JULY / AUGUST 2007

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Dr. Insoo Hyun of Case Western Reserve University delivers a lecture on the ethical considerations related to stem cell research.

PABSELA completes first stem cell research training program for Latin American investigators

The Program for the Advancement of Biomedical Sciences Education in Latin America (PABSELA) has held the inaugural edition of an intensive stem cell training course for young Latin American scientists. Twenty-three students hailing from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico were selected to participate in laboratory training and attend lectures and seminars led by top faculty drawn from Harvard Medical School and other institutions.

PABSELA is a collaboration between HMI and the Argentina-based Fundación Crimson established to create training opportunities for graduate students in Latin America and promote professional exchanges in the biomedical sciences field. It was conceived three years ago by Miguel Velardez, PhD and Estanislao Bachrach, PhD, two postdoctoral fellows from Argentina currently conducting research at Children’s Hospital. The program’s long-term goal is to contribute to the development of the Latin American biomedical community by providing unique educational and research opportunities for scientists, medical doctors and graduate students.

PABSELA faculty member Kornelia Polyak (left) works with students in the laboratory.

When developing PABSELA, Velardez and Bachrach drew upon advice from organizations in the HMS community such as the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, and from Latin American scientists working in the U.S. They turned to HMI for an institutional partner that could provide a framework for developing the program’s fundraising approach and financial structure and address the logistical challenges associated with coordinating a multinational effort such as this. Most of the programs’ funding is from public and private institutions in Argentina. Fundación Crimson was established in order to facilitate contributions by the Argentine government and other institutions.

PABSELA has received the enthusiastic endorsement of Argentine First Lady Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who has spoken in support of PABSELA at its official launch and at the opening of the first course.

The course
The students who completed the first PABSELA course were predominantly PhD candidates, and they represented a range of backgrounds, such as biochemistry, engineering, biology, and medicine. Velardez said the group was selected according to how individual members would complement others. Prior to the course, the students prepared by reading around 80 papers in the month between being notified of their selection and the beginning of the course.

The faculty included seven scientists from Harvard Medical School-affiliated hospitals, four of whom are also faculty at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. Faculty from Case Western Reserve University, UT Southwestern University, and Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto also delivered lecturers, as did six scientists from institutions in South America.

The program was intensive: 16 days of lectures, laboratory activities, and seminars. The lectures provided the conceptual basis for contemporary research in the identification, isolation, and differentiation of embryonic and adult stem cells. In the laboratories the students received hands-on training in up-to-date techniques essential for stem cell research, including a method for deriving and differentiating mouse embryonic stem cells into both beating cardiomyocytes and smooth muscle cells (a technique recently developed at Children’s Hospital—see Wu et al in the December 15, 2006 issue of Cell).

Members of the PABSELA faculty were impressed by the rigor with which the students approached the activities, and noted that they posed excellent questions from many different points of view. 

“The students really wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to work with top scientists from Harvard and other institutions,” said Velardez.

PABSELA is already looking ahead to next year’s course, which will feature a new slate of laboratory activities and new faces among the program’s faculty.

Copyright 2007 Harvard Medical International