By Wendy Anders

Costa Rica is a full member state of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), and in mid-December hosted the center’s fifth workshop on human RNA viruses.

The topics in this and previous conferences include illnesses that affect humans and animals in developing countries such as dengue, zika, avian flu, rotavirus, hantavirus and others.

Discussions at these conferences center on how people and animals respond to viral infections, including innate immunity and viral evasion strategies. Novel technologies to explore the intracellular behavior of RNA viruses are also shared.

The international scientific gathering aims to analyse the results from basic science to allow for improved viral detection, prevention and treatment, said ICGEB researchers. A number of selected talks and posters from participants allow for lively discussion with the exchange of information and the establishment of scientific collaborations.

Dr. José Alberto Bonilla, Costa Rica’s representative at the center is a cellular and molecular biology professor at the University of Costa Rica

The Costa Rican event was “dedicated to bridging the gap between recent advances in molecular and cellular biology of human RNA viruses and the needs of those most affected by these diseases,” said Bonilla.

At the conference, speakers from all over the world discussed aspects of the biology of RNA viruses through state-of-the-art lectures, talks and posters. Researchers from New York’s Mount Sinai Medical School, The Pasteur Institute in France, and universities in Europe and Latin America were on the line-up of presenters in Costa Rica.

The ICGEB is part of the United Nations system and has been promoted by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as a centre of excellence for research and training in genetic engineering and biotechnology for the benefit of developing countries, said Wikipedia.

As of 2014, 63 states were full members of the center, and cooperate on scientific work through joint research programmes; an international research doctorate programme in molecular genetics and biotechnology; short-term and long-term post-doctoral study grants; and a series of theoretical and practical courses and conferences on genetic engineering and biotechnology in Trieste, Italy, New Delhi, India, Cape Town, South Africa, and affiliated centres.

Member countries receive scientific services including the supply of sophisticated reagents for scientific research, and a telematic network for the analysis of the human genome and other important organisms, said the United Nations.