It seemed like something that would pass, and we optimistically isolated ourselves, adapting our routines and learning to stay home. New recipes, old TV series, doing cleanup we had put off for a long time…a lot of work.

The past two years were challenging for everyone. Transformations occurred not just in the work environment, but in everyone’s lives and daily routines. Here’s what it was like for some CNPEM staff.

Florian leads the Cateretê research station

The Sirius beamlines are used to conduct experiments that allow us to observe microscopic aspects of materials, such as the atoms and molecules they are made of, their chemical states, and their spatial organization. The lines are planned to house advanced scientific instrumentation suited to solve problems in areas that are strategic for the country’s development.

One is the Cateretê beamline, which is coordinated by Florian Meneau. This experimental hutch is optimized to obtain three-dimensional images of materials with nanometric resolution, for a broad array of applications. In the biological sciences, for example, organelles within a cell can be visualized in order to investigate structural effects and cellular metabolism.

“The beginning of the pandemic coincided with the end of assembly of the Cateretê beamline. Between March and July 2021, we went to Sirius, one person at a time, to run some tests with the different equipment. From July 2021, when we received the first synchrotron light beam in the line, commissioning began with small groups taking turns to work. Obviously, communication with the other Sirius groups was more complicated, but everyone’s motivation made it possible to move forward successfully. After only a few months of intense work, we were able to carry out the first experiments with Cateretê.

On the personal front, I was overjoyed at the birth of my second daughter, Margot, which made this very unusual time much easier to deal with. She was my great change!”

Renata worked day and night producing crystals from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, to be difracted at Manacá beamline, at Sirius

Protein crystallography helps determine the three-dimensional structure of macromolecules, and when this technique is applied to important biological targets, the resulting information is crucial for the molecular understanding, discovery, and development of new drugs. The technique is used to visualize crystals made by specialists in this area who carefully investigate new ways to produce crystals that can be precisely diffracted.

During the two years that the task force formed at the CNPEM to search for solutions to combat the SARS-CoV-2 virus was mobilized, generating the protein crystals that make up the virus was crucial to understand its mechanisms of action. Renata Rocha is one of the people responsible for this work. On several occasions, she was the first to turn on the lights in the labs at the beginning of the day and also the one to turn them off when she was the last to leave.

“Work during the pandemic was a major challenge for me. It all began precisely with CNPEM’s announcement that in-person activities were cancelled, which I could never have imagined, until the difficult decision to accept the invitation to return to in-person activities and join my colleagues on an “important task force” to address and respond to the emerging Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic arrived at that very moment, and in the face of that scenario of uncertainty and fear it was the most challenging decision of my life. I returned, there were few of us, and that familiar routine no longer existed. We faced many challenges. Complex and tiring tasks, distancing, silent laboratories and hallways… but at the same time, it was so intense with new challenges and knowledge that I was able to overcome the fear and missing my family and take advantage of every second of this incredible experience of being a scientist in a new world, where science played an active role. There are no words to describe how great this experience was in my life and professional career, alongside researchers I had always admired and modeled myself after during all the time I’ve worked at CNPEM.”

Carolina operates equipment which is also available for the use of external users through proposals submissions to LNNano

Carolina Torres works in the Synthesis Division of LNNano, operating equipment involved in confocal Raman spectroscopy, thermal analysis, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetry (TGA). Confocal Raman spectroscopy is a technique for characterizing material that can be used to identify aspects such as chemical functions, crystal size, polymorphic differentiation, and stacking. Thermal analysis studies are generally performed to determine a material’s properties to better understand it. These measurements normally provide information about hydration, characteristic temperatures (fusion, vitreous transition, crystallization), enthalpy of reactions, kinetic evaluations, and phase transitions, among other applications, data which are crucial for understanding and producing nanomaterials.

“Dealing with the pandemic was not at all easy. I started my work here at CNPEM in July 2020, when everything was still very new, information about Covid-19 was vague, fear was enormous, and prospects for solutions or improvements were almost zero. I did not spend any time working from home: since my first day I’ve been here in person. It was difficult and sad to see everything so empty, and to be able to meet so few people, and that was the reality for many long months. There were not many analyses to carry out, there were no discussions, and not even glassware scattered along the lab benches. Over these two years I got Covid-19 and lost one of the most important people in my life to this virus, without even being able to give her one last hug. I can say that to the same degree that I experienced emotionally awful pain, I needed to have the courage to breathe and stay strong, and that was how I discovered myself in my career and grew personally as well as professionally. I accepted challenges, I studied, I embraced important opportunities, I found myself stronger than I had never imagined I would be, I met fabulous people who made my load lighter, who are also professionals that encourage, support, and inspire me every day. I am proud to be part of such an incredible team.”