Photo: Mariana Griff
With the arrival of the pandemic, the scientific community took on a role and vision rarely seen at these latitudes. In February 2020, a month before the virus reached Uruguay, and of course long before the subsequent media attention, the group of researchers from the Laboratory of Molecular Virology of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of the Republic and from the Laboratory of Experimental Evolution of Virology at the Pasteur de Montevideo Institute began work on the development of the SARS diagnostic kit -CoV-2. When the virus finally reached the country, the media began publishing the names of several researchers. Gonzalo Moratorio, one of the scientists who led the development of the group, reached the pages of the journal temper nature. Co-director of the research group, on a par with Moratorio – something he says himself every time he gets the chance – was and remains virologist Pilar Moreno.
Now that the health situation in the country seems to be resting, we are approaching the Nuclear Research Center of the Faculty of Science. It’s a strange place where a mini nuclear reactor works. There, Pilar waits for us to talk.
His colleagues call him Billy. Talking to her also leads you to think about batteries. What better place than a former nuclear reactor to contain the inexhaustible atomic pile that Moreno seems to have somewhere? More introverted in public than her colleague Moratorio, when the recording device starts, the conversation flows warmly. Pilar assures me that everyone…
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