Starting on Sept. 8, the ESTA registration process, which allows visitors from 36 countries to skip a full visa, will require a $14 fee. Read about it here.

If you are a qualified professional – such as a scientist, engineer, doctor, architect, artist, computer programmer, or other – and are considering moving to Portugal for the first time, or after an absence of 5 or more years, this is a good time to do so. In an attempt to boost the ranks of its qualified workforce, the Portuguese government has issued an Act (Decreto-Lei no 249/2009) by which you will become a privileged taxpayer. Your tax rate will be capped at 20% for net income in categories A and B, and this low rate will be fixed for the next 10 years (after which the benefit is renewable). Measures have also been put in place to prevent double-taxation in case you maintain any foreign income. It’s all pure genius! Read more here [in portuguese]. (sent by Mariza Costa-Cabral)

Dear PAPS members,

August is not over until you read this month's newsletter! We invite you to know Tiago Castela, to find out about Jorge Ferreira's trip to Uganda and to read many job offers and news, specially relevant if you are planning to return to Portugal. Just follow this link:

PAPS Newsletter Issue 46 - August 2010

The second call is about to be opened for Collaborative Research Grant Applications in the HMS-Portugal Program in Translational and Clinical Research and Health Information.

The HMS-Portugal Program is a vital collaboration that is extending the impact of Harvard Medical School (HMS) research and education to universities and medical schools throughout Portugal. The first year of this collaboration has already been a success.

The deadline for receipt of applications is expected to be 29 October 2010. Confirmation of this deadline will be provided when the formal call for applications is posted on the FCT website, hopefully within the next several weeks.

The Boston Public Library is currently hosting the 15th Ibero-American Film Festival (program attached). Portuguese director João Botelho's 2008 movie "True and Tender is the North" ("A Corte do Norte") will be exhibited on September 1st, at 6pm. All are welcome to attend.

Maria M. Mota, PhD., a Howard Hughes Medical Institute International Scholar, will be giving an MIT Portugal Program Visiting Scholar Lecture on “Approaching Malaria from the Host Side”. The event will take place at 4pm on Tuesday, August 31, 2010, at the Media Lab (MIT), E14, Room 633. A reception will follow in the Winter Garden, E14, 6th floor.

Summary: There is little doubt that malaria presents a serious health risk and limits the economic growth potential of many countries in tropical Africa and other affected areas around the world. There is also little doubt that other methods of intervention effective against the disease are urgently required. A potential approach to malaria control is to target mechanisms crucial for the development of Plasmodium and/or the pathology caused by its infection. This requires detailed knowledge of the complex host cell-Plasmodium interactions. While hepatocyte-Plasmodium interactions during liver stage constitute an ideal target for prophylactic intervention, the blood stage of infection constitutes the ultimate goal for therapeutic strategies against the disease. The major goal of our laboratory is to identify host factors that contribute to the establishment of a malaria infection (liver stage) and to malaria pathology (blood stage).

Portuguese inventions have increased 40% each year since 2004. With such rate, Portugal is the country in the European Community with the largest growth in patent applications to protect inventions. Read about this in Expresso [portuguese].

No próximo dia 21 de agosto, sábado, realizar-se-á o segundo evento do núcleo PAPS de Seattle. Este evento será uma caminhada ecológica em Snow Lake, Snoqualmie Valley, que se situa a cerca de 100km de Seattle. A caminhada está a ser organizada pela Susana Matamouros e terá um percurso total de 13km, com 400m de ganho de altitude. Esta é uma das caminhadas de um dia só mais populares do estado, devido em parte, ao acesso a um dos mais belos Lagos Alpinos, Snow Lake. Também haverá opção de fazer uma caminhada mais curta, em Source Lake, de 9,6 km. Em nome do núcleo de Seattle, eu gostaria de convidar todos os membros da PAPS (em particular os membros dos núcleos da costa oeste) e seus respectivos familiares, a juntarem-se a nós no dia 21 para uma bela caminhada ecológica. Não se esqueçam que Agosto é de longe o melhor mês para visitar Seattle. Para mais informações, não hesitem em contactar-nos através do correio eletrónico: seattle@papsonline.org.

Alexandre Neves

http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/snow-lake-1

No passado Domingo, dia 27 de Junho, ocorreu no Parque Gas Works em Seattle, o primeiro evento do respectivo núcleo da PAPS. Este evento foi uma Sardinhada em homenagem aos Santos Populares. Além das Sardinhas grelhadas, o menu incluiu batatas, linguiça, cerveja Sagres, Sumol e sobremesas, tais como salame de chocolate e pastel de nata.  Até houve entretenimento providenciado por jovens a encenar lutas medievais!

Obrigado a todos que contribuíram para um picnic fantástico!

Alexandre Neves

O professor Luís Lobo-Fernandes da Universidade do Minho é o vencedor da Bolsa Calouste Gulbenkian na prestigiada Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC. O professor catedrático da Universidade do Minho e director do programa de doutoramento em Ciência Política e Relações Internacionais da instituição, foi escolhido por um júri internacional para ser o próximo Calouste Gulbenkian Fellow na School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) de Washington, nos EUA.

No âmbito da sua licença sabática, a investigação decorrerá de 1 de Outubro de 2010 a 30 de Junho de 2011. A bolsa, a que corresponde um valor de 50.000 dólares, é também uma das mais valiosas em termos pecuniários atribuídas nos Estados Unidos a investigadores portugueses. Cumpre referir que esta é uma única bolsa, tendo o investigador bracarense competido com muitos outros candidatos de elevada craveira nacional e internacional.