The Graduate Program in Genetics and Molecular Biology (PPG-GBM) is housed in the Department of General Biology, Center for Biological Sciences, State University of Londrina. It was founded in 1989 in partnership with the Agronomic Institute of Paraná (IAPAR) and the Brazilian Agricultural Research Company (EMBRAPA-soja). In 2023, the PPG-GBM history completed 34 years of existence, consolidating itself as one of the most important programs in Genetics and Molecular Biology in the State of Paraná, with a strong potential for regionalization in human resources training. Since its foundation, the PPG-GBM has graduated about 400 masters and 70 doctors, and, of these graduates, about half work as professors in public basic education institutions, universities, and research institutes, and the other half work in the private sector. Until 2009, our PPG graduated only master’s and with the opening of the Ph.D. program that year, the program has expanded its regionalization and its potential for human resources training.
The PPG-GBM is very important for Londrina and its Metropolitan Region, which is formed by 25 municipalities. Londrina is among the 20 most populous microregions in Brazil (2017 demographic data), with an estimated 1.2 million inhabitants in 2019, a high HDI of 0.813, and a GDP of approximately 20 billion per year. This is due to a diversified economy based on industries such as trade, construction, tourism, higher education, services, and agribusiness. These last three areas of the economy are served by our PPG. We have in the region dozens of private colleges and universities, medium and large farms, and a large number of service companies related to health and agribusiness. Projections indicate that this last sector should grow two-to-three times in the next 10 years, and Londrina appears as one of the main technological poles of agribusiness in the country.
In this sense, the maintenance of a course of excellence in Genetics and Molecular Biology is of fundamental importance to meet the demand for personnel, the generation of knowledge and technology, provision of services, and the establishment of partnerships between the university and various sectors of society. Therefore, the relevance of this graduate program is on the regional and national scene. The good education of our students has facilitated their admission into the labor market as well as the continuity of their education at the UEL and other HEIs. The opening of the Ph.D. program in 2009 brought a leap in quality in different aspects. Firstly, the human resources training in both master’s and Ph.D. degrees launched in the regional and national market (schools, colleges, universities, and companies) better-qualified personnel. Secondly, it allowed the absorption of our masters in the program itself, enabling the continuity of the projects developed during the training. Finally, it attracted students who had graduated from other programs due to UEL’s potential (it is among the 30 best universities in Brazil and the 1,400 best in the world, according to the 2020 ranking of the Center for World University) and the quality of life in the Northern Region of Paraná. In this historical context, it can be said that the opening of the Ph.D. program was a determinant for the strengthening of the program and its research lines and, thus, for the improvement in the quality of life in regional terms.
The PPG-GBM has raised the interest of biologists, agronomists, and biomedical scientists, among others, with a greater demand each year from students and professionals from all over Brazil. The objectives are i) the formation of human resources in the field of genetics and molecular biology with a view to their performance in teaching and research in public and private institutions all over Brazil and the formation of personnel for the private sector, especially in the areas of agribusiness and health. Although the PPG is organized in a single area of concentration, called Genetics and Molecular Biology, it is divided into three broad research lines: 1) Molecular Biology, Omics Methodologies and Applications; 2) Genetic Diversity and Evolution, and 3) Toxicogenomics, Oncogenetics and Developmental Genetics.