Mattel, the maker of the Barbie doll, has created six dolls honoring women in science, technology, engineering and math from different parts of the world.
One of them is the researcher who led the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. la profesora Sarah Gilbert.
Although the scientist said she found the creation “very strange” at first, she hoped it would inspire the children.
“I hope it’s part of being more normal than Girls think about science careers “, He stated in an interview with Mattel.
“I want my doll to show children careers they may not know about, like being a vaccinologist.”
Gilbert became a scientific celebrity in 2020 after leading the Oxford University team that worked with Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical multinational AstraZeneca in the race to develop the coronavirus vaccine.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is currently the most used in the world, with cans shipped to more than 170 countries.
“I’m passionate about inspiring the next generation of girls for stem careers, and I hope children who see my Barbie realize the importance of science careers in helping the world around us,” said the researcher.
A leader
Within the scientific guild, Gilbert is known as one of the world’s leading providers in vaccinology.
For almost two decades, the scientist has devoted himself to research in laboratories, the manufacture of vaccines and the procurement of funds for future projects.
He earned a BA in Biology from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, East England. He later did a PhD in biochemistry.
After that, he focused his research on that Biotechnology industry where he learned about drug making.
In 1994 Gilbert received a senior postdoctoral position at the University of Oxford in the field of genetics, parasites and malaria.
This research led her to work on vaccine development.
A Brazilian
Brazilian biomedical scientist Jaqueline Góes de Jesus was also one of the scientists Mattel selected to work on researching the new coronavirus.
Góes de Jesus was part of the team that worked for the genetic sequencing of the new coronavirus in the first cases of Covid-19 in Latin America.
At the age of 31, Góes de Jesus had a successful career in the field of biomedicine.
Before he started researching the new coronavirus, he was part of the team that sequenced the genome of the Zika virus.
Born in Salvador, daughter of a nurse and a civil engineer, she is currently a postdoctoral fellow at FAPESP (Foundation for Research Support of the State of Sao Paulo) at the Institute of Tropical Medicine of Sao Paulo – University of Sao Paulo (IMT- USP).
He also does research in the field of arbovirus emergentes.
Góes de Jesus and his colleagues, coordinated by the immunologist Ester Cerdeira Sabino, managed to sequence the genome of the SARS-CoV-2 virus on their own 48 hours after confirmation of the first Covid-19 case in Brazil, a time below the world average of 15 days.
The samples came from the first Brazilian patient who was infected with the new coronavirus on February 26, 2020.
Sequencing made it possible to distinguish the virus that infected the Brazilian patient from the genome identified in Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic in China.
The samples showed that this case was closer to the versions of the corona virus detected in Germany at the end of January.
The toy company also included:
Amy O’Sullivan, an emergency room nurse who treated the first COVID-19 patient at Wycoff Hospital in Brooklyn, New York.
Audrey Cruz, a frontline doctor in Las Vegas fighting discrimination.
Kirby White, Australian physician who pioneered the development of a surgical gown that healthcare workers can wash and reuse during the pandemic.
Chika Stacy Oriuwa, a resident psychiatrist at the University of Toronto who combats systemic racism in healthcare.
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