Today 6 Argentinian NGS fellows met with Colin and Marcelo to update on their professional and personal development since completing their Basel experience. Dario hosted the event in Buenos Aires with Carolina, Ines, Manuel and Mariana joining face-to-face and Bernardo dialing-in from Europe via SKYPE.
Our formalities started with the 2017 NGS video, which helped to recreate the Basel atmosphere, before listening to each NGS fellows’ report supported by slides. The discussions after each talk included very specific suggestions from the group on expanding networks, and hints to achieve wider healthcare impact from the science.
Research highlights included details on 2 high throughput screening projects (Bernardo and Ines) that have yielded successful chemical hits with potential in tuberculosis and brucellosis. Mariana shared the progress that her unit has made in early stage clinical trials – and outlined how considerable education and advocacy will be needed before there is a meaningful shift in the volume of trials that are being done in Argentina.
This is exciting when looked at together with anecdotal evidence that the authorities are delivering on their recent promise of a significant reduction in timelines for clinical trial approvals in the country. Carolina reported on the ups-and-downs in the steady progress towards finalisation of her PhD. Dario received several useful links when he described his high profile work in Chagas disease. Finally, Manuel evoked visceral emotions with his photographs from the transplant theatre, and received warm shared pride when he reported that he had received OAK approval for a talk on his Basel research collaborations – to be presented later in the week at the Joint Meeting of the Biosciences Societies.
In typical “Thursday session style,” we ran way over time,… -- but all of us loved the relaxed easy style of the discussions – and were ok about the delay in getting to the local watering hole.
We agreed that I should prepare this brief report to encourage all 143 alumni across the 25 countries to also share how they are expanding on their NGS experience.