Brazilian biologist Fernando de Castro Reinach was the driving force behind Brazil's sequencing of the crop pest Xylella fastidiosa — a move that for the first time put Brazilian genomics on the world scientific map.

In this article, Alessandro Greco reports on another, equally successful, role that Reinach has played in Brazilian science: that of an entrepreneur.

Last year, Reinach became general partner for life sciences at one of the country's largest venture capital funds, Votorantim Ventures. Since taking up his post, he has moved quickly to promote private sector liaisons in life sciences, and has already used the fund to set up three biotech companies.

Link to article in Science

Reference: Science 300, 1366 (2003)