📋 Tender Overview
There are diseases that do not appear in the headlines every day, but they are still there. Chagas in rural areas. Leishmaniasis in the Amazon. Parasites that silently affect thousands of Peruvians, especially in populations where access to timely diagnosis remains limited.
At the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM), the response to these evils begins in a laboratory.
From the Faculty of Biological Sciences, the Molecular and Cellular Parasitology Laboratory has been modernized with new infrastructure thanks to the Laboratory Strengthening call, financed by Prociencia, the executing unit of Concytec. Its not just new equipment. This is installed capacity to study, in the country and with its own technology, how parasites interact with human cells and how to detect them with greater precision.
Cell cultures that allow the interaction between parasites and their hosts to be observed in real time. Genetic analyzes to identify infections in early stages. Immunological tests that help understand why some people develop more severe symptoms than others. What previously depended on external collaborations or limited equipment, today can be done with technical autonomy.
Having this infrastructure allows us to study parasitic diseases from the cellular and molecular level in greater depth. This directly impacts the training of researchers and the generation of useful knowledge for public health, explains the PhD. Edward Valencia Ayala, technical manager of the project.
Technology that bridges the gap
The laboratory now has level II biosafety cabinets, fluorescence microscopes that allow parasites to be detected in low concentrations in real time, CO2 incubators to study how parasites interact in organisms that host them, and a flow cytometer that allows thousands of cells to be analyzed in seconds. It also has automated systems for DNA and RNA extraction, which helps identify diseases in very early stages when they are easier to treat; in addition to specialized equipment for molecular techniques.
Peru can better study its own diseases. It can identify proteins with diagnostic potential, analyze immunological responses and generate evidence that, in the medium term, serves as a basis for developing more precise tests or therapeutic strategies better adapted to our epidemiological reality.
Science with public purpose
The San Marcos laboratory is one of the few in the country specialized in the molecular and immunological study of neglected parasitic diseases. That makes it a strategic space for public health.
Chagas and leishmaniasis are not media diseases, but they do represent a persistent challenge, especially in regions with less access to specialized diagnostic services. Having a strengthened laboratory means training trained professionals, generating relevant scientific publications and contributing information that can be used by the health system.
The team combines molecular biology, immunology, proteomics and bioinformatics to better understand the behavior of these parasites. Our goal is to provide knowledge that allows us to develop more effective diagnostic tools and, in the future, contribute to more appropriate treatments for vulnerable populations, says Valencia.
More than teams: country capacity
Strengthening the laboratory is part of a larger strategy: investing in scientific infrastructure so that Peru does not depend exclusively on external capabilities when facing health challenges.
Public investment, channeled through Prociencia and Concytec, does not stop at the purchase of equipment. It translates into training of undergraduate and graduate students, theses, publications, and collaboration with other universities and health institutes.
Each sample analyzed in this laboratory is not just an academic experiment. It is one more piece in the construction of a scientific system capable of responding to the problems that affect its own population.
