FAPESP, 10/26/2011
During the final session of FAPESP Week, held October 24-26 in Washington, DC, Sergio Schenkman, Full Professor in the Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology Department of the (Unifesp), spoke about the current scenario confronting tropical research, with emphasis on Chagas disease.
“These are known as the neglected tropical diseases and that is due to the absence of direct economic interest. Pharmaceutical companies are not interested and few people end up working with these diseases. But Trypanosoma, the parasite that causes Chagas disease, is not only in South America, but also in Africa, Europe, Asia and even in the United States. In other words, these diseases are not a problem in just the poorest countries, but also in the richest.”
Schenkman is coordinator of the Thematic Project “Cell organization in the differentiation and in the cell cycle of Trypanosoma” funded by FAPESP.
