The scientific recovery of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC/Fiocruz) was marked by the return of democracy, which allowed the reinstatement of those who had been removed from office and participatory management in a new institutional phase, as an integral unit of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz). Acting on the front lines of responses to public health emergencies, the IOC played a central role since the arrival of dengue and HIV in Brazil until the recent Covid-19 pandemic.
On May 25, 2025, on a shared anniversary date with Fiocroz, the IOC turned 125 years old, celebrating its Silver Secular Jubilee. In the third report of the special series Timeline: IOC 125 years, learn about milestones from the last few decades of this journey and the numbers that demonstrate the Institute's strength as it looks to the future, committed to producing science and promoting health for the benefit of society and the strengthening of the Unified Health System (SUS). Here's to another 125 years!
Clockwise from top left: José Rodrigues Coura, Leônidas and Maria Deane, Henrique and Jane Lenzi, Helio and Peggy Pereira and Luis Rey. Photos: Gutemberg Brito and Archives IOC and COC/Fiocruz. Art: João Veras
The scientific resumption of IOC occurred under the management of José Rodrigues Coura, who took over the direction of the Institute and the vice-presidency of Research at Fiocruz in 1979, at the invitation of the Ministry of Health. The context was one of slow and gradual opening of the military regime, under popular pressure, with the Amnesty Law being approved that same year. With the aim of repopulating the IOC, Coura worked to attract renowned scientists and restructured teaching activities. He also resumed publication of the journal 'Memories of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute'.
They returned to Brazil to work in IOC: entomologist Leônidas Deane and protozoologist Maria Denae, who were in Venezuela; parasitologist Luis Rey, who was in Geneva, retiring from the World Health Organization (WHO); virologists Helio and Marguerite (Peggy) Pereira, who were retiring in England; and pathologists Henrique and Jane Lenzi, who came from Harvard, in the United States, among other prominent scientists who joined the Institute.
Formal education in IOC was interrupted in 1970, due to the decision to concentrate educational activities in the National School of Public Health (Ensp/Fiocruz). In 1980, a new phase of activity began, with the establishment of postgraduate studies Strict sensu at the Institute.
Maintaining the excellence and articulation with the research from the times of the 'Application Course' and following the expansion of its areas of expertise, the IOC reached seven programs Strict sensu, which awarded 4.143 masters and doctors degrees in Parasite Biology, Tropical Medicine, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Teaching in BiocSciences and Health, Computational Biology and Systems, Biodiversity and Health and Vector Surveillance and Control.
The role of training human resources for public health is also realized in four postgraduate courses Lato sensu - in Medical Entomology, Vector Malacology, Teaching in BiocSciences and Health and Science, Art and Culture in Health - and two mid-level courses - Specialization in Parasitic Biology and Biotechnology and Technician in Biotechnology. The teaching in IOC It also includes scientific initiation and vacation courses for undergraduate students, post-doctoral training and non-formal educational activities for diverse audiences.
Diagnosis, genomic surveillance and identification of vectors, such as kissing bugs and snails, are among the many activities developed by the reference laboratories of IOC. Photos: Gutemberg Brito. Art: João Veras
Twenty-three laboratories of the IOC provide reference services, playing a strategic role in the SUS for diagnosing diseases, identifying vectors and reservoirs, genome sequencing, developing technologies and training professionals. In addition to supporting the Ministry of Health, nine operate internationally in networks of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Reference laboratories also maintain two specialized outpatient clinics for the care of patients with leprosy and viral hepatitis.
Several references were accredited in the 1980s, in the context of the structuring of the national public health laboratory system, including services focused on poliomyelitis, viral hepatitis, leishmaniasis, leptospirosis and triatomines, among others. Some services have been operating even earlier, such as the references for influenza, established in the 1950s, and for cholera and enterobacteria, implemented in the early 1970s.
Voting moment during the Deliberative Council meeting IOC, the highest decision-making body of the Institute. Photo: Gutemberg Brito. Art: João Veras
After redemocratization in 1985, the IOC followed the trail of participative management and began the process of electing its directors. Until then, all directors of the Institute had been appointed by their predecessor or by the political authority to which they were linked. In 1985 and 1989, the directors were elected by the Institute's Deliberative Council, which was created in 1979. Afterwards, the vote became direct.
Currently, the Deliberative Council, the highest decision-making body of the IOC, is formed by elected representatives from all its laboratories and from the categories that make up the institutional community. The institution also has technical chambers, which assist the Board of Directors in decision-making, and periodically promotes the 'Meetings of the IOC', which aim to propose short, medium and long-term strategies and guidelines for the unit.
The researchers who were dismissed before the reinstatement ceremony and during the event. In the photo above, from the left: Augusto Cid de Mello Perissé, Tito Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti, Haity Moussatché, Fernando Braga Ubatuba, Moacyr Vaz de Andrade, Hugo de Souza Lopes, Masao Goto, Herman Lent, Sebastião José de Oliveira, Domingos Arthur Machado Filho. Photos: COC/F Archiveiocruz. Art: João Veras
The return of the disqualified to the ranks of IOC took place in 1986, five years after the Amnesty Law. Of the ten researchers, only Herman Lent chose not to return to the Institute, remaining at Santa Úrsula University, which had welcomed him. Thus, the following returned: Augusto Perissé, Domingos Arthur Machado, Fernando Braga Ubatuba, Haity Moussatché, Hugo de Souza Lopes, Masao Goto, Moacyr Vaz de Andrade, Sebastião José de Oliveira and Tito Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti.
The reinstatement ceremony, led by the then president of the Fiocruz, Sergio Arouca, repaired the injustice and affirmed the redemocratization of the Fiocruz. The event was attended by personalities such as Ulysses Guimarães and Darcy Ribeiro.
The 1980s marked the arrival of dengue fever in the Americas, with major epidemics. Acting in a pioneering manner, IOC contributed to the understanding of the disease, the development of diagnostic methods and control strategies, becoming a reference for the Ministry of Health.
The Institute was responsible for the first detections of serotypes 1, 2 and 3 of the dengue virus in Brazil, respectively in 1986, 1990 and 2001. In 2010, it identified serotype 4, indicating the reintroduction of the lineage in the country almost 30 years after the first outbreak recorded in Roraima in 1981.
Pioneering spirit was also present in tackling the most recent arbovirus emergencies, such as Zika in 2015 and yellow fever in 2016.
In parallel with activities in virology, research on the mosquito Aedes aegypti, transmitter of dengue, Zika and chikungunya, are an expertise of the Institute, which investigates the behavior of the vector and resistance to insecticides, among other topics, and designed the strategy to control the insect '10 minutes against Aedes'.
Below, the first image of HIV obtained in Brazil, in 1987, by IOC. Above, researcher Bernardo Galvão, who led the team responsible for isolating the virus. Microscopy image: Monika Barth. Photo: Genilton Vieira. Art: João Veras
Soon after the confirmation of the first case of AIDS in Brazil, researchers from IOC assumed the challenge of facing the disease. At the time, the infection was poorly understood, associated with high mortality and surrounded by prejudice. The HIV virus was characterized in 1983, in France. Two years later, scientists from IOC managed to develop the first Brazilian diagnostic kit, after gaining access to samples of cells infected by the pathogen. The methodology allowed the confirmation of the disease in suspected cases and contributed to establishing screening in blood banks, reducing the risk of contamination through transfusions.
In the next stage of research, the first isolation of HIV-1 was carried out in Brazil and Latin America, in 1987. Published in an article in the journal 'Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz', the discovery was the result of the efforts of a multidisciplinary team that had to learn new methodologies and adapt techniques used abroad to the infrastructure available in Brazil. To this day, the virus remains the target of research by the IOC, which acts as an HIV reference laboratory for the Ministry of Health.
During the 1990s, the IOC He was a pioneer in the area of genomics, and was one of the people responsible for introducing the PCR technique in Brazil, which revolutionized molecular biology by enabling genome amplification for sequencing and diagnosing diseases. The development of cutting-edge technologies to address neglected diseases was one of the Institute's focuses, which established molecular methodologies for diagnosing Chagas disease and leishmaniasis, as well as identifying and typing the DNA of parasites, constituting reference services in the area. The application of genetic engineering to produce the yellow fever vaccine virus in tissues was another innovation.
Molecular biology remains at the center of research and innovation activities in IOC. In recent years, the Institute has worked, for example, on the development of kits for molecular diagnosis of various diseases, including leprosy, Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, yellow fever, acute diarrhea, in addition to a simultaneous one for influenza and Covid-19 and another for dengue, Zika and chikungunya.
From the left, clockwise: testing of a method for controlling vectors of leishmaniasis in the Southeast, research on malaria and intestinal parasites in a Yanomami village in the Amazon, and investigation of microorganisms in the soil of Antarctica. Photos: Gutemberg Brito and personal collection. Art: João Veras
In the 2000s, the term 'One Health' gained strength in global discussions, reinforcing the need for an integrated approach between human, animal and environmental health. Present at the root of the activities of the IOC, this perspective remains strong, as shown by a survey carried out in 2021, which mapped the Institute's work in field research at the interface between environment and health in 25 states, including rural, indigenous and wild areas as well as large urban centers.
Zoonoses, diseases transmitted from animals to humans, are an important topic of these studies, which contemplate the interaction between pathogens, reservoir animals, vectors, environmental, climatic and socioeconomic factors. The focus of the research of IOC For example, zoonotic diseases such as schistosomiasis, hantaviruses and leptospirosis, among many others, stand out.
Other themes place the Institute at the forefront of One Health, including action on malaria, bacterial resistance to antibiotics, environmental contamination and climate change.
The Institute played a prominent role in the most recent health crises in Brazil, including influenza A H1N1, Zika, yellow fever e mpox, Besides the Covid-19. It was also on standby against the Ebola virus, clarifying suspected cases of the disease in the country. In addition to developing scientific research, the IOC acted as a reference in laboratory diagnosis and vector surveillance, providing training and developing methodologies.
In 2009 the IOC sequenced the first genomes of H1N1 in Brazil. In 2015, the first detection of the Zika virus was carried out in amniotic fluid of pregnant women in cases of microcephaly and confirmed the role of the mosquito Aedes aegypti as the main vector of the virus in the country. In 2017, during the largest outbreak of yellow fever in almost 80 years, it identified the wild mosquitoes that transmit the disease and carried out the complete genetic sequencing of the virus associated with the outbreak, identifying unprecedented mutations. Faced with the spread of Mpox in 2022, specialists from the Institute implemented techniques for laboratory diagnosis of the infection and isolated the virus, recording in microscopy images its detailed structure.
Sample with a fragment of the coronavirus identified in Wuhan, China, received by the IOC in January 2020 to reinforce diagnostic procedures. Photo: Josué Damacena. Art: João Veras
O IOC was at the forefront of Brazil's response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Recognized as a reference for Brazil and the Americas, the Institute implemented and developed diagnostic methodologies and trained professionals. Working on monitoring the SARS-CoV-2 genome, it had two researchers appointed to the technical advisory group from WHO.
researches of IOC have had an impact on health policies, addressing sewage surveillance, patterns of coronavirus spread, the effectiveness of masks, antiviral drugs, the effects of infection on the body and the consequences of the pandemic for mental health, in addition to drawing attention to the increase in bacterial resistance to antibiotics. Covid-19 Technological Showcase gave visibility to the innovations developed.
In the field of education, the IOC restructured its teaching activities in the online environment and implemented a platform to support educators. Like the whole of society, the Institute suffered losses, with deaths of workers and students due to the disease. The IOC remains active in Covid-19 surveillance, monitoring the circulation of the disease and the emergence of viral variants.
Some numbers from IOC in 2025, in celebration of its Silver Secular Jubilee. Art: João Veras
On May 25, 2025, on a shared anniversary date with Fiocroz, the IOC turned 125, celebrating its Silver Secular Jubilee. The numbers don't tell the whole story, but they help us glimpse the power of IOC when looking to the future.
There are 66 research laboratories, subject to the periodic accreditation process, with external evaluation, to promote scientific excellence, in addition to ten technological platforms, with high-performance equipment and specialized teams. In the last ten years (from 2015 to 2024) there were more than 6.800 articles published in journals, including works that described 260 new species and 13 new genera. The innovation process resulted in 27 protected technologies, with 66 patents granted and 47 patent applications in progress.
Twenty-three laboratories of the IOC perform reference services for the Ministry of Health, and nine operate internationally with PAHO and WHO. Two specialized outpatient clinics are maintained by reference laboratories.
Twenty biological collections are under the care of the Institute, preserving millions of microbiological specimens, zoological specimens and biological pathology materials. In education, there are more than 4 masters and doctors graduated and 855 students enrolled in seven postgraduate programs. Strict sensu, in addition to four specialization courses Lato sensu and two at secondary level, with 112 students currently enrolled. Surpassing the 115-year mark, the magazine 'Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz' has published more than 7 thousand articles.
Updated democratically in April, through debates at the '7th Meeting of the IOC' and voting by the Deliberative Council, the Institute's mission states: to produce science and promote health for the benefit of society and the strengthening of the SUS.
DOURO IOC! Long live the Fiocruz! Long live the SUS!
:: Check out the main ones bibliographical references consulted for the production of the 'Timeline: IOC 125 years'.
The scientific recovery of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC/Fiocruz) was marked by the return of democracy, which allowed the reinstatement of those who had been removed from office and participatory management in a new institutional phase, as an integral unit of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz). Acting on the front lines of responses to public health emergencies, the IOC played a central role since the arrival of dengue and HIV in Brazil until the recent Covid-19 pandemic.
On May 25, 2025, on a shared anniversary date with Fiocroz, the IOC turned 125 years old, celebrating its Silver Secular Jubilee. In the third report of the special series Timeline: IOC 125 years, learn about milestones from the last few decades of this journey and the numbers that demonstrate the Institute's strength as it looks to the future, committed to producing science and promoting health for the benefit of society and the strengthening of the Unified Health System (SUS). Here's to another 125 years!
Clockwise from top left: José Rodrigues Coura, Leônidas and Maria Deane, Henrique and Jane Lenzi, Helio and Peggy Pereira and Luis Rey. Photos: Gutemberg Brito and Archives IOC and COC/Fiocruz. Art: João Veras
The scientific resumption of IOC occurred under the management of José Rodrigues Coura, who took over the direction of the Institute and the vice-presidency of Research at Fiocruz in 1979, at the invitation of the Ministry of Health. The context was one of slow and gradual opening of the military regime, under popular pressure, with the Amnesty Law being approved that same year. With the aim of repopulating the IOC, Coura worked to attract renowned scientists and restructured teaching activities. He also resumed publication of the journal 'Memories of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute'.
They returned to Brazil to work in IOC: entomologist Leônidas Deane and protozoologist Maria Denae, who were in Venezuela; parasitologist Luis Rey, who was in Geneva, retiring from the World Health Organization (WHO); virologists Helio and Marguerite (Peggy) Pereira, who were retiring in England; and pathologists Henrique and Jane Lenzi, who came from Harvard, in the United States, among other prominent scientists who joined the Institute.
Formal education in IOC was interrupted in 1970, due to the decision to concentrate educational activities in the National School of Public Health (Ensp/Fiocruz). In 1980, a new phase of activity began, with the establishment of postgraduate studies Strict sensu at the Institute.
Maintaining the excellence and articulation with the research from the times of the 'Application Course' and following the expansion of its areas of expertise, the IOC reached seven programs Strict sensu, which awarded 4.143 masters and doctors degrees in Parasite Biology, Tropical Medicine, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Teaching in BiocSciences and Health, Computational Biology and Systems, Biodiversity and Health and Vector Surveillance and Control.
The role of training human resources for public health is also realized in four postgraduate courses Lato sensu - in Medical Entomology, Vector Malacology, Teaching in BiocSciences and Health and Science, Art and Culture in Health - and two mid-level courses - Specialization in Parasitic Biology and Biotechnology and Technician in Biotechnology. The teaching in IOC It also includes scientific initiation and vacation courses for undergraduate students, post-doctoral training and non-formal educational activities for diverse audiences.
Diagnosis, genomic surveillance and identification of vectors, such as kissing bugs and snails, are among the many activities developed by the reference laboratories of IOC. Photos: Gutemberg Brito. Art: João Veras
Twenty-three laboratories of the IOC provide reference services, playing a strategic role in the SUS for diagnosing diseases, identifying vectors and reservoirs, genome sequencing, developing technologies and training professionals. In addition to supporting the Ministry of Health, nine operate internationally in networks of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Reference laboratories also maintain two specialized outpatient clinics for the care of patients with leprosy and viral hepatitis.
Several references were accredited in the 1980s, in the context of the structuring of the national public health laboratory system, including services focused on poliomyelitis, viral hepatitis, leishmaniasis, leptospirosis and triatomines, among others. Some services have been operating even earlier, such as the references for influenza, established in the 1950s, and for cholera and enterobacteria, implemented in the early 1970s.
Voting moment during the Deliberative Council meeting IOC, the highest decision-making body of the Institute. Photo: Gutemberg Brito. Art: João Veras
After redemocratization in 1985, the IOC followed the trail of participative management and began the process of electing its directors. Until then, all directors of the Institute had been appointed by their predecessor or by the political authority to which they were linked. In 1985 and 1989, the directors were elected by the Institute's Deliberative Council, which was created in 1979. Afterwards, the vote became direct.
Currently, the Deliberative Council, the highest decision-making body of the IOC, is formed by elected representatives from all its laboratories and from the categories that make up the institutional community. The institution also has technical chambers, which assist the Board of Directors in decision-making, and periodically promotes the 'Meetings of the IOC', which aim to propose short, medium and long-term strategies and guidelines for the unit.
The researchers who were dismissed before the reinstatement ceremony and during the event. In the photo above, from the left: Augusto Cid de Mello Perissé, Tito Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti, Haity Moussatché, Fernando Braga Ubatuba, Moacyr Vaz de Andrade, Hugo de Souza Lopes, Masao Goto, Herman Lent, Sebastião José de Oliveira, Domingos Arthur Machado Filho. Photos: COC/F Archiveiocruz. Art: João Veras
The return of the disqualified to the ranks of IOC took place in 1986, five years after the Amnesty Law. Of the ten researchers, only Herman Lent chose not to return to the Institute, remaining at Santa Úrsula University, which had welcomed him. Thus, the following returned: Augusto Perissé, Domingos Arthur Machado, Fernando Braga Ubatuba, Haity Moussatché, Hugo de Souza Lopes, Masao Goto, Moacyr Vaz de Andrade, Sebastião José de Oliveira and Tito Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti.
The reinstatement ceremony, led by the then president of the Fiocruz, Sergio Arouca, repaired the injustice and affirmed the redemocratization of the Fiocruz. The event was attended by personalities such as Ulysses Guimarães and Darcy Ribeiro.
The 1980s marked the arrival of dengue fever in the Americas, with major epidemics. Acting in a pioneering manner, IOC contributed to the understanding of the disease, the development of diagnostic methods and control strategies, becoming a reference for the Ministry of Health.
The Institute was responsible for the first detections of serotypes 1, 2 and 3 of the dengue virus in Brazil, respectively in 1986, 1990 and 2001. In 2010, it identified serotype 4, indicating the reintroduction of the lineage in the country almost 30 years after the first outbreak recorded in Roraima in 1981.
Pioneering spirit was also present in tackling the most recent arbovirus emergencies, such as Zika in 2015 and yellow fever in 2016.
In parallel with activities in virology, research on the mosquito Aedes aegypti, transmitter of dengue, Zika and chikungunya, are an expertise of the Institute, which investigates the behavior of the vector and resistance to insecticides, among other topics, and designed the strategy to control the insect '10 minutes against Aedes'.
Below, the first image of HIV obtained in Brazil, in 1987, by IOC. Above, researcher Bernardo Galvão, who led the team responsible for isolating the virus. Microscopy image: Monika Barth. Photo: Genilton Vieira. Art: João Veras
Soon after the confirmation of the first case of AIDS in Brazil, researchers from IOC assumed the challenge of facing the disease. At the time, the infection was poorly understood, associated with high mortality and surrounded by prejudice. The HIV virus was characterized in 1983, in France. Two years later, scientists from IOC managed to develop the first Brazilian diagnostic kit, after gaining access to samples of cells infected by the pathogen. The methodology allowed the confirmation of the disease in suspected cases and contributed to establishing screening in blood banks, reducing the risk of contamination through transfusions.
In the next stage of research, the first isolation of HIV-1 was carried out in Brazil and Latin America, in 1987. Published in an article in the journal 'Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz', the discovery was the result of the efforts of a multidisciplinary team that had to learn new methodologies and adapt techniques used abroad to the infrastructure available in Brazil. To this day, the virus remains the target of research by the IOC, which acts as an HIV reference laboratory for the Ministry of Health.
During the 1990s, the IOC He was a pioneer in the area of genomics, and was one of the people responsible for introducing the PCR technique in Brazil, which revolutionized molecular biology by enabling genome amplification for sequencing and diagnosing diseases. The development of cutting-edge technologies to address neglected diseases was one of the Institute's focuses, which established molecular methodologies for diagnosing Chagas disease and leishmaniasis, as well as identifying and typing the DNA of parasites, constituting reference services in the area. The application of genetic engineering to produce the yellow fever vaccine virus in tissues was another innovation.
Molecular biology remains at the center of research and innovation activities in IOC. In recent years, the Institute has worked, for example, on the development of kits for molecular diagnosis of various diseases, including leprosy, Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, yellow fever, acute diarrhea, in addition to a simultaneous one for influenza and Covid-19 and another for dengue, Zika and chikungunya.
From the left, clockwise: testing of a method for controlling vectors of leishmaniasis in the Southeast, research on malaria and intestinal parasites in a Yanomami village in the Amazon, and investigation of microorganisms in the soil of Antarctica. Photos: Gutemberg Brito and personal collection. Art: João Veras
In the 2000s, the term 'One Health' gained strength in global discussions, reinforcing the need for an integrated approach between human, animal and environmental health. Present at the root of the activities of the IOC, this perspective remains strong, as shown by a survey carried out in 2021, which mapped the Institute's work in field research at the interface between environment and health in 25 states, including rural, indigenous and wild areas as well as large urban centers.
Zoonoses, diseases transmitted from animals to humans, are an important topic of these studies, which contemplate the interaction between pathogens, reservoir animals, vectors, environmental, climatic and socioeconomic factors. The focus of the research of IOC For example, zoonotic diseases such as schistosomiasis, hantaviruses and leptospirosis, among many others, stand out.
Other themes place the Institute at the forefront of One Health, including action on malaria, bacterial resistance to antibiotics, environmental contamination and climate change.
The Institute played a prominent role in the most recent health crises in Brazil, including influenza A H1N1, Zika, yellow fever e mpox, Besides the Covid-19. It was also on standby against the Ebola virus, clarifying suspected cases of the disease in the country. In addition to developing scientific research, the IOC acted as a reference in laboratory diagnosis and vector surveillance, providing training and developing methodologies.
In 2009 the IOC sequenced the first genomes of H1N1 in Brazil. In 2015, the first detection of the Zika virus was carried out in amniotic fluid of pregnant women in cases of microcephaly and confirmed the role of the mosquito Aedes aegypti as the main vector of the virus in the country. In 2017, during the largest outbreak of yellow fever in almost 80 years, it identified the wild mosquitoes that transmit the disease and carried out the complete genetic sequencing of the virus associated with the outbreak, identifying unprecedented mutations. Faced with the spread of Mpox in 2022, specialists from the Institute implemented techniques for laboratory diagnosis of the infection and isolated the virus, recording in microscopy images its detailed structure.
Sample with a fragment of the coronavirus identified in Wuhan, China, received by the IOC in January 2020 to reinforce diagnostic procedures. Photo: Josué Damacena. Art: João Veras
O IOC was at the forefront of Brazil's response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Recognized as a reference for Brazil and the Americas, the Institute implemented and developed diagnostic methodologies and trained professionals. Working on monitoring the SARS-CoV-2 genome, it had two researchers appointed to the technical advisory group from WHO.
researches of IOC have had an impact on health policies, addressing sewage surveillance, patterns of coronavirus spread, the effectiveness of masks, antiviral drugs, the effects of infection on the body and the consequences of the pandemic for mental health, in addition to drawing attention to the increase in bacterial resistance to antibiotics. Covid-19 Technological Showcase gave visibility to the innovations developed.
In the field of education, the IOC restructured its teaching activities in the online environment and implemented a platform to support educators. Like the whole of society, the Institute suffered losses, with deaths of workers and students due to the disease. The IOC remains active in Covid-19 surveillance, monitoring the circulation of the disease and the emergence of viral variants.
Some numbers from IOC in 2025, in celebration of its Silver Secular Jubilee. Art: João Veras
On May 25, 2025, on a shared anniversary date with Fiocroz, the IOC turned 125, celebrating its Silver Secular Jubilee. The numbers don't tell the whole story, but they help us glimpse the power of IOC when looking to the future.
There are 66 research laboratories, subject to the periodic accreditation process, with external evaluation, to promote scientific excellence, in addition to ten technological platforms, with high-performance equipment and specialized teams. In the last ten years (from 2015 to 2024) there were more than 6.800 articles published in journals, including works that described 260 new species and 13 new genera. The innovation process resulted in 27 protected technologies, with 66 patents granted and 47 patent applications in progress.
Twenty-three laboratories of the IOC perform reference services for the Ministry of Health, and nine operate internationally with PAHO and WHO. Two specialized outpatient clinics are maintained by reference laboratories.
Twenty biological collections are under the care of the Institute, preserving millions of microbiological specimens, zoological specimens and biological pathology materials. In education, there are more than 4 masters and doctors graduated and 855 students enrolled in seven postgraduate programs. Strict sensu, in addition to four specialization courses Lato sensu and two at secondary level, with 112 students currently enrolled. Surpassing the 115-year mark, the magazine 'Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz' has published more than 7 thousand articles.
Updated democratically in April, through debates at the '7th Meeting of the IOC' and voting by the Deliberative Council, the Institute's mission states: to produce science and promote health for the benefit of society and the strengthening of the SUS.
DOURO IOC! Long live the Fiocruz! Long live the SUS!
:: Check out the main ones bibliographical references consulted for the production of the 'Timeline: IOC 125 years'.
The non-profit reproduction of the text is allowed as long as the source is cited (Comunicação / Instituto Oswaldo Cruz)
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