Jasmine Bazán
08/02/2021 12:14
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 08/02/2021 12:14 PM
PoblAR
is an unprecedented initiative in the region.
It is promoted by the
Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation
and several institutions that are dedicated to science and health were invited.
Its objective?
Assemble a bank of human samples and associated data to analyze the
genetic heritage
of Argentine men and women, their
habits
and their relationship with the
environment.
The study seeks to contribute to the field of medicine, but also to that of anthropology, history and education.
Rolando González-José
acts as coordinator.
He is a doctor in Biology, specialist in Archeology and Biological Anthropology, researcher at Conicet and director of the National Patagonian Center.
In dialogue with
Clarín
, he says that the original idea arose in 2013, when the Technological Linkage Management of Conicet convened several research groups that worked on data that allowed the fine analysis of genetic and non-genetic variants, to know in depth many aspects - ailments, diseases, traits, predispositions, lifestyles - of different population groups.
The need for these researchers to have basic information on these characteristics of the inhabitants of Argentina led to the proposal to implement a system that would add
their own genetic data
and produce comprehensive available samples.
From left to right: Ana Franchi, Andrea Llera, Mariana Berenstein, Rolando González-José and Diego Hurtado.
Credit: Conicet.
First, workshops and
workshops
of different specialties
began to be formed
, until, in 2015, the project was made official at the national level.
For several years the program
did not prosper
.
Now it has been resolutely taken up again, under the orbit of the Planning and Policy Secretariat (under Dr. Diego Hurtado), under the Ministry of Science (headed by Roberto Salvarezza).
The plan is to begin a
panning of the country through six nodes
-NOA, NEA, AMBA, CABA, center and South- and, from a selection of representative cases from each region, to form a
complete genome.
The first samples would start during
the first semester of 2022
, with a floor of
four to five thousand volunteers.
People from various disciplines and sciences (sociologists, chemists, anthropologists, molecular biologists, doctors) will work in the process; scholars and researchers with a long history; support professionals; technicians; administrative staff; experts in computer science and bioinformatics.
"Perhaps in 2023 we can focus the sampling on a specific ailment that is of interest to the Health portfolio. The samplings can be reoriented continuously, depending on objectives. For example, if we want to investigate the susceptibility of
coronavirus
, we will have the ability to contact former patients, see how the disease evolved in each case, examine DNA samples.
It is a concept of a permanent platform
", explains Dr. González-José.
Doctors with borders
One of the most interesting aspects of the project is its contribution to
precision medicine
, which is progressing in different developed countries.
Andrea Llera
is an expert on this subject and is a member of the PoblAR team. She trained as a doctor at the University of Buenos Aires, with a focus on oncology, and works as a researcher at the Conicet at the Leloir Institute.
"Precision medicine is based on
adapting the treatment for a specific disease to the characteristics of each subject, both with regard to genetics, as well as what has to do with their environment
, their customs, how they eat, if they exercise or no, etc. All this shapes the identity of the individual from the point of view of health and, therefore, affects the treatment and its response ", he summarizes.
This method is already used in the country in areas such as cardiology and oncology.
Above all, to define treatments in cases of metastatic tumors, after genetically studying the tumor and considering clinical, pathological and patient-specific data.
Llera explains that
each population is unique.
Argentina combines different ancestry.
The Indo-American heritage - for example - is not sufficiently studied.
"The first thing to do is a characterization of these genetic variants and how they are going to be included in precision medicine," he clarifies.
Wiphala: the best known insignia of the original peoples of Abya Yala (America).
He comments that the English were the first to create a biobank, followed by the United States, as well as other places in Europe and Asia.
"Quite ago, these countries are generating data to international databases and here too we consume. We must adapt to the reality of Argentina. There, for example, estimates of risk for diseases that are extracted from samples of European populations.
These Estimates would be much more accurate if they were made with their own data
", he summarizes.
Banish a myth
Another great axis of PoblAR is to
banish the myth of "white Argentina".
In other words, demolish the notion that a demographic majority "descended from the ships": first during the period of conquest and colonization;
and then with the migratory flood, between 1880 and 1914. This idea was born during the consolidation of the Argentine nation-state, at the end of the 19th century, and it still has traces.
Afro-descendant population, at the beginning of the 20th century.
In
Our America
, of 1903, the intellectual Carlos Octavio Bunge concluded that Argentina was better than the rest of Hispanic America for being "less mestizo." His contemporaries shared the idea that European immigration would replace, in some way, the
original roots and Afro-descendant identity
, invisible to this day.
"From anthropology and genetics we have known for a long time that the image of a national population related only to Europe is biased and porteñocentric, and hides the
diversity of our country.
There are classic publications by the late Dr. Francisco Carnese, who already in the eighties they indicated that
the Argentine genetic landscape is as diverse as that of any Latin American country, because of its pre and post-Colombian history
", adds Dr. González-José, who thinks about the great educational and cultural contribution that the project can make.
European immigrants arriving in Argentina.
Innovation
The doctor in Chemical Sciences and specialist in technology transfer
Mariana Berenstein has been
part of the project since its inception: first as Deputy Director of Technology Transfer at Conicet and now as part of
InnovaT.
This institution links scientific knowledge and entrepreneurs with society. At the same time, it facilitates the integration between organisms of the scientific-technological system, the public sector and the productive area. Their role is key to the development of PoblAR.
"There are researchers in different parts of the world to whom the genomic and metagenomic information that we collect can be useful. For example, in those countries where there is a large percentage of the Latin American population, this information and the evidence generated can contribute to making decisions regarding health ", affirms Mariana with enthusiasm. She is in charge of "innovation management", which includes the coordination and interaction between the different actors, the definition of models, alliances and agreements, among other tasks.
She is convinced that the
"genetic map"
puts Argentina in the scene of the
new paradigm of medicine
, and that it shows the scientific and technological capacities existing throughout the entire territory.
"The proposal is emblematic, because it is multi-institutional, interdisciplinary and federal. It shows a
synergy of the scientific system and local needs,
" he concludes.
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