
autonomy of our students. Moreover,
the students were happy with this
new method.

The Covid-19 pandemic imposed a new

routine. The use of videoconferencing
apps and digital platforms were and
will be essential tools for maintaining
scientific interactions with the world.
Online courses, virtual scientific

meetings, and webinars became
invaluable tools to keep learning
and update knowledge during the
last year.
— Romina Pagotto
Maintaining an academic curriculum has always
been challenging, but due to the quarantine —
what new pedagogies have had to be applied to
keep performance on its peak?
I work as a professor at the Institute of Microbiology at the National
University of Tucumán, in Argentina. At the beginning of the pandemic,
academic activities were completely suspended, with no laboratories or
classes for students. Both teachers and students have been waiting for the
situation to be reversed, which has not happened to date. This generated an
almost natural and gradual alternation, to virtual teaching, with its respective
learning tools. It was a tremendous challenge, especially for most teachers
unfamiliar with IT devices. Those who can master such technologies have
worked collaboratively to ensure teachers are able to use virtual teaching
platforms effectively. This allowed, in a relatively short time, to standardize
the classes in the best way possible.
Obviously, virtual tools also have the limitations for practical work in
laboratories, activities that are irreplaceable and require to be on-site.
Even so, and with many pending face-to-face activities, the students did not
miss their academic year, and many were even able to finish their studies
on time. Unfortunately, many students were excluded because they did not
have the necessary resources to receive a virtual education, such as an
adequate internet connection, a mobile phone or a computer. The latter limits
universal education in pandemic times, something that must be solved in
a short time to generate equal opportunities throughout the educational
community.
— Julian Dib
Maintaining an academic curriculum has always
been challenging, but due to the quarantine —
what new pedagogies have had to be applied to
keep performance on its peak?
As I have already said, the challenge last year

for teachers was to adapt our practices to the
conditions established by the pandemic
outbreak. Many of us constated that there
were a number of very performant tools ready
to be used that were unknown for us. Even
late, good for us! I am sure that the 2020´s
experience, and certainly what we have still
to do during 2021, will have a severe impact
in the future curricula from university careers.
I think that the challenge for the future is to
learn to use this paradigm shift to improve
and democratize the availability of
superior education in our region.
— Esteban Serra
I believe that if a year of health
emergency affects the curriculum of
the people, it means that we are
part of a scientific, productivist
society, superficial and based
only on empty numbers and
without meaning. I am not
interested in belonging to that
community.
— Claudia Piccini
In your opinion, what is the
future of biotechnology
education in the Latam
region during these
demanding times?
Probably, the teaching of theoretical
knowledge will be more and more
online. However, specific areas such as
molecular biology require practical skills
that can not be acquired exclusively by
o n l i n e t e a c h i n g. O n t h e o t h e r h a n d ,
bioinformatic analysis can be acquired
online. Probably, in the near future, we
will be teaching in a mixed (online and
traditionally) way.

region during these
demanding times?
The researchers are already adapting to
provide courses that can be performed
online, therefore I believe we will see
more initiatives of this type. Practical
sessions, however, will still need
some type of activity “in loco”,
therefore I believe we will see
some hybrid events in the field
in the next years.
region during these
demanding times?
In my opinion, biotechnology education
in the Latam region should be focused
on developing qualified professionals
to encourage social and economic
developments while fostering
international networking that
stimulates collaborative actions.
— Romina Pagotto
In your opinion, what is the future of biotechnology
education in the Latam region during these
demanding times?
In recent times I have been in contact with professors and
colleagues from different countries in Latin America. The
same phenomenon occurred for all. Not only did teaching
become a virtual activity in Latin America, but also
practically all related academic activities. Although many
activities were suspended by their organizers, the
majority chose to adapt to the current situation with
online courses, congresses and seminars, including
the so-called Webinars. There was an immense academic
demand for distance training and courses, by means of
videoconferencing tools. This made it possible to bring
together students and teachers from different parts of
the world in virtual classrooms, something that before
the pandemic was unusual and perhaps not viable.
Many universities also have taken the opportunity to
launch virtual student exchange programs, where
students from Argentine universities, for example, have
carried out part of their studies at universities in Mexico,
Uruguay or Brazil. Virtuality, by its nature and scope,
has broken down many barriers creating new spaces
for knowledge and exchange.
— Julian Dib
In your opinion, what is the future of
biotechnology education in the
Latam region during these
demanding times?
We could see this year that some
countries like Mexico, Brazil o Argentina
have biotechnological capabilities to
produce vaccines by joint ventures with
other countries' institutions, as well as
to produce diagnostic kits. However, we
are far to be able to develop our own
vaccines and our own technologies. We
certainly need more biotechnology in the
Latin America and Caribbean region to
accomplish the full technologic and
economic development of our region.
— Esteban Serra
region during these
demanding times?
I think that person to person contact
is essential for humans to learn and
to grow, so telecommunication,
virtual work and teaching will not
be sustainable at long term.
— Claudia Piccini

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Recover and Revitalize

We've asked UNU-BIOLAC's

— Ulrike Kemmerling Weis

Nowadays, a huge amount of information, even primary scientific production,

— Ulrike Kemmerling Weis

On the other hand, the teaching of experimental disciplines has also

— Ulrike Kemmerling Weis

The Covid-19 pandemic imposed a new

Online courses, virtual scientific

As I have already said, the challenge last year

— Ulrike Kemmerling Weis

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