The Global Network for Molecular and Cell Biology (MCBN)

The Global Network for Molecular and Cell Biology (MCBN), first as a UNESCO program and later as an independent NGO, has largely contributed in the years between 1990 and 2008 to stimulate research and training by promoting international cooperation in the field of cell and molecular biology. It has enabled scientists from developing countries to go abroad and to learn techniques not otherwise accessible to them, and through a number of small grants to carry out research in their countries which otherwise would have been impossible. I met José Jaz for the first time in Berkeley in 1986 at the Symposium on Membrane Transport and Receptors when he was the Head for the Scientific Cooperation for Europe. Later, after his retirement, he became Special Consultant to the Director General of UNESCO. In Berkeley, José Jaz asked me for advice about the organization of a meeting sponsored by UNESCO to take place in Mexico in the following year. In a discussion we had for most of an afternoon I underlined the values of cell and molecular biology with respect to the more traditional disciplines of biophysics and biochemistry. The meeting, “International Symposium on Cell Function and Disease” took place indeed in Monterrey (Nuevo Leon) in 1988 and a major role in the organization was played by Luis Eugenio Todd, Rector of the Universidad de Nueva Léon and later minister of education and permanent delegate of Mexico to UNESCO. My suggestions for the program were fully endorsed. The meeting was also the occasion for discussions among the members of two UNESCO Committees, for Biophysics and Biomaterials. The topics were how these new ideas could be realized within a UNESCO program and the possibility of merging the two committees. I was present at those discussions as an observer. A new concept emerged, that of substituting the existing committees with a new structure, a global network of collaborating institutions. A number of people expressed a polite skepticism on that occasion, more motivated in my observer's view by the fear of losing some small advantage rather than by distrust of this new concept. Following the meeting in Mexico, José Jaz and I (but I believe also other members of UNESCO committees gave their input) had frequent discussions focused on the realization of the network. Structural and financial aspects were strongly debated, advocating autonomy for the network on one side and a significant increase in budget, relative to that of the UNESCO committees on the other. A draft resolution was prepared and a discussion was planned to take place in a pleasant and quiet environment. My suggestion had been for Villa Condulmer (near Venice), a charming 18th century villa, converted into a hotel and rather inexpensive, perhaps due to its location on the mainland and therefore far from the touristic attractions of Venice. Needless to say, the quiet environment contrasted immediately with the animosity of the discussions. But the solution was already mature and the decision was taken to establish a global network for MCBN. However, with great surprise, Arnost Kotyk, chair of the Committee for Biophysics, was not designated to chair the newly created structure, MCBN. José Jaz instead, to my great astonishment, asked my permission to suggest my name to UNESCO Director-General Federico Mayor. This was in the spring of 1988. The investiture by Federico Mayor came soon after, in a simple meeting in his office at Place de Fontenoy. Similar to MCBN, UNESCO decided to strengthen cooperation through other networks such as the Biotechnology Action Council, Microbial Resources Centres, and the Physics Action Council. After 1 year of preparation, needed to draft the guidelines and to select the members of the MCBN executive committee, MCBN was ready to begin. About 60 metal plaques with the name of the institutions designated to be part of the network (and about 40 without) were prepared in the mechanical workshop of my Institute at the University of Bern. One special plaque was dedicated and given to the Director General of UNESCO Federico Mayor, who kept it for a long time hanging from a wall in his office, possibly until the end of his mandate. The goals of MCBN during a series of discussions held in Paris, at the UNESCO headquarters, were drafted as follows “Most of the nonpolitical problems that afflict the present-day world, such as malnutrition, injurious environmental factors -chemical or physical in nature-, uncontrolled population growth, degenerative diseases such as cancer, immuno-deficiencies and ageing, the spread of viral, bacterial and protozoan infectious diseases are associated with areas investigated by MCBN. While major advances have been made toward solving these problems in countries with highly developed technology, the rest of the world has not felt an appreciable impact of these solutions. During the past several decades we have witnessed spectacular progress in the application of knowledge derived from basic biological sciences to solving problems in a wide variety of areas of great importance to human welfare. These spectacular achievements have been to a large extent implemented by the application of new concepts, principles and methods in the area of MCBN. Progress in these fields has often been described as phenomenal. It is difficult—if not impossible—even in some of the best laboratories in the developed part of the world, to keep up with the fast pace of advances. In developing and restructuring regions, this fast pace tends to frighten prospective researchers away and makes it more difficult for them to develop the initiative and momentum to work in these fields. In many cases, lack of even small but essential items in developing and restructuring countries leads to the impossibility of carrying out any research and produces a regrettable brain drain: People interested in these fields simply leave for more promising horizons. To enable these countries to enter the main stream of research and thought it is necessary to make the basic tools and techniques available to them and to establish a suitable environment for the development of solutions to problems employing molecular and cell biological approaches. Often, due to lack of knowledge, programs do not get initiated even when opportunities may exist for the exploration of what could be most valuable for a number of local and regional problems.” It is important to underscore at this point that, on November 9th, 1989, the border separating Western from Eastern Germany was effectively opened and that, soon after, many other former Soviet Union satellite countries acquired independence. President Mikhail Gorbachev had given already in 1987, to the Soviet Union and the world, two slogans: perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness). Therefore, I insisted on modern development and those who had it before the ruling of the Soviet Union. This was the origin of the distinction between developing and restructuring countries. To ensure permanent improvement and one that is not entirely dependent on outside assistance, UNESCO considered it essential that scientific-technical information and training as well as financial support be offered to students, scholars and laboratories in every region of the world where such help is useful. To implement this goal, the Executive Committee on MCBN, appointed by the Director General of UNESCO, launched this world-wide program in various areas of MCBN. It is important here to underline that decisional autonomy of the executive committee of MCBN was at the basis of the program, a concept which was later challenged and brought its dissolution. The major goal of MCBN was to provide opportunities to developing and restructuring countries to attack local and regional problems by utilizing methods of MCBN. The Network was intended to be global in terms of West-East and North-South cooperation. It was also intended to be global in the open collaboration with other scientific organizations. Network laboratories were designated throughout the world to serve as focal points for interaction within countries and regions, as well as between other network laboratories and other institutions. The establishment of MCBN centers of excellence in various regions of the world was meant to provide a reservoir of talent and expertise to allow opportunities for the training of researchers from developing countries. The MCBN centers had to initiate, stimulate, and facilitate the exchange of ideas, people, expertise and skills, and were encouraged to share facilities with other network member laboratories. Workshops were designed to propitiate interaction and exchange. MCBN had in mind to develop a strong base for research to be conducted in developing and restructuring regions of the world. To facilitate cooperation small research contracts for joint projects and multinational studies were made available. A fellowship program allowed developing and restructuring countries to exchange scholars with other more fortunate countries. This would provide an opportunity for experts in MCBN to carry out short working visits to all regions of the world to promote MCBN network activities and to support programs in Universities and other scientific organizations. The Network had foreseen other activities including lectures and technical advice by senior specialists to laboratories that may require such assistance, transfer of knowledge and recent technical available information. The structure of MCBN comprised an Executive Committee, composed of 12 members and including a “bureau” composed of a President, two vice-presidents and a UNESCO representative. One of the major functions of the Committee was to develop cooperative projects in and between the network laboratories. To accomplish this initiative the MCBN had established a program of short-term fellowships to allow exchange of scholars between network laboratories for working visits. The importance was stressed of awarding short-term, project-oriented “direct” and “reverse” fellowships from developed countries to developing or restructuring countries, and in the opposite direction. The MCBN assisted in the development of workshops and other programs that bring ideas and talent together, to promote and speed the progress of research in MCBN. The MCBN has been active, in areas of regional and global concern, to increase awareness of social impacts, introduce the means to gain access to research, and utilize the knowledge obtained. Despite the initial hopes of extraordinary financial budgets, the MCBN could only provide modest financial support for activities. UNESCO funding was in most instances catalytic and consisted of start up funds. The Director General of UNESCO however had shown always a great understanding for this initiative and provided, through horizontal cuts in all sectors' budgets and reallocation of funds, continuing support to MCBN, which ended up in 1998 to amount to $330,000. This was indeed an important achievement for MCBN, which was reached very slowly and which, after the end of Federico Mayor's Directorship, rapidly collapsed. It was in the perspective of MCBN that these cooperative efforts would not only yield new scientific discoveries and produce effects essential for local advancement of biosciences and biotechnology but also, on a general ethical basis and through personal contacts, contribute fundamentally to improving the living conditions in the less fortunate nations on this planet. I am sure that Federico Mayor had considered this project as part of a greater design to bring through education, science and culture more peace in the world. I constructed the necessary website, very simple indeed, but I could not design a sophisticated one and started to produce “NetNews”, a letter of information about MCBN activities. Kathrin Gfeller, my secretary, has been since the beginning extremely helpful in keeping order and control on the organization which was growing exponentially. Although the number of member institutions of the MCBN was not limited, concrete constraints had to be set by the administrative and financial aspects of the organization. However, the list of cooperating institutions which was created was impressive, in number and quality. In the following lines I would like to remember some of the institutions and persons who very effectively collaborated in the realization of many activities of the Network. Argentina had one centre, with Alberto Boveris, who remained as member of the executive board of the NGO, later on. Australia had also one centre, with Anthony Linnane as a very active partner; he even created a centre of excellence within Monash University in Melbourne. Austria had two centers, one of them led by Herman. Esterbauer. In Brazil we had one centre with Leopoldo De Meis. We had two centers in Bulgaria, one in Canada four in China (one with Q.-Sh. Lin), five in Russia, with S.G. Inge-Vechtomov, Rem Petrov (who was also one of the two vice presidents),. Vladimir Skulachev, and Alexander Spirin. One centre in the Czech Republic was led by Arnost Kotyk; five centers in France have to be remembered with partners such as Jean-Pierre Changeux, Jean Louis Mandel and Bernard Pullman. Germany had even more centers (7) with three led by Joseph Schell, Helmut Sies, and Axel Ulrich. Pál Venetianer was chair as well of the UNESCO Centre in Szeged, Hungary. Furthermore there were four centers in India, one led by Gursaran Prasad Talwar and one centre in Israel, with Israel Pecht. Italy had two centers one headed by Sergio Papa. Kunio Yagi, the former president of IUBMB, led the Japanese Institute. Onesmo ole-MoiYoi was the chief of one of two institutes in Kenya. One more centre was based in Malaysia, two in Mexico, two in the Netherlands (with Karel van Dam and Karel Wirtz), one in Nigeria with Gabriel Ogunmola, now president of the Nigerian Academy of Sciences. We will see later the importance of the presence of Poland in the Network, where three institutes were located, two of them with Andrej Legocki and Maciej Nałecz at the helm. One institution in Portugal, one in Romania with Maya Simionescu, one in Slovenia, with Vito Turk, two in Spain, with Santiago Grisolia and Marguerita Salas, one in Sweden, one in Switzerland, with myself as responsible, one in Thailand and Tunisia, two in the United Kingdom, one of them led by Charles Pasternak and finally four institutions in the United one of which at be by the vice president of MCBN, a number of institutions and of personal had an among the UNESCO One in to be remembered for his and ideas has been Vladimir Vladimir of and Director of the of at UNESCO from to has always given great help in the development of MCBN years of science at UNESCO, with and After Vladimir as a to the UNESCO on in in with great help for MCBN. José Jaz took for MCBN for a short After his retirement, following a became for MCBN, with and later It became that had decided that the MCBN executive committee not be but control of the UNESCO The discussions that in the years had The UNESCO to of the on a basis and not on the basis of the that MCBN was started as an independent organization. It was to MCBN to its to a all and decision into the of UNESCO. The UNESCO also to the fellowship program in the that could to go to all institutes in and out of the network. a decision would the and the special scientific role of MCBN. MCBN a of global where a was offered by the knowledge of the institution an open one in which every institution could a and would be by UNESCO MCBN scientific values and not in the But in the following Director-General for from 1990 to a new Director-General was who from the of the programs to the UNESCO and to keep at the of the MCBN within the I to very for me and for the very discussions we had in Following advice I have all the administrative for the of the MCBN to and Following Federico Mayor, became the UNESCO Director-General of UNESCO on 12 November to serve a year for a the end of his following the of the new had decided to MCBN to UNESCO the of However, Director-General for decided to the decision of In a discussion with I that, the and of the UNESCO MCBN would not the executive committee, the present MCBN the two and the would from UNESCO and the MCBN after, was designated as Director-General for in A discussion with on make the MCBN an had been I that the of MCBN to an was already with the first of MCBN, as a UNESCO came to an The of the MCBN took place in on November with the of the and was at the of of The executive committee was composed by Alberto Boveris, Charles Maciej Rem Helmut and myself In Maciej Nałecz became of the and of UNESCO as a of It was to MCBN as a UNESCO program, but to establish a collaboration with the MCBN. The support by UNESCO was not at the of the the of Federico Mayor, but to the of the organization. In the of Nałecz and took of MCBN. The collaboration until the of when the of MCBN had to to a after years as and years of I to the members of the MCBN executive years of MCBN is The essential is that its major UNESCO, has not been to its the a a I have out of my personal and in a for MCBN. This has been when MCBN had an active and important it has now the of MCBN to the administrative It is however that the of MCBN will not in any financial to of The institutes of and The Institute was the and Molecular Biology within the for on which became later the Institute Head of the has been Onesmo now Director of and of the for and The research at the was on out with very techniques and The was established in collaboration with Charles is a organization at the developing world. It is an international in the has been to and the of the by promoting access to and The Institute. The most important of these centers The Institute of MCBN was created in It has some special it is it is a from the it is with the local culture the of a local network of institutes with it is associated with the rest of science in the world the MCBN and it has an international executive board in the of local This be with some to regions and countries. a basic science be created in countries with of a The is by for it and by local to a of a In the local of the scientific centre are President of the Academy of Maciej Nałecz and but not the former President who the The in this was UNESCO a UNESCO of great with newly acquired and by the of its Director Federico Mayor. A major in the realization of the has been a of and of and Maciej Nałecz by the of scientists and first of all the centre is not a but the of a mature scientific which its in this and of the UNESCO Federico Mayor is at the of the the UNESCO Maciej Nałecz is from the on the first and from the be in the which is available at of the Institute in the Federico Mayor, Maciej Nałecz of the Academy of and be in the which is available at The of the principles was in my office in on all what was present in the institutes and the A I gave at the Institute in was with and But with the we had with and Academy The principles were in a and was obtained. This was by a meeting I had with in the and with Academy President with the UNESCO Mayor. After the of the between the Academy of and UNESCO the by Federico Mayor took The Institute started its on The Institute of MCBN in is one of the most modern research institutes in its The research topics the wide areas of The the of of all members through international and lack of make it among research institutions. I have been of the Institute for a number of with like present who made the Institute and an NGO, MCBN established a new for with UNESCO in and a number of have been for training in MCBN laboratories. this has been for by MCBN has also support from UNESCO and with it a large number of MCBN has been present in the activities to the development of the in It has also, among fellowships for scientists to in the by and Biotechnology The for be in the which is available at The to the for from the UNESCO, Vladimir UNESCO of the and at the be in the which is available at training be in the which is available at One year after its more than in the MCBN and a number of are MCBN activities will be remembered by the of who have been to the who support and those who In the at one achievement will for that of the and fortunate of the Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology in with its has already that of to the of Maciej Nałecz and I will to

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