Mass Exodus Roils Brazilian Neuroscience Institute

摘要

A rebellion in the scientific ranks has created turmoil at Brazil's most famous brain research center, the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute for Neuroscience of Natal (ELS-IINN). Since late July, 10 principal investigators have shut down their labs at the center, which opened its doors in 2005 under the direction of Miguel Nicolelis, a Brazilian-born neuroscientist based at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. An ambitious scheme to build a world-class neuroscience institute in the country's impoverished northeastern region, ELSIINN has garnered praise for its socially conscious mission to foster economic development and has been cited as an example of Brazil's burgeoning research enterprise (Science, 3 December 2010, p. 1306).