The Bunge y Born Foundation has made a significant donation towards the new library being built by the Sales Foundation for the Experimental Medicine and Biology Institute (IBYME).
Founded in 1944, the IBYME is a scientific institute with international prestige which has been operating out of its headquarters in Vuelta de Obligado and Monroe in the district of Belgrano in Buenos Aires since 1959. Renowned figures in their field, such as Dr Bernardo A. Houssay and Luis Federico Leloir, both Nobel prize winners, were in their day active participants in the area of research which received support from the Bunge y Born Foundation right from the beginning. Today, leading figures from the scientific community work in the Institute.
The material for the library includes periodicals, textbooks and theses (commissioned by the Institute itself) and will be housed in highly modern facilities for consultation by researchers from the institute, as well as other national institutes and from abroad.

The library is also expected to house the largest single collection of international reviews collected by Dr. Houssay since 1945, as well as the digitalized annual reports of the Institute’s activities which will also include the theses commissioned by the Institute up until the present day.

The director of the library works, Arq. Fabiola Lanari, daughter of Alfredo Lanari who was awarded the Bunge y Born Prize in 1971, standing in the main reading room.

Partial view of the glass exterior.

The Bunge y Born Foundation is providing a significant donation to the Biostructural Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging Unit which is being built by the Leloir Institute Foundation at its headquarters opposite the Parque Centenario in Buenos Aires. The donation will cover the acquisition of the high-field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance machine which is valued at 900 000 dollars.

The Unit aims to bridge the scientific and technological gap between biological discoveries and molecular mechanisms by developing Structural Biology, which is a new area in Argentina and key to modern-day biotechnological study. It will provide a major stimulus for the many investigations being carried out at the laboratories at the Leloir Institute Foundation.

The initial team in charge of the Unit will include two Argentine researchers, who are currently working in the MRI laboratory at the Science Faculty of the “Tor Vergara” University in Rome. They will be returning to Argentina in mid-2010 to take up their posts.

Internal view of the new Unit.

External view of the building which will house the Unit.

A program of medical assistance visits has been organized with the support of the Bunge y Born Foundation and a group of doctors from the Austral University Hospital led by Dr. Raul Valdez. The program provides free dermatological treatment to the descendants of the indigenous peoples living in the Calchaquies Valleys in the provinces of Salta and Catamarca. Many of these are suffering from actinic prurigus.

In September and October, two more trips were organized (being the 8th and 9th visits) to the Calchaquies Valleys and treatment was provided to people living in the districts of Amaicha, La Puerta, El Refugio, Seclantás, Gualfin, Tacuil and La Aguadita in the province of Salta. Subsequently, the team moved on to the districts of Santa María, San José, Palo Seco, Agua Amarilla, La Quebrada, Cerro Colorado and Lampacito in Northeast Catamarca.

During both trips, 791 people received treatment for general dermatological infections, while follow-up and further treatment was provided to 22 patients already diagnosed with actinic prurigus and another 12 cases were detected. Local doctors and health workers were trained in the areas of prevention and healthcare education for the community particularly at school-age level.

The patients suffering from this dermatological infection improve significantly with the right care and medication.

Actinic prurigus is a primary idiopathic photo-dermatosis included in the roster of so-called “orphan diseases” which mostly affect American native populations or creole and mixed race communities who live in areas of a high altitude (typically, over 1000 meters above sea level).

The cause of the disease is as yet unknown, although it is believed that there are different factors which have an influence on its development, including environmental and geographic conditions as well as genetics. Solar radiation (UVA and UVB rays) triggers an inflammatory reaction in those areas of skin which are exposed to sunlight in individuals who are genetically predisposed to the illness. Solar exposition is also exacerbated by other variables such as altitude, thin air and bright sunlight, dryness and working outside in the sunshine, among others.

The project is also receiving support from the Austral University, the Augustinian Social Service and the Andromaco Laboratories.

The medical team on its way to Salta.

The medical team at Pto. Sanitario "El Refugio".

This program was set up in 2004 to help generate new knowledge on the Chagas Disease which will help in the areas of prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

The Bunge y Born Foundation holds a competition every two years for Research into Chagas Disease in order to select, promote and support certain projects chosen for their originality and/or relevance which aim to be implemented among the human population as part of applied research in clinics (diagnosis and/or treatment) and at operational level (evaluation of strategies and intervention strategies for vector and non-vector transmission). 

The third competition was presided by a Jury panel consisting of specialists such as Drs. Stella Maris González Cappa, Héctor Freilij, Juan José Cazzulo, Ricardo Gürtler, Mariano Levin and Sergio Sosa Estani. The Jury not only selected the projects but is also responsible for carrying out the necessary follow-up by means of reports presented on a yearly basis by the project leaders detailing the progress achieved in each case. The Jury’s evaluation of the results achieved at the end of the first year determines whether the project will receive funding for a second year.

At the end of 2009, the Jury renewed the seven projects it selected in 2008 for a second year of subsidies.

Chagas Disease is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma Cruzi which is transmitted to humans by ticks which feed off human blood or that of domestic animals, and defecate in the wounds, leaving parasites to find their way into the blood stream through the lesion. Over time, these parasites reach vital organs such as the heart, colon, esophagus, intestines and the peripheral nervous system and cause serious diseases.

Health workers sprying homes in El Impenetrable, province of Chaco.

The Bunge y Born Foundation has stepped up its involvement in the area of health and Biological Sciences with the award of a new line of biannual subsidies aimed to fund research into infectious diseases “in the framework of those considered to be neglected, with particular emphasis on parasitical and vector-transmitted diseases which give rise to serious problems and disability in humans, sometimes resulting in death.”

The neglected diseases are a group of infections especially endemic in low-income populations in developing regions: inhabitants of remote rural areas, marginalized suburban districts or conflict zones which continue to affect the population as little action is taken to combat them and they are low down on the list of public health priorities. The lack of reliable statistical information has also made it harder to bring infectious diseases into the light of day. In Argentina, these include Echinococcosis or cystic hydatid disease, Leptospirosis, Leishmaniasis, hemorrhagic fever and the hantavirus. 

In most cases, the diseases are closely associated with the quality of drinking water and poor living and sanitary conditions. Children are the most vulnerable to these illnesses which each year kill or permanently disable a significant number of people all over the world. However, they can be prevented, eliminated and even eradicated. Support for new research into the organisms that cause them can help to improve control measures.

A Jury panel made up of the doctors Sergio Ángel, Diana Masih, Andrea Gamarnik, Gerardo Mirkin, Mara Rosenzvit, Nicolás Scheigmann and Mercedes Weissenbacher, was responsible for choosing the winning projects. The panel took into account the originality and relevance of the proposals, as well as the coherence between objectives, hypothesis, methodology and the project leader’s experience as well as that of his or her team.

At the end of 2009, the Jury panel analyzed and evaluated the progress achieved in each one of the six projects selected in 2008 contained in the reports presented by the project leaders and decided in each case to renew the subsidy for a second year.

Working with rodents in the hantavirus study centers in the pre-Delta area in Entre Rios.

 

The FULBRIGHT - BUNGE Y BORN FOUNDATION RESEARCH AWARDS are granted on a competitive basis to young researchers to help them progress and complete their doctorate work in universities or research centers in the United States. In return, they must commit to finalizing and presenting their doctoral thesis preferably within a period of 18 months as from their return to Argentina.

The six-month scholarships are granted on a one-time basis and cover an economy class return ticket by air from the country of origin, a daily living allowance and health insurance.

Once all the projects submitted have been evaluated, a selection committee makes known the names of the candidates who have been awarded the Scholarship. These names receive final approval by the Fulbright Scholarship Board in the United States.

Fulbright Scholarship winners. Bunge y Born Foundation 2009. Lehmann Mántaras, Segura, Andreo, Vignolo and Capece.

The program which lasts four years, aims to help achieve improvements in learning in public education establishments located in underprivileged communities from the provinces of Tucumán, Chaco, Corrientes, Buenos Aires and Santa Cruz. The Bunge y Born Foundation is working with the program in the field of Natural Sciences, helping teachers to plan, carry out and evaluate their lesson plans.

ight monthly training meetings will be held with the teachers from each province with the aim of installing new capacities by the end of the meetings. These should have a visible influence on the formation of technical teams in study areas and in the schools as a whole in terms of the techniques used to enhance planning, evaluation and academic performance and thus contribute to improvements in teaching and learning

Observatory of Good Nutritional Practices.

The Bunge y Born Foundation is providing support for the Agrobusiness and Foodstuffs Program being carried out by the University of Buenos Aires and Eticagro for the creation and upkeep of the Observatory of Good Nutritional Practices in the agrofoods sector.

The Observatory project aims to identify, analyze, validate, disseminate and act as a multiplier of practices performed by companies from the agrofoods sector which contribute significantly to society in terms of nutrition and health because of their impact on what people eat.

The Observatory is also involved in research on healthy diets and the challenges faced by public policy makers in this area. One of its most recent studies, “We must change the daily menu of the Argentines” (“Hay que cambiar la mesa de los argentinos”) was awarded a Prize for Scientific Study by the Argentine Nutrition Congress in 2009 .

Prize Winners:

	Dr. Víctor A. Ramos, Fundación Bunge y Born Prize 2009 » See the veredict of the Jury Panel » Download CV
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	Dr. Federico M. Dávila, Incentive Prize for Young Scientists 2009 » See the veredict of the Jury Panel » Download CV
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