RESUMO No início do ano de 2020, foi realizado no Instituto de Pesquisas Aggeu Magalhães (IAM), unidade da Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz) em Pernambuco, o projeto ‘Meu verão na Fiocruz’, cujo objetivo era permitir o acesso de meninas de escolas públicas do ensino médio aos laboratórios da instituição, para desenvolver curtos projetos de iniciação científica e, adicionalmente, debater sobre o tema da luta feminista para redução da desigualdade de gênero e raça no campo da ciência. Este artigo é um relato de experiência sobre o projeto. A divulgação do projeto foi realizada em oito escolas pelo Observatório Feminista do Nordeste, a inscrição para seleção foi feita por meio do envio de vídeos de um minuto, e a orientação nas pesquisas foi realizada por pesquisadoras de cinco laboratórios do IAM. No total, foram selecionadas 12 meninas que frequentaram os laboratórios de janeiro a fevereiro de 2020. O projeto culminou com a realização de um evento ocorrido no Dia Internacional das Mulheres e Meninas na Ciência. Ao final, foram identificados gargalos que dificultam o acesso de jovens de comunidades periféricas aos programas de iniciação científica, e os caminhos que podem ser seguidos para acelerar esse processo na academia, principalmente no campo da saúde.

ABSTRACT From January to February of 2020, the ‘My summer at Fiocruz’ project was carried out at the Aggeu Magalhães Institute (IAM), an Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) unit located in the state of Pernambuco, whose aim was to allow girls from public high schools to access the institution’s laboratories in order to develop short scientific research projects, and additionally, to debate the theme of the feminist struggle to reduce gender and race inequality in the field of science. This article is a case study about the project. The project was publicized by the Feminist Observatory of the Northeast at eight schools, the application for selection was done by sending one-minute videos, and the mentoring was carried out by women researchers from five IAM laboratories. In total, 12 girls were selected, who attended the laboratories from January to February 2020. The project culminated with an event held at the institution on February 11, 2020, the date on which the International Day of Women and Girls in Science is celebrated. Finally, the main difficulties for access to undergraduate research programs were identified, as well as the ways that could be followed to accelerate such a process in academia, mainly in the field of health.

RESUMO No início do ano de 2020, foi realizado no Instituto de Pesquisas Aggeu Magalhães (IAM), unidade da Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz) em Pernambuco, o projeto ‘Meu verão na Fiocruz’, cujo objetivo era permitir o acesso de meninas de escolas públicas do ensino médio aos laboratórios da instituição, para desenvolver curtos projetos de iniciação científica e, adicionalmente, debater sobre o tema da luta feminista para redução da desigualdade de gênero e raça no campo da ciência. Este artigo é um relato de experiência sobre o projeto. A divulgação do projeto foi realizada em oito escolas pelo Observatório Feminista do Nordeste, a inscrição para seleção foi feita por meio do envio de vídeos de um minuto, e a orientação nas pesquisas foi realizada por pesquisadoras de cinco laboratórios do IAM. No total, foram selecionadas 12 meninas que frequentaram os laboratórios de janeiro a fevereiro de 2020. O projeto culminou com a realização de um evento ocorrido no Dia Internacional das Mulheres e Meninas na Ciência. Ao final, foram identificados gargalos que dificultam o acesso de jovens de comunidades periféricas aos programas de iniciação científica, e os caminhos que podem ser seguidos para acelerar esse processo na academia, principalmente no campo da saúde.

ABSTRACT From January to February of 2020, the ‘My summer at Fiocruz’ project was carried out at the Aggeu Magalhães Institute (IAM), an Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) unit located in the state of Pernambuco, whose aim was to allow girls from public high schools to access the institution’s laboratories in order to develop short scientific research projects, and additionally, to debate the theme of the feminist struggle to reduce gender and race inequality in the field of science. This article is a case study about the project. The project was publicized by the Feminist Observatory of the Northeast at eight schools, the application for selection was done by sending one-minute videos, and the mentoring was carried out by women researchers from five IAM laboratories. In total, 12 girls were selected, who attended the laboratories from January to February 2020. The project culminated with an event held at the institution on February 11, 2020, the date on which the International Day of Women and Girls in Science is celebrated. Finally, the main difficulties for access to undergraduate research programs were identified, as well as the ways that could be followed to accelerate such a process in academia, mainly in the field of health.

BACKGROUND Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are the most important arbovirus vectors in the world. OBJECTIVES This study aimed to investigate and compare the infestation pattern of these species in a neighbourhood of Recife, Brazil, endemic for arboviruses in 2005 (T1) and 2013 (T2). METHODS Infestation, distribution and relative abundance of these sympatric species were recorded by egg collection using a network of 59 sentinel ovitraps (s-ovt) at fixed sampling stations for 12 months in T1 and T2. FINDINGS A permanent occupation pattern was detected which was characterised by the presence of egg-laying females of one or both species with a high ovitrap positivity index (94.3 to 100%) throughout both years analysed. In terms of abundance, the total of eggs collected was lower (p < 0.005) in T2 (146,153) than in T1 (281,103), although ovitraps still displayed a high index of positivity. The spatial distribution showed the presence of both species in 65.1% of the 148 s-ovt assessed, while a smaller number of traps exclusively contained Ae. aegypti (22%) or Ae. albopictus (13.2%) eggs. MAIN CONCLUSIONS Our comparative analysis demonstrated the robustness of the spatial occupation and permanence of Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus populations in this endemic urban area.

Abstract Tissue samples from mosquitoes artificially infected with Zika virus and shown to be positive by RT-qPCR were reexamined by RT-PCR. Using these samples we compared the two methods employed in virus RNA detection for vector competence studies. Results demonstrated that, albeit useful, RT-PCR gave false negatives with low viral loads (< 106 RNA copies/ml).

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are enzymes capable of metabolizing cytotoxic compounds. The enzyme AgGSTE2, member of epsilon class GSTs (GSTE), is the most important GST conferring resistance to dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) in Anopheles gambiae. We have investigated the conformational dynamics of three GSTE variants (GSTE2, GSTE2-I114T/F120L, GSTE5) from A. gambiae. Large-scale motions of helices H2 and H4 and conformational transition of the C-terminal governs the opening of the G-site and is expected to affect substrate binding and product release. This structural rearrangement places Glu116 (Glu120 in GSTE5) close of the thiol group of the tripeptide glutathione (GSH) cofactor, making this residue a candidate to act as a base in the activation of DDT. The structural rearrangement is noticeable for AgGSTE2-F120L, which has been shown to confer increased DDT-resistance. The other variants exhibit a more subtle rearrangement. These findings corroborate the hypothesis that the increase of the conformational dynamics of GST Epsilon class isoforms from A. gambiae promotes higher DDTase activity.

The organophosphate temephos has been the main insecticide used against larvae of the dengue and yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) in Brazil since the mid-1980s. Reports of resistance date back to 1995; however, no systematic reports of widespread temephos resistance have occurred to date. As resistance investigation is paramount for strategic decision-making by health officials, our objective here was to investigate the spatial and temporal spread of temephos resistance in Ae. aegypti in Brazil for the last 12 years using discriminating temephos concentrations and the bioassay protocols of the World Health Organization. The mortality results obtained were subjected to spatial analysis for distance interpolation using semi-variance models to generate maps that depict the spread of temephos resistance in Brazil since 1999. The problem has been expanding. Since 2002-2003, approximately half the country has exhibited mosquito populations resistant to temephos. The frequency of temephos resistance and, likely, control failures, which start when the insecticide mortality level drops below 80%, has increased even further since 2004. Few parts of Brazil are able to achieve the target 80% efficacy threshold by 2010/2011, resulting in a significant risk of control failure by temephos in most of the country. The widespread resistance to temephos in Brazilian Ae. aegypti populations greatly compromise effective mosquito control efforts using this insecticide and indicates the urgent need to identify alternative insecticides aided by the preventive elimination of potential mosquito breeding sites.

The use of Wolbachia as a tool to control insect vectors has recently been suggested. In this context, studies on the prevalence and diversity of this bacterium in wild populations are relevant. Here, we evaluated the diversity of two Wolbachiagenes (ftsZ and wsp) and the prevalence of this endosymbiont in wild Aedes albopictus. Using semi-nested polymerase chain reaction, our results showed that 99.3% of the individuals were superinfected with Wolbachia. In regards to genetic diversity, the two genes showed no variation within or among mosquito populations. An analysis of other Wolbachia markers may help to clarify the relationship between insect and endosymbiont.