"O prêmio SBI Lifetime Achievement Award in Immunology é a principal honraria concedida pela Sociedade Brasileira de Imunologia (SBI) para um membro desta sociedade. Este prêmio visa reconhecer um destacado membro da SBI pela sua contribuição científica na área de Imunolgia, seu comprometimento em orientação e formação de pesquisadores, e pelas contribuições para a SBI e a Imunologia brasileira. O prêmio será concedido a cada dois anos em solenidade especial durante o Congresso Geral da SBI e o vencedor será nomeado por uma Comitê Especial indicado pela Diretoria da SBI."
O Premiado de 2014
O prêmio foi concedido ao Dr. Marcello André Barcinski, que foi nomeado por um Comitê Especial indicado pela Diretoria da SBI. Durante o Congresso da SBI 2014, em Búzios, o Prêmio Foi entregue pelo Presidente da SBI, Dr. João Viola, com apresentação do premiado pelo Dr. George dos Reis (foto abaixo).
Presentation of Marcello Andre Barcinski
by George Alexandre DosReis
"It is a pleasure and a honour to present a few words about my mentor and friend Marcello Barcinski on the occasion he receives the SBI Lifetime Achievements award. I wish to congratulate the Executive Board of the SBI, and also the Nominating Committee chaired by Manoel Barral for this initiative. Marcello Barcinski is a great scientist and a pioneer of Immunology in Brazil. I also welcome his present and past students in the audience.
Working in the area of biomedical research, Marcello Barcinski gave important scientific contributions. He exerted all possible governance tasks in the discipline of immunology and helped with his leadership to bring brazilian immunology to the advanced progress position where it stands now. He mentored the scientific education of a number of researchers, who succeeded in science and are leaders of research now.
In the academic world, Marcello Barcinski stands as an investigator interested in the roles of genetic variability and evolutive adaptation in the immune responses.
He has experience in the areas of genetics, immunology and parasitology. His research interests are centered on the effects of programmed cell death in parasites and on the diseases they cause, but his research interests go from immunoparasitology to cancer and translational medicine.
Marcello Barcinski got his MD in Rio de Janeiro, in 1965. And an additional PhD degree in Biological Sciences by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, in 1974.
In the early 70’s, Marcello Barcinski, then a young physician with a preference for medical genetics, became fascinated with the recently reborn science of cellular immunology. In particular, with the issues of antigen recognition and cellular interactions. Working with his friend Gilberto Oliveira-Castro, Marcello provided the first evidence that activated human T lymphocytes establish communicating junctions within the cellular aggregates they form.
Between 1976-78, he did a post-doctoral training at the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation, National Institutes of Health, USA. Working together with Alan Rosenthal, Marcello Barcinki proposed the Determinant Selection hypothesis of Ir gene function, by which antigen-presenting cells selected the appropriate antigen epitope to be presented to the responding T cell.
Upon his return, he created the Laboratory of Immunogenetics at the Carlos Chagas Filho Institute of Biophysics at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, where a number of graduate students, mainly biologists and medical doctors got their MSc and PhD degrees and were trained in research on cellular immunology, certainly for the first time in the history of brazilian immunology.
More recently, he was responsible for the concept of “apoptotic mimicry” in parasitic diseases. His finding was that live parasites express phosphatidylserine, a biochemical marker of cells that are undergoing apoptosis. By mimicking dead cells, parasites are engulfed by phagocytes and induce an anti-inflammatory response that helps the parasite to survive and multiply. This concept might help to create new therapies for chronic infections. This is an example of convergent evolution favoring the parasite, and it is also an example of Marcello Barcinski’s thinking.
He became Professor of Biophysics at the Federal University Rio de Janeiro in 1986 and Professor of Parasitology at São Paulo University in 1991. Since 2013, he is Professor Emeritus at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. When appointed to the Ministry of Health, he spent several years at the Brazilian National Institute of Cancer in Rio de Janeiro, where he created the Division of Experimental Medicine and the Graduate Course on Oncology. Today he is Visiting Scientist of Oswaldo Cruz Institute, FIOCRUZ.
American/canadian writer William Gibson says that “the future is already here; it’s just not very evenly distributed”. And the future is here indeed for those who can afford it, and specially for the scientist. The scientist has access to the frontline products of science and technology. Marcello Barcinski believes that scientific knowledge necessarily implies an ethic behavior towards society. The scientist has the responsability to make sure that technology is generated in the best possible and harmless way to society. The scientist also has the responsability to denounce the misuse of science, which is generally practiced because of commercial or political interests. Marcello Barcinski wrote letters to scientific publications of impact where he discussed discrimination of third world scientists by their peers. And he also denounced the lack of funds to do research, which happened from time to time in developing countries. In agreement with a sense of social responsability Marcello Barcinski represents Brazil in the World Network of Scientific Academies, an organization devoted to eradication of poverty and self sustainable development.
Marcello Barcinski is member of the Brazilian Academy of Medicine and the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. He received the Great Cross of the National Order of Scientific Merit. Marcello Barcinski has almost 100 published papers, which are discussed by thousands of citiations. Marcello Barcinski was President of the Brazilian Society of Immunology. As a consulting member of financing agencies, he helped to consolidate brazilian immunology by advising several emerging research groups in different parts of the country.
As his graduate student, I learned fundamental scientific teachings with Marcello Barcinski, which I still use today on a regular basis. He is also responsible for the fact that scientific integrity and social responsability are fundamental values for me. This award is absolutely timely and justified. After 40 years of academic work, Marcello Barcinski helped to improve teaching and research at the University. He mentored the formation of dozens of immunologists and other researchers, which amplified the scientific knowledge throughout Brazil. As such, he stands forever in the company of Otto Bier, Ivan Mota, Wilmar Dias da Silva, Nelson Vaz e Giovanni Gazzinelli, as a founder and a pioneer of immunology in Brazil. And there is more to come !"
Marcello Barcinski é médico formado pela Faculdade de Ciências Médicas da UERJ (1965) e Doutor em Ciências pelo Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho da UFRJ (1974). Foi Professor Titular da UFRJ e da USP, recebeu a Grã-Cruz da Ordem Nacional do Mérito Científico pela Presidência da República do Brasil em 2008 e o titulo de Professor Emérito da UFRJ em 2014, é membro da Academia Brasileira de Ciências e da Academia Nacional de Medicina. Foi presidente da SBI no biênio 1985-1986. Durante a sua carreira científica desenvolveu estudos de grande relevância com ênfase no controle genético da resposta imune e no papel da imunidade na suscetibilidade e resistência do hospedeiro a doenças parasitárias, além de ter orientado e formado inúmeros pesquisadores de destaque na área de imunologia.
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