Project will receive R$ 1 billion from new federal growth acceleration program and also includes 2nd phase of Sirius particle accelerator
Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva visited the campus of the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM) this Friday, July 4, for the placement of the cornerstone of Project Orion, a laboratory for advanced pathogen research that will feature globally unique facilities. Investments of R$ 1 billion are planned through 2026. At the ceremony, the president also announced the expansion of Sirius; new research stations will be added to the particle accelerator and its infrastructure will be optimized.
President Lula, federal ministers, the president of BNDES, and CNPEM director general at the cornerstone ceremony for Orion in Campinas (Ricardo Stuckert/PR)
“Education in the country will not run out of money. Education is the oxygen that ran out for Brazilians during Covid, education is the future of Brazil,” said the president, citing investments in the next steps to expand the laboratory complex and emphasizing his personal satisfaction in returning to the site years after his decision to start the project.
“I am going to walk around with this model under my arm and show it to everyone! This model is Orion, which will put Brazil on the forefront. I thank God for having been here in 2008 with Sérgio Rezende [then Minister of Science and Technology] and having had the idea to do it. Sixteen years later, we’re back to say that we will do more and do better because Brazil deserves it.”
Also participating in the ceremony were Ministers Luciana Santos (Science, Technology and Innovation), Nísia Trindade (Health), and Márcio França (Entrepreneurship, Microenterprise, and Small Business) and BNDES President Aloizio Mercadante.
“I consider today a historical day for Brazil. The cornerstone of Orion is a great leap for science, health, and sovereignty in the country,” said Luciana Santos.
“My experience leading FIOCRUZ during the pandemic was very intense, at a time of scientific denialism. All countries will need to prepare themselves for new pandemics. Orion is how we are preparing for new health challenges, as well as guaranteeing our own sovereignty,” added Nísia Trindade.
CNPEM Director General Antonio José Roque da Silva highlighted the support from the federal government as well as how pleased he was to guide the president on his tour of the Center. “Orion is one of the most advanced centers in the world, with domestic technology, a Brazilian project connecting basic and applied science. This is the important DNA of this center, that links research to industry,” he noted, adding that the focus of the research team is to find solutions to the major problems facing the country.
“Brazil has its challenges, the world has its challenges. Our vision in this advanced center is to consider how we can participate in solving these problems in a multidisciplinary manner on topics like renewable energy, bioscience, climate change, and so many others.”
During the ceremony, the physicist Rogério Cézar Cerqueira Leite, who is part of the CNPEM board but was unable to participate for health reasons, was recognized for his important contributions to Project Orion.
When he arrived at the complex in Campinas, President Lula visited the construction site for the new laboratory and the expansion for the Sirius particle accelerator. He also participated in a lunch at CNPEM with authorities and representatives from the research center.
Learn more about Project Orion
Project Orion is a laboratory complex for advanced pathogen research which will include high and maximum biosafety containment facilities (BSL-3 and BSL-4, respectively), the only labs of this type in Latin America and the only one of its kind in the world connected to a particle accelerator, Sirius. Currently under construction in the city of Campinas, São Paulo, on the CNPEM campus, the complex will also include basic research labs as well as biological containment level 2, 3, and 4 facilities, advanced bioimaging and analytical techniques, a training lab simulating high- and maximum-containment facilities, divisions connected to synchrotron beamlines (Sibipiruna, Timbó, and Hibisco), as well as other support structures. All this infrastructure will be available to the scientific community in Brazil and abroad that investigates pathogenic agents (viruses, bacteria, fungi) and their effects on human health.
By permitting advances of knowledge on pathogens and related diseases, Orion will play a fundamental role in health surveillance activities and policies, as well as in the development of diagnostic methods, vaccines, treatments, and epidemiological strategies. Orion will support national sovereignty in facing health crises, with the potential to benefit various areas such as health, science and technology, defense, and the environment.
As of June 2024, R$ 240 million in funding has gone to Project Orion, including funds received in 2022 and 2023; another R$ 760 million are planned up to 2026.
