Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência

*Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência*
Headquarters	Oeiras, Portugal
Membership	396 researchers (Dec2013)
Director	Jonathan Howard
Website	www.igc.gulbenkian.pt

The Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC) is an international centre for biomedical research and graduate training institute, dedicated to promoting multidisciplinary science of excellence and a new generation of scientific leaders. Established by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (FCG) in 1961, and still generously supported by the Foundation, the IGC is distinguished from other research institutes by the remarkable opportunity it provides for gifted young scientists to gain full research independence early in their careers.

Currently, the IGC hosts 43 Research Groups. Further 29 research groups develop their research at external associated institutes and research centres, maintaining strong scientific collaborations with IGC groups, and access to IGC facilities. Around 300 researchers (students, post-docs, technicians and principal investigators), from 36 different countries work at the IGC.

In October 2012, Jonathan Howard took over as Director of the IGC succeeding António Coutinho, who has been Director since 1998.

The IGC is located in Oeiras, Portugal.

Contributions to Research

Researchers at the IGC co-authored a 2012 review in Science on a largely overlooked strategy for treating infectious diseases - tolerance to infection,^[1] uncovered is a very simple, neat mechanism whereby the cell couples DNA duplication, cell division and centromere assembly (published in Developmental Cell, December 2011),^[2] been part of the multinational team that sequenced the genome of the tiny spider mite (published in Nature, November 2011),^[3] shown that one of the proteins that regulates the skeleton of the cell also acts to block activation of genes that promote cell survival and proliferation (published in Development, April 2011);^[4] discovered how sickle cell anemia protects against malaria (published in the journal Cell, April 2011);^[5] shown that pollen grains communicate with the female pistil via Glutamate receptor-like channels, common in the animal nervous system (published in Science, March 2011);^[6] shown that the heme group in hemoglobin plays a toxic role in severe sepsis which can be overcome by a naturally-occurring anti-oxidant (published in PNAS, September 2010);^[7] solved a paradox in cell cycle regulation - how telomeres, at the tips of chromosomes, are not recognised as sites of DNA damage that need to be repaired (published in Nature, September 2010).^[8]

Mission

The IGC operates as a host institution, offering state-of-the-art facilities and services to foreign and Portuguese research groups or individual scientists, in particular to young post-doctoral fellows who are expected to develop their projects and form their groups in complete financial and intellectual autonomy, in a spirit of institutional responsibility.^[9]

The IGC hosts a number of graduate education and training programmes, including several PhD programmes,^[10] an international seminar series ^[11] and a recently launched series of Summer Schools.^[12]

The IGC Campus

The IGC is located in the campus of Oeiras, on the Tagus bank, some 20 km from Lisbon. The campus includes other research institutes in biology, biotechnology and chemistry (the Institute for Chemical and Biological Technology (ITQB) of the New University of Lisbon, the Institute for Experimental Biology and Technology (IBET), with complementary research interests and facilities: protein structure and design, synthesis and theory of chemicals with biological interest, molecular microbiology, plant biotechnology, biotechnology, downstream processing, etc.) The IGC, ITQB and IBET form an Associated Laboratory of the Ministry of Science.^[13] The campus is also home to the Chronic Disease Research Centre (CEDOC), of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa.

Research Areas

Research at the IGC spans several areas: evolutionary biology, genetics of complex diseases and of resistance to infections, cell biology, cell cycle and DNA repair, inflammation, immunity and auto-immune diseases, developmental biology in animals and plants, neuroscience, theoretical and computational biology.^[14] Research is multidisciplinary, making use of several experimental models including plants, yeast, flies, fish, and mice, as well as theoretical and bioinformatic approaches.^[15]

Research Infrastructure

A strong theoretical sector is one of the Institute's specificities, the others being the quality of the services, and a strong investment in international exchange in the form of graduate courses, workshops and symposia. The IGC offers library and bio-computing services, animal SPF (Specific Pathogen Free) facilities for mice and rats including a "germ-free" unit, a service for production of genetically manipulated animals, high-speed cell sorting, electron and confocal (multiphoton) microscopy, automated DNA sequencing and "genoptyping", GeneChipTM technology, monoclonal antibody preparation, and Biosafety Level 3 laboratory (P3).^[16]

The IGC in numbers

In December 2013:

396 people work at the IGC (27% foreigners)
36 nationalities
37 average age
147 PhD holders (Post-docs and Unit/Facility Heads)
87 PhD students
92 Post-docs
43 Research Groups
42% of Foreign Group Leaders
40% of Female Group Leaders
13 Facilities/services

Scientific Advisory Board

Sydney Brenner, Chairman (The Salk Institute, USA) - Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine 2002, with Robert Horvitz and John Sulston for 'their discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death' ^[17]
Jonathan Howard (University of Cologne, Germany) ^[18]
Martin Raff (University College London, UK) ^[19]
Ginés Morata (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain) ^[20]
Nicole Le Douarin (Academie des Science, France) ^[21]
David Sabatini (New York University, USA) ^[22]
Kai Simons (Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany) ^[23]
Susumu Tonegawa (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA) (Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine 1987 for 'his discovery of the genetic principle for the generation of antibody diversity') ^[24]
Richard Axel (Columbia University, USA) (Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine 2004, with Linda Buck for their 'discoveries of odorant receptors and the organisation of the olfactory system') ^[25]
Jean−Pierre Changeux (Pasteur Institute, France) ^[26]
Terrence Sejnowsky (The Salk Institute, USA) ^[27]

History

Over the past five decades, the IGC has pioneered several important contributions to Portuguese and international science,^[28] including:

the professionalisation of research careers in Portugal;
the internationalisation of the country's scientific community;
introduction of new, underdeveloped fields of research in Portugal;
setting up of graduate education in Portugal, including innovative Doctoral programmes, even by European standards;
promoting scientific literacy and public involvement in research funding.^[29]

Highlights (1998 to present)

the IGC has hosted 75 research groups; 42 of these have moved on to other research institutes, mostly in Portugal;
IGC researchers have had approximately 350 project grants approved, with national (€35million in investment) and international funding agencies (approx. €10million);
half of the European Research Council Grants awarded to life science researchers working in Portugal have gone to IGC scientists (5 out of 10, with a further 3 grants going to alumni of the Gulbenkian PhD Programme in Biology and Medicine);^[30]^[31]^[32]^[33]
of the 23 major international grants awarded to biomedical scientists working in Portugal in the last five years, 20 have gone to scientists who are now, or have, at some point in time, been at the IGC.^[34]^[35]
the IGC is one of the research institutes in Portugal with highest publication impact: over 1000 papers have been published by scientists connected to the IGC (including external researchers and PhD students), with over 16000 citations worldwide;
in 2010 and 2011, the IGC was ranked amongst the '10 Best Places for Post-docs' outside the USA, by The Scientist - Faculty of 1000';^[36]
around 4000 scientist, mostly foreigners, have given talks and/or lectures at the IGC;
technology transfer and 'start-ups' are encouraged: 7 'start-up' companies have been set up, or are in the process of being set up;
Open Days, Researchers' Night, school's outreach and informal education programmes have reached hundreds of students, teachers and thousands of people of all ages;^[37]
innovative fundraising partnerships with companies have been set up;^[38]
Professional Merit Award by Oeiras Rotary Club - IGC and its Director António Coutinho
Honorary Membership of the Ordem de Sant'Iago da Espada by the President of the Portuguese Republic (July 2011)^[39]