Researcher Maria Carolina Gonzalez, from the Santos Dumont Institute (ISD) in Macaíba (RN), was one of 10 researchers selected from all over Brazil for the 5th public call for scientific support from the Serrapilheira Institute. Carolina, who studies the processes involved in memory formation, will be funded by the Serrapilheira Institute to investigate how previous experiences influence the formation of new memories. 

She competed with 260 other researchers from all over Brazil, who submitted proposals from different areas of knowledge for the public call. In total, there were two selection phases, the first involving the presentation of a pre-project and the second, for which 43 candidates were selected, consisting of the submission of the complete project and an interview with international evaluators. 

The research, expected to last three years, should take a further step in the studies that have already been developed by the scientist involving the expression and formation of memories. “Much of what we know about how memories are stored is based on studies in which the researcher focuses on a particular situation. Our idea will be to consider the animal's previous history, what it has learned before and how this influences the formation of new memories and how they are integrated with previous knowledge”, explains Carolina Gonzalez. 

In practice, this process is much more similar to what actually occurs when memories are formed, which do not occur in the form of isolated events in our brain. “We learn new information and it is related or associated with things we already know. Memories are not formed in isolation, but rather in a temporal, spatial, emotional context,” says the researcher. 

The Serrapilheira Institute's funding will finance all research, from the supplies needed for experiments, which will be conducted on animal models, to the payment of scholarships and scientific publications. "It is a great help." important that will allow the research to actually be carried out. The funding also focuses on promoting diversity, supporting the integration of researchers from underrepresented groups”, adds Carolina Gonzalez. 

Profile 

Originally from Argentina, Carolina Gonzalez arrived in Brazil in 2014 through the Science Without Borders program, and began developing research at the Brain Institute of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) and, later, at the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neurosciences (IIN-ELS), one of the ISD units in Macaíba, where she works as a research professor. In 2021, she won the Early Career Award, a prize dedicated to outstanding young researchers granted by the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO). 

“It is very important that there are calls for proposals that consider the development of science at the federal level, and do not focus only on the major capitals. For example, I left Argentina and arrived in Natal through the Science Without Borders program, which had this perspective, and here I developed research, established myself, and here I found work. This is the case for many other scientists, who are developing important research in all regions. of Brazil”, he highlights. 

Serrapilheira Institute

The Serrapilheira Institute is the first private, non-profit institution to promote science in Brazil. It was created to promote scientific knowledge and increase its visibility, and operates on two fronts: Science and Scientific Dissemination. The Institute supports projects in the areas of natural sciences, computer science, mathematics and scientific dissemination.