The Santos Dumont Institute (ISD) was idealized by the neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis and constituted and qualified as a Social Organization in 2014. Its units, however, have been operating for over 10 years in the Brazilian Northeast, due to the Institute's partnership with the Alberto Santos Dumont Association for Research Support (AASDAP), manager of these spaces in its initial years of activity.
The first ISD unit to start operating was the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience (IIN-ELS), in 2006, which at the time was called the International Institute of Neurosciences of Natal. In 2007, the International Institute of Neurosciences received the name “Edmond and Lily Safra” due to a donation from Mrs. Lily Safra, due to her interest in the area of neurosciences. The amount donated to the project cannot be disclosed for contractual reasons. Since 2014, the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neurosciences has been maintained through a management contract with the Ministry of Education (MEC).
The IIN-ELS presents itself as an advanced research center in neurosciences in Brazil, with a body of permanent and associated researchers, who work in the central lines of research developed by the IIN-ELS. At that time, electrophysiological studies with arrays of microelectrodes implanted in the nervous system were rare in Brazil, even more so when combined with histological and immunohistochemical approaches, behavioral and quantitative analysis methods.
In February 2007, the Science Education Center (CEC) Alfredo J. Monteverde School, in Natal (RN), founded by AASDAP and managed by ISD since 2014. In the same year, in September, the CEC Alfredo J. Monteverde School in Macaíba (RN) was inaugurated.
In operation in Rio Grande do Norte since 2008, the Anita Garibaldi Health Education and Research Center (Anita), also located in Macaíba, is part of the Unified Health System (SUS) as a school for health professions.
In 2010, still under the management of AASDAP, the Serrinha-BA CEC was inaugurated. And in 2013, the IIN-ELS, in Macaíba, started to offer the first Graduate Program in Neuroengineering in Brazil, in the area of Biomedical Engineering, authorized by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES). This is an area of knowledge that integrates engineering and neuroscience techniques to study and understand the functioning of the nervous system, as well as to create interfaces between the human brain and artificial devices.
In 2014, the IIN-ELS leaves the neighborhood of Candelária, in Natal, and starts operating in Macaíba. On October 17, 2016, ISD expanded its area of activity, expanding the scope of Anita's services through Ordinance No. ).
On August 6, 2021, Ordinance No. 1,842 made official the change of category of the Anita Garibaldi Specialized Rehabilitation Center (Anita CER) from III to IV to assist people with visual impairments.
O first CER IV of Grande Natal, and the second in Rio Grande do Norte, serves patients from the 7th Health Region, which includes the municipalities of Macaíba, Natal, Parnamirim, Extremoz and São Gonçalo do Amarante. This region concentrates 1,371,945 inhabitants, which corresponds to almost 39% of the Potiguar population.
In 2018, Anita celebrated its 10th anniversary with a series of actions involving former employees, partners in education and the community, as well as supporters of public authorities and suppliers.
In 2019, the IIN-ELS celebrated one year in its new headquarters with the planting of the Baobab of Science, in addition to the panel painted exclusively and offered as a gift by the artist Anna Benigna (images HERE).
Understand what Santos Dumont Institute (ISD) is by watching the institutional video. The Institute's actions are divided into three lines of action: science education, health education, and research in neuroscience and neuroengineering, changing the reality of the Brazilian Northeast.
