On August 15 in Goettingen, Germany, the District Institute for Science, Biotechnology and Innovation in Health (IDCBIS) and the German Primate Center (DPZ), headed by Dr. Jens Grube, signed a scientific cooperation agreement that will last until April 2019.

Gustavo Salguero MD. PhD., Research Leader of the Cell Therapy Unit, was delegated by IDCBIS to sign the agreement and Dr. Jens Gruber and Dr. Manfred Eberle attended on behalf of DPZ. The event was attended by Ambassador Maria Lorena Gutierrez and the Embassy staff.

Colciencias was the mediating entity for the scientific cooperation process, through the annual call for binational mobility of researchers and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

This agreement was developed jointly between DPZ and IDCBIS, with the objective of joining efforts for the generation and transfer of knowledge and technology, as well as to research and implement new therapeutic strategies that combine stem cells and genetic modification or gene therapy technologies.

"The institutions expressed interest in cooperating in knowledge sharing, personnel exchange, and joint research projects that ultimately lead to publishable data and advances in technological development. According to the signed document, the parties agree to transfer knowledge in terms of training personnel to establish analysis techniques and workflows involving next-generation cell biochemistry or deep sequencing (NGS), and genetic manipulation and analysis of NGS data. IDCBIS will provide knowledge on the biology of human stem cells and their specific applications as therapeutic tools for immunotherapy and regeneration," said Colciencias Administrative Department of Science, Technology and Innovation.

This first agreement is part of the IDCBIS projection at national and international level as a center of excellence in biomedical sciences research and biotechnology in health.

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