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History of genetics in Brazil: a view from the Museu da Genética at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul* * The research study "Human biological diversity and the history of genetics in Brazil in the second half of the twentieth century" has been financed by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, or CNPq, project 473268/2011-6). This paper was prepared when Vanderlei Sebastião de Souza held a post-doctoral fellowship (CNPq - project 161671/2011-0) at the Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz.

This work addresses the context of the creation, as well as the structure and contents, of the Museum of Genetics (Museu da Genética), created in 2011 and located in the Department of Genetics of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul), in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The materials available at the Museum of Genetics are a rich resource for research on the history of genetics in Brazil (and especially the genetics of human populations) beginning with the second half of the twentieth century. Despite the prominence of the field of genetics in Brazil, little research has been done on this topic.

history of genetics in Brazil; human genetics; Museum of Genetics; evolutionary theory; Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul


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