One foot in the door ( part II)

put your foot in the door

entering a business or organization at a low level, but with a chance of being more successful in the future: Networking can help you get your foot in the door when it comes to landing a job.

One of my favorite expressions in English is this. “Get your foot in the door.” Its application is not very far from the so-called “to have one foot in”, which means that a process is in motion and well directed.

For the following exhibition, opt for an adaptation of traditional use. In other words, taking advantage of the door opening, put your foot down to stop it, increasing the probability of entering, therefore, increasing the probability of success.

Science

So…we are in a time of crisis. Pandemic. As many say, COVID-19 is the disease of those who are passengers and helped the virus cross borders. While the population and some politicians seem specific in discussing the origin of the virus (interest in stamping the passport of the virus that did not appear to exist with swine flu (H1N1) appeared in 2009 but was important in 2003, with bird flu (h5N1) , the scientific community is trying to speed up a vaccine or, at least, a treatment for COVID-19.

To achieve this, it is essential to sequence the SARS-CoV-2 genome. At USP, he managed to sequence the genome of this new coronavirus and this happened 48 years after the confirmation of the first Brazilian case of infection . It is important to note that the result is the result of cooperation between scientists from the Adolfo Lutz Institute of the Institute of Tropical Medicine of the USP Faculty of Medicine and the University of Oxford. This international communication and cooperation is essential to identify the complete genomes of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in different locations, spread and mutations. Only in this way can it be seen, for example, that the genome of the patient who was infected in Italy – Italian researchers have already isolated the virus circulating in the country, without any news of the publication of the genome for comparison – is different from the genome identified in Germany, but very similar to that found in Spain.

“A China sequenciou o primeiro genoma do SARS-CoV-2 logo em Janeiro, o que permitiu desenvolver de forma rápida um teste genético que indica se a pessoa está ou não infectada. Entretanto, já foram tornados públicos mais de 400 genomas de casos em quase 30 países.

Os primeiros casos positivos em Portugal foram anunciados a 2 de Março. Tinha chegado então a vez de Portugal sequenciar o genoma do vírus destes casos. “Não há obrigatoriedade [para o fazermos], mas há o pedido para que as pessoas partilhem publicamente este tipo de sequências”, refere João Paulo Gomes, responsável do Núcleo de Bioinformática do INSA.”

(in Público, March 13, 2020 )

“China sequenced the first SARS-CoV-2 genome in January , which allowed the rapid development of a genetic test that indicates whether or not a person is infected . However, more than 400 genomes of cases in almost 30 countries have already been made public.

March 2nd . It was then Portugal’s turn to sequence the genome of the virus from these cases. “There is no obligation [for us to do so], but there is a request for people to publicly share this type of sequences”, says João Paulo Gomes, head of the Bioinformatics Center at INSA.”

(in Público, 13 de março 2020)

COVID-19 ends up opening the door for those who discussed, in Brazil, Portugal, and beyond, the importance of financing the health and education sectors. They are the two that can save lives. But, saying that, it is necessary to know how many private hospitals and how many for- profit laboratories are involved in this journey. And how many wash their hands and push it to the state. After all, what health plan covers a pandemic?

It is a foot in the door to demand more funding, more resources and, above all, appreciation for teaching, research and health professionals.

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