Proyecto SEDA - Sustainable Sericulture

Brazilian researchers participate in a study mission on sericulture in Japan

Buenos Aires
,
Argentina
|
November 25, 2019
ADELANTE Programme: Triangular Cooperation European Union Latin America and the Caribbean

Professor and Researcher María Aparecida Fernández, the technical expert of Universidade Estadual de Maringá, which is an associated entity of the Seda Project in Brazil, together with Researcher Daniel Caligari, from the same institution, participated in "The 25th International Congress on Sericulture & Silk Industry - Silk beyond the Textile", held from 19 to 22 November 2019 in Tsukuba, Japan.

The objective of the mission was, on the one hand, to get to know the last world-wide scientific advances in the area of cellular and molecular biology studied in the "silkworm" model insect and in the sericulture industry - which would have future uses in the improvement of the raising of silkworms and in the process of obtaining the cocoons for the entities participating in the Seda Project. On the other hand, the mission aimed at presenting the research results "Analysis of biologic and economic parameters to evaluate the antiviral activity of Bm5 drug on Bombyx mori larvae infected by BmNPV", by Fernández and "Differential expression of the BmsbRNA gene in larval tissues and their relationship to Bm NPV infection", by Caligari.

The programme's extensive agenda included the attendance to the opening and closing events of the Congress on 19 and 21 November, participation in conferences and discussions on the general topics proposed by the Congress, presentation of the works and networking with researchers of different areas of the sericulture activity, and analysis of the Bombyx mori genome.

In addition, professionals had the opportunity to visit the Tomioka silk factory, a reference in the production of silk rolls established by the Japanese government in 1872, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014. They also visited the Japanese Silk Center, a museum of sericulture and silk, which provides an overview of the history of sericulture and the silk industry as well as the silkworm science itself. Finally, they visited the Immuno-Biological Laboratories Co. Ltd., a company that produces recombinant proteins by transgenic silkworms, set up in a factory.

The study mission is supported by the Triangular Cooperation of the European Union's ADELANTE Programme for strengthening the capacities of professionals and promoting sericulture as a source of genuine employment in the region.