The PPGBA has an international network of partners composed of researchers from various universities in Europe, North America, and South America. These actions took place throughout the four-year period with countries such as Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Argentina, Spain, the United States, France, Portugal, among others. Actions related to institutional agreements are encouraged by the Graduate Studies Office.
Currently, the Program has a student from Peru (OAS/GCUBUFRPE Agreement) and a student from Ecuador who joined in 2019. In 2018, UFRPE participated in the Capes-PrInt call, and PPGBA had its project approved within the institutional context, beginning its activities in 2019. Within the institutional internationalization project, PPGBA focused on two strategic themes: Theme 1. Agricultural production systems, biodiversity, and sustainability: Objective Title: Epidemiology, development, and standardization of diagnostic techniques for diseases. Theme 2. Future-bearing technologies (Nanotechnology). Objective: To develop and characterize systems for the controlled release of drugs at the nanoscale for veterinary use. The Language Center at UFRPE is active in preparing PPGBA students.
In 2019, professors Leucio Alves and Rafael Ramos undertook a work mission to the University of Georgia. The mission aimed to establish cooperation agreements involving teaching, research, and extension with the Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases at the College of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Georgia. In this context, we approved the visit of Prof. Ray Kaplan, who taught the Special Topics course in November 2019, focusing on anti-helminthic resistance and diagnosis of this parasitosis to PPGBA students. The course included participation from program students and was offered in English. At the end, students presented a seminar in English that facilitated interaction among students, faculty, and Prof. Kaplan. This researcher also met with the CAPES-PrInt Committee of the Program, where matters regarding cooperation between UFRPE and the University of Georgia were discussed. Subsequently, he held a meeting with the Program Board to discuss the strengths of cooperation between PPGBA and the University of Georgia. At another time, still under CAPES-PrInt, Professors Leucio Alves and Rafael Ramos made a technical visit to the University of Georgia in October 2019 to establish an agreement to promote cooperation in teaching, research, and extension with the Department of Infectious Diseases at the College of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Georgia. At the end of the mission, a proposal for a letter of intent was established to conduct exchange activities between UGA and PPGBA in the areas of sandwich doctorate, post-doctorates, and PVE, in addition to discussing the joint doctorate regime between both universities.
Another PVE who visited PPGBA in 2019 was Prof. Lorenzo Pastrana from the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Braga, Portugal. He engaged in scientific cooperation activities and taught the Nanoencapsulation course to UFRPE graduate students.
In 2019-2020, Professor Pabyton Cadena undertook a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Indiana University, Purdue University Indianapolis, USA. The faculty member developed a research project focused on developmental biology using Zebrafish (Danio rerio) as an animal model under the supervision of Professor James Marrs from the Department of Biology at IUPUI. Additionally, funding was requested in the USA for a project involving Professor Pabyton Cadena's participation. A partnership was also established for a student to go through the PDSE program in 2020, as well as collaborative research projects between UFRPE and IUPUI.
In 2019-2020, doctoral student Marcus Falcão engaged in activities with a PDSE scholarship at ANSES/France (Unité de Zoonoses Bactériennes, ANSES Maisons-Alfort, France). The student developed a project related to the molecular characterization and genome study of Burkholderia mallei isolated from equids with glanders. This international collaboration between the groups resulted in a technical cooperation agreement between the Infectious Diseases laboratory at UFRPE and ANSES, Alimentación, Environnement, Travail for research in the area of equine health, specifically concerning Glanders and Melioidosis.
Student Ana Cláudia de Sousa was a PDSE scholarship holder through CAPES Print from November 2019 to March 2020. The sandwich doctorate abroad was conducted at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, focusing on the investigation of the role of PDE5 in skeletal muscle atrophy in diabetic mice, conducted at the Department of Histology and Medical Embryology of the aforementioned university.
Another important agreement was made with the Department of Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology at Texas A&M, TAMU, through Prof. VAN WILSON, Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies.
Another international partnership that significantly advanced international actions is the research developed between Prof. Rinaldo Mota (coordinator of the Network in Brazil) and researchers from the Complutense University of Madrid and other researchers from Latin America in the Network Project funded by CYTED of the Spanish government. This network includes several researchers from institutions in countries such as Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Costa Rica, and various companies from different countries in Europe and Latin America, seeking solutions to facilitate the development of products such as serological and molecular diagnostic tests for diseases and vaccines for some economically impactful reproductive diseases worldwide. The international network approved in the CYTED call (PROTOZOOOVAC) is the abbreviation for the thematic network titled: “Diagnosis and Control of Reproductive Protozoonoses in Cattle.” The general objective of this thematic network is to improve the coordination, standardization, and validation of diagnostic and control methods for reproductive protozoonoses in cattle among the laboratories of the participating Ibero-American countries in this network. International Researcher Participants in the Network: Carlos Campero, INTA EEA Balcarce, Argentina, Marcelo Fort, INTA, Balcarce, Argentina, EEA Anguil, Cecilia Venturini, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina, Rinaldo Aparecido Mota, PPGBA, UFRPE, María José Navarrete Talloni, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Martin Orlando Pulido Medellin, Universidad Tecnológica de Colombia, Tunja, Gaby Dolz Wiedner, Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica, Heredia; Luis M. Ortega Mora, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain, Julio Benavides Silván, Universidad de León. Instituto de Ganadería de Montaña, CSIC, León, Spain; Carlos Cruz, Instituto Tecnológico “El Llano”, Mexico, Enrique Serrano Martínez, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Peru, America Mederos, INIA (Tacuarembo), Uruguay. PARTICIPATING COMPANIES IN THE NETWORK: Laboratorio Azul, Argentina, Inmunología y Genética Aplicada S.A. (INGENASA), Spain www.ingenasa.eu/Elia Orroella Laboratorios HIPRA, S.A. (LABORATORIOS HIPRA), www.hipra.com/ Leyva Baca Ivan Termo Fisher Scientific, Mexico. This international network allowed for close contact with different research groups and participation in meetings, international lectures in countries such as Mexico, Argentina, and Spain to disseminate research results in this area conducted at PPGBA. It also enabled the implementation of high-precision techniques at PPGBA. The network also facilitated the exchange of researchers between participating laboratories and the execution of postdoctoral research.
In 2017, and continued in 2018, 2019, and 2020, an international cooperation partnership was established between the research group on mastitis in ruminants, coordinated by Prof. Rinaldo Mota, and Dr. Sarne de Vlieghera of Ghent University in Belgium. Brief History: Ghent University has created a strong scientific reputation and is known for its scientific excellence in various fields, notably in Veterinary Medicine, where it is currently the leading university in the world according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities.
In 2018, two students from PPGBA undertook research activities related to their thesis projects for a period of three months in this laboratory, focusing on the health of the mammary gland in ruminants.
Another important international partnership established in 2017 and ongoing in 2020 was with Ohio State University between the group of Professor Rinaldo Mota and Professor Dr. Luciana Bignard. In 2018, two doctoral students were at Ohio State University carrying out activities in a sandwich doctoral modality. These students joined the American group to gain experience and develop skills in cutting-edge molecular methods such as PCR, PFGE, RAPD, and MALDI-TOF to characterize and genotype bacterial infectious agents obtained from mastitis in sheep and goats. Brief history: Mastitis and Milk Quality Laboratory: this laboratory belongs to the Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, known for maintaining international partnerships with the Global Health Program (GHP). This program, together with the Asia-Pacific Veterinary Public Health Center (VPH-CAP) and the Universities of East Africa and Northeast Brazil (UFPB), established a global consortium (VPH-Biotech Global Consortium) within the scope of zoonoses and food safety under the "One Health" model. Dr. Luciana from Ohio State University was a co-supervisor of the doctoral student, Guilherme Santana de Moura from PPGBA, and participated in his thesis defense committee. She also maintains other projects in partnership with us, including an International Journal Club aimed at discussing and writing scientific articles with an international network of researchers in the area of mastitis, being a support program for small ruminant producers in the State of Ohio, USA, through technical articles and consultancy, a model we intend to implement in herds in Pernambuco.
The PDSE student, Guilherme Santana, was awarded for the quality of the research project at this university in an international event for foreign students. Professor Ana Porto has international partnerships with Professor Attilio Converti from the University of Genoa, Italy; Professor Tereza Neves from the University of Algarve, Portugal; Professor Vladimir Uversky from the Department of Molecular Biology at the University of South Florida, USA; Professor Lorenzo Pastrana from the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Portugal; and Professor José Couto Teixeira from the University of Minho, Portugal.
In 2020, the II Symposium on Technology and Recovery of Bioactive Products (II SIMTERBIO) and the I International Biotechnology Webinar were held from December 15 to 17, 2020, online, organized by the Bioactive Technology Laboratory of PPGBA, with participation from researchers in this international group. The event discussed topics in biotechnology applied to different industrial areas.
Professor Gustavo Ferrer has international partnerships with: Utrecht University, Netherlands, Department of Equine Sciences (DES), Collaborating Researcher: Professor Juan Cuervo-Arango, Research Project: Morphological and vascular aspects of the corpus luteum by ultrasound parameters correlating with ovulation time in mares; University of California Davis, Collaborating Researchers: Professors Irwin K Liu, Allan Conley, and Stuart Meyers, Research Project: Effect of PGE1 (Misoprostol) for the treatment of a mare with idiopathic infertility; Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo Leon, Collaborating Researcher: Juan José Vázquez Sánchez, Project: Infertility associated with oviductal blockages and its treatment; Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Collaborating Researcher: Pedro González (Project: Aspects of cytoplasmic maturation in equine oocytes).
Professor Pabyton Cadena has an international partnership with Professor James Alan Marrs from Indiana University. The professor did a postdoctoral internship in 2019 and 2020 at this university and has one student approved from PPGBA to travel to IUPUI. Professor Marrs will also come to Brazil under the CAPES Print program to teach a course in PPGBA and participate in other academic activities with students and faculty. In 2020, three articles were published in collaboration with researchers from IUPUI.
Professor Anísio Soares maintains a technical cooperation agreement with the four Veterinary Medicine Colleges in France, which allowed for the approval of the project in the BRAFAGRI/CAPES Program. Current Project Title: Bilateral Training in Veterinary Medicine focusing on Veterinary Public Health and Health of Companion and Production Animals. Established partnerships: Ecole Nationale Véterinaire Maison Alfort, Paris/France; Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse, Toulouse/France; Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire Agroalimentaire et l’Alimentation Nantes Atlantique, ONIRIS, Nantes/France; Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Lyon, VetAgroSup, Lyon/France. He also has a partnership and technical cooperation agreement with the University of Rome “La Sapienza,” which allowed for the visit of Professor Fabio NARO as a visiting professor to teach a course in the program and co-supervise master’s and doctoral students. It also allowed for the short-term internship of Professor Anna Jaguaribe de Lima and has scheduled the visit of Professor Anísio Soares as a visiting professor. He has also received graduates from our program to pursue full doctoral studies with scholarships from the Italian government, such as Thais Maria da Conceição Silva, PhD student from “La Sapienza”; Bruna Sabino Pinho de Oliveira, PhD student from “La Sapienza”; Ana Gabriela Rêgo, PhD student from “La Sapienza.”
Another agreement was signed with the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon, which allowed the visit of Professor Alain GÉLOËN as a visiting professor to teach a course in the program. It also selected a graduate student from the PPGBA, Yuri Albuquerque, to pursue a PhD in his laboratory with a scholarship from the French government, l’INSA-Lyon/France. There is also a partnership with the Olga Cossetinni Institute in Rosario, Argentina, developing the project on Inclusive Education in Teacher Training; the exchange of experience and internship for training teachers in both directions has already resulted in the publication of the book: Strengthening Inclusion in Higher Education.
Professor Mércia Barros has an agreement with ZINPRO ANIMAL NUTRITION (Eden Prairie, Minnesota 55344 USA) initiated in 2016 with Alba Fireman, Regional RNS manager – South America of ZINPRO Animal Nutrition (Brazil) Commercial Ltda along with Professor Carlos Bôa-Viagem Rabello from the Department of Animal Science at UFRPE.
In 2019, a partnership was also established with the company Nutrimais. Funded projects: Title: Performance evaluation of laying hens fed with complexed minerals during raising and production phases Financier: ZINPRO Animal Nutrition (Project approved via FADURPE) Period: October 2016 to 2019 (Completed) Total Amount: R$ 338,618.31. 2. Title: Performance evaluation of laying hens fed different sources of trace minerals during the production phase Financier: ZINPRO Animal Nutrition (Purchases made directly by ZINPRO) Period: 2017 to 2019 Total Amount: R$ 78,000.00 (Completed). 3. Title: Effect of different sources and levels of microminerals in laying hen diets, with or without the inclusion of phytase Financier: ZINPRO Animal Nutrition Period: 2018 to 2021 (Ongoing) Total Amount: R$ 243,053.18 (UFRPE x ZINPRO agreement project). Institutional Relations and Agreements Center (NURIC). 4. Title: Performance, egg quality, nutrient digestibility, hematology, serum biochemistry, and immune response of commercial laying hens fed diets containing a symbiotic additive. Financier: Nutrimais Saúde Animal Period: 2019 to 2021; Total Amount: R$ 80,001.48 (UFRPE x Nutrimais agreement project).
The partnership with ZINPRO resulted in the funding of 5 Master's Dissertations, 4 Doctoral Theses, and 5 Scientific Initiation Scholarships.
Professor Rafael Antônio Nascimento has an international partnership with the Università degli Studi di Bari, Italy. The main themes worked on jointly with this institution are: Filariids of medical-veterinary importance in the Old and New World; Major diseases transmitted by tick vectors to domestic animals; study of the different lineages of Rhipicephalus sanguineus worldwide and its vector competence. This program professor also visited this institution in 2018, presenting results of scientific articles. In 2019, he approved a PDSE scholarship request for student Lúcia Macedo to carry out research activities under the CAPES Print program.
Professor Geraldo Barbosa has a partnership with the Laboratory of Ecology of Terrestrial Vertebrates, Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Valencia (UV), Spain, since 2012. Currently, one doctoral student has been in this laboratory since February 2020, conducting a sandwich doctorate and has already submitted a joint article. He also collaborates with the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the Bernardino Rivadavia Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences, with an agreement since 2010, involving student exchanges (both incoming and outgoing). During this four-year period, a publication of a new species was written and published in partnership. Reference: BÁEZ, ANA MARIA; MUZZOPAPPA, PAULA; MOURA, GERALDO JORGE BARBOSA DE. The earliest records of pipimorph frogs from South America (Aptian, Crato Formation, Brazil): A Critical Evaluation. CRETACEOUS RESEARCH, v. 116, p. 104728-104740, 2020. He has also partnered with the University of Porto, Portugal, since 2012, with student exchanges for joint projects, and they have worked on projects together. Furthermore, he collaborates with the University of Asunción, Center for Exact and Natural Sciences, with a formal agreement since 2016. The faculty member teaches annually in the postgraduate program, having visited in 2017, 2018, and 2019. In addition, he participates in the evaluation committee for dissertation projects and sends students from PPGBA to collect data, as well as having received students and faculty from there, such as Professor Karina Nuñes, from the USA, in 2017 and 2018. Lastly, he has an agreement with the University of Bremen, Germany, established since 2013, when faculty member Prof. Heiko Kido-coord came to do a postdoctoral fellowship at PPGBA. Since then, students from the postgraduate program have gone for internships and technical visits there, and they have also received several students from there, both undergraduate and graduate.
In this last four-year period, we also had the final years of a grant titled "Biodiversity Decade Project," which was written and submitted jointly by the Universities (UB and UFRPE) with a duration of 10 years. Additionally, we received several students, including one undergraduate student in 2018, and we sent a master's student from UFRPE.
Another important partnership is with Prof. Juan Calvette from the University of Valencia, Spain, who received a doctoral student from PPGBA for a sandwich doctorate funded by the Carolina Foundation. All joint actions in these Departments involve graduate students from the mentioned institutions.
Also of great importance is the exchange with the University of Murcia, Spain, with Prof. Fabrício Bezerra de Sá and Drs. Marcelino Aviles-Trigueiros, Manuel Vidal-Sanz, Marta Agudo-Barriuso, and Maria Villega-Perez from the Department of Optometry and Experimental Ophthalmology.
Professor Leucio Câmara Alves has technical agreements with the University of Georgia, Appalachian State University, Florida Agriculture and Mechanical University, Università degli Studi di Bari, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, and the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine of Portugal. At these institutions, he has several partnership projects and published works, sent and received graduate and undergraduate students, and completed a postdoctoral internship in 2019.
We initiated a partnership with researcher Pietro Mastroeni from the University of Cambridge, UK, and Prof. José Vitor Moreira Lima Filho. Additionally, a Visiting Researcher grant was approved for Dr. Pietro at CNPq, along with a scholarship for a Brazilian doctoral student at that university. This partnership continues to the present day, and possibly next year, we will have collaborative activities.
Professor José Vitor Lima approved the project "DsbA as Anti-virulence Target of Prospective Antiinfective Agents Against Typhoid Fever" through the Medical Research Council-Newton Fund. The main activities include the exchange of Brazilian doctoral students and the visit of a collaborating researcher from the UK to Brazil, as well as the Brazilian collaborating researcher to the UK. The researcher from the University of Strathclyde was in Brazil, at PPGBA, where he had the opportunity to give lectures, visit laboratories, and meet with local researchers.
Professor Tatiana Porto approved the PVE project with the University of Aalborg in Denmark through CAPES, in partnership with Professor Tereza Neves Petersen in the area of protein structure. The project was funded in the amount of 150 thousand reais, in addition to the researcher’s missions to Brazil, two doctoral internships from abroad, and three 12-month postdoctoral scholarships. The missions of the foreign researcher occurred over three years during the project's duration, staying for three months each year, where she taught courses on the biochemical and biophysical characterization of proteins at PPGBA and developed activity plans for sandwich doctoral programs abroad for three UFRPE students. Besides this project, Professor Tatiana has had a long-standing partnership with Professor Attilio Converti from the University of Genoa in the area of developing bioprocesses involving free and immobilized enzymes with industrial applications.
Professor Valdemiro Amaro da Silva Junior approved a PVE project through CAPES at Linköping University in partnership with Professor Peter Strålfors, focusing on research on diabetes and obesity. In this same project, a doctoral student developed part of her project titled "Efficiency of new vanadium-based compounds in vivo (male Wistar diabetic rats induced by streptozotocin) and in vitro (isolated human adipocytes)."
Professor Rinaldo Mota approved the CAPES/DGPU project in partnership with Spain for student mobility of postgraduate students to carry out sandwich doctorate and postdoctoral studies with the Spanish group. This project facilitated the exchange between researchers from both groups and the visit of Professor José Wilton Pinheiro Júnior to the Complutense University of Madrid for three months. During this period, he received training in sample collection techniques, isolation and diagnostic PCR, as well as genotyping techniques for Tritrichomonas foetus and Campylobacter foetus. It also allowed for the visit of a doctoral student who spent six months at UCM-Madrid for her sandwich doctorate.
Student Muller Ribeiro from PPGBA also carried out a sandwich doctorate to study the in vivo characterization of virulence of field isolates of Toxoplasma gondii from goats in the state of Pernambuco, in addition to establishing a culture protocol for ruminant trophoblasts, characterizing in vitro virulence, and developing and standardizing genotyping techniques for these Toxoplasma gondii isolates. The implementation of these techniques in our program's laboratories has led to significant advancements in research in this area of knowledge. This partnership remains active to this day.
In 2018, a Brazil/Portugal mission was coordinated by Professor Ana Porto. The objective of this mission was to establish cooperation as part of the activities of the project approved in the Internationalization Call of the Postgraduate Program of Pernambuco funded by FACEPE. During this occasion, meetings and lectures were held with the Portuguese research group, led by Professor José Teixeira from the University of Minho, Braga, president of the Portuguese Society of Biotechnology, establishing cooperation between the scientific groups as well as the lines of research in industrial bioprocesses. The Brazilian team presented the work developed by their research group and expressed interest in bringing students from the University of Minho to UFRPE.
An exchange mission between the Rural University and UMINHO was also conducted with Professor Antônio Teixeira, the result of which has already materialized through cooperation between PPGBA and the Postgraduate Program of the Department of Biological Engineering at UMINHO. This professor was at PPGBA as a PVE from the Science without Borders Program and returned to UFRPE in 2019.
Continuing efforts to consolidate the internationalization of PPGBA, a technical cooperation agreement was established with the University of Rome "LA SAPIENZA"/Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic & Orthopaedic Sciences, where we received a professor from the University of Rome for a technical visit to PPGBA.
Also in the line of exchange and internationalization, Professor Rinaldo Aparecido Mota approved the CNPq Special Visiting Researcher grant with Professor Luís Miguel Ortega Mora, one of the world's leading researchers in cyst-forming coccidia. The visit of this researcher for two consecutive years to our program has provided significant advances in planning actions and the possibility of including new lines of research in PPGBA while strengthening existing ones. He conducted several lectures focusing on diseases of reproduction in ruminants, in addition to discussing research projects of students, laboratory structures, and joint publications.
Another approved project (value: 87,000 euros) with international partners is being conducted by Professor Rinaldo Aparecido Mota in partnership with researchers from Germany, France, and the World Organisation for Animal Health. Its main objective is to standardize a serological technique (ELISA) for use in the diagnosis of Glanders in equines. Participants: OIE-INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR TENDER. Applicant: OIE Reference Laboratory for Glanders – Friedrich Loeffler Institute, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Institute of Bacterial Infections and Zoonoses, Jena, Germany. Head of OIERL: Prof. Heinrich Neubauer. Title of the project: Validation study of a western blot (WB) technique and ELISAs for serological diagnosis of glanders in equids for the purpose of certifying freedom from infection in individual animals for trade or movement.