The Regional Secretary for the Sea, Science and Technology announced in Angra do Heroísmo that regional scientific research centres "will receive financial support for their operation."
 
Fausto Brito e Abreu pointed out that the total investment of this support amounts to 193 thousand Euros, adding that "each centre will receive a sum between 5,000 and 12,500 Euros, depending on criteria such as the number of PhD researchers, laboratory activity and the number of ongoing international projects."
 
Speaking during a visit to the Epidemiology and Molecular Biology Specialised Service (SEEBMO) of Santo Espírito Hospital on Terceira Island, the Regional Secretary stressed that "the commitment to scientific research and knowledge is a commitment of the Government for the future."
 
"The funding of Science in the Region is one of the priorities" of this Government, Brito e Abreu said, noting that the "support to the operation of research centres was extended to hospitals this year."
 
Brito e Abreu stated that this support "is intended to be another contribution to the sustainability" of regional centres so that they may have better conditions to "develop scientific projects and meet current operation expenses."
 
The funds available may be applied in the occasional hiring of human resources, namely through scientific management grants and the hiring of technicians to support administrative, financial and laboratory activities, as well as in the acquisition of laboratory reagents, computer equipment and software, and travels for the development of scientific cooperation in their areas of intervention.
 
During the visit held Friday, Brito e Abreu stressed that SEEBMO has conducted high end research in the areas of health such as rheumatology, with special emphasis on the study of ankylosing spondylitis, an inflammatory rheumatic disease. It has also carried out hereditary studies linked to cancer through molecular diagnostics. In this regard, the government official added that this centre is "extraordinarily well equipped."
 
The activities conducted by this research centre have been developed either in the support to hospital routine or in scientific research, namely in the laboratory diagnosis of diseases with application of molecular genetic techniques, epidemiological research in the field of immunology and molecular biology, hospital cancer registry and health care provision.
 
SEEBMO comprises several research projects in collaboration with the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology of the University of Porto and international institutions in Spain, namely the Jimenez Diaz Institute in Madrid, the Central Hospital of Asturias in Oviedo and the Biomedicine Research Unit of Santa Cruz de Tenerife Hospital on the Canary Islands, and in England, including the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford, the Institute of Public Health in Cambridge and the Arthritis and Research Council-Epidemiology Research Unit in Manchester.