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International Professorship Program in Brazil 

We have completed our course on “DNA Sequencing in Mycobacteria,” which was taught on two campuses in Brazil on 20-24 November 2000 at the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (FioCruz) in Rio de Janeiro, and on 27 November-1 December at the Faculdade de Ciencias Farmaceuticas(UNESP) in Araraquara, São Paolo State, with support from the ASM International Professorship Program. The course was conducted in two locations, making it more accessible to students affiliated with reputable mycobacteria research and diagnostic laboratories. Eleven students completed the course at FioCruz and nineteen at UNESP, all of whom were either at the graduate or postdoctoral level of education.

We transported reagents and other expendable materials to sequence DNA from rifampin-resistant mutants of M. tuberculosis that had been extracted at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Ga. The students (working in groups of two or three) were required to identify the mutations and to pass a written examination in order to successfully complete the course. The students demonstrated excellent comprehension of lectures and practical concepts in the laboratory, and all correctly identified the coded mutations. Scores and comments on the course evaluations were most favorable, and all students provided responses regarding their intended application of the course to their research and diagnostic careers. We also demonstrated ASM Web pages and depicted specific applications, for example retrieving relevant journal articles, in lecture slides at both course sites.

Direct collaborations with many of the students is one of the most beneficial outcomes of this course. We established professional relationships with nearly all of the 30 students, and contact by e-mail with most of them began almost immediately after our return to the United States. We are confident that (i) laboratory technology to control infectious diseases in Brazil was advanced during these two weeks, and (ii) your sponsorship of this course strongly supports an important mission of our Branch, that is our commitment to the global battle against tuberculosis. 

We will gladly share our experiences and instructional materials with other participants in the ASM International Professorship Program. On a personal level, we enthusiastically endorse the ASM International Professorship Program and we hope to continue our involvement in the future. 

Robert C. Cooksey   
Tuberculosis Branch
DASTLR
NCID 

Glenn P. Morlock 
Tuberculosis Branch
DASTLR
NCID