CNPEM is a non-profit organization, funded by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations (MCTI) to operate four laboratories: Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS)/Sirius, Brazilian Biosciences National Laboratory (LNBio),Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNano) and Brazilian Biorenewables National Laboratory (LNBR).
This partnership becomes the 11th MOU that Instruct-ERIC holds with a global structural biology facility, and the 2nd with an institution in Brazil. The Horizon 2020 projects EU-LAC ResInfra and RI-VIS contributed to the work towards this important agreement.
Harald Schwalbe, Director of Instruct-ERIC, says: “I am excited about the increasing interaction of the Structural Biology Communities in South America and Europe. Not only Covid-19 made the need of scientific exchange on a global scale apparent. Bundling resources, exchanging scientific methodologies and training young scientists will be an essential part of our future collaborations.”

Rodrigo Portugal, coordinator of the Cryo-EM infrastructure at CNPEM, and Harald Schwalbe, director of Instruct-ERIC, signed the MOU
“Promoting international partnerships is an important part of CNPEM´s strategy. The collaboration with Instruct-ERIC represents an opportunity to strengthen the exchange of knowledge and researchers. It has the potential to impact Latin American users who benefit from CNPEM’s open facilities to conduct competitive research.” says the General Director of CNPEM, Antonio José Roque da Silva.
Rodrigo Portugal, Head of the Cryo-EM facility at CNPEM says that “Having a MoU between CNPEM and Instruct will be of significant importance for our Cryo-EM strategy. It will allow us to strengthen our scientific collaborations with the EU and extend our capacity-building in the field.”
Officially signed on 21st October at the International Conference on Research Infrastructures (ICRI 2022), the MOU means that researchers at CNPEM can now participate in international access, training, and staff exchange activities organised by Instruct-ERIC.
CNPEM joins an ever-increasing list of institutions to have signed an MOU with Instruct:
- Brazilian Centre for Research in Energy and Materials(CNPEM, Sao Paulo)
- University of Sao Paulo (USP)
- Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de La Plata INIBIOLP (CONICET-UNLP)
- Instituto de Químicay Fisicoquímica Biológicas (Universidad de Buenos Aires)
- Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario (IBR)
- Fundacion Instituto Leloir (FIL, Buenos Aires)
- University of Buenos Aires (UBA)
- University of San Martin (UNSAM)
- Institute Pasteur (Montevideo)
- University de la Republica (Montevideo)
- University of Cape Town (UCT, South Africa)
About CNPEM
Sophisticated and effervescent environment for research and development, unique in Brazil and present in few scientific centers in the world, the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM) is a private non-profit organization, under the supervision of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations (MCTI). The Center operates four National Laboratories and is the birthplace of the most complex project in Brazilian science – Sirius – one of the most advanced synchrotron light sources in the world. CNPEM brings together highly specialized multi-thematic teams, globally competitive laboratory infrastructures open to the scientific community, strategic lines of investigation, innovative projects in partnership with the productive sector and training of researchers and students. The Center is an environment driven by the search for solutions with impact in the areas of Health, Energy and Renewable Materials, Agro-environment, and Quantum Technologies. As of 2022, with the support of the Ministry of Education (MEC), CNPEM expanded its activities with the opening of the Ilum School of Science. The interdisciplinary higher course in Science, Technology and Innovation adopts innovative proposals with the aim of offering excellent, free, full-time training with immersion in the CNPEM research environment. Through the CNPEM 360 Platform, it is possible to explore, in a virtual and immersive way, the main environments and activities of the Center, visit: https://pages.cnpem.br/cnpem360/