Abstract
The present article introduces the first formal basis of the Genetics discipline at the Butantan Institute evidenced by the creation of the Laboratory of Cytology, Embryology & Experimental Genetics in 1935, during the first period of the director Afrânio do Amaral (1928-38). Actually, the article reports the setting up of this laboratory and the fruits of the research carried out by the German geneticist of Jewish origin Gerta (also Gertrud) von Ubisch, the first woman to have a license to teach at the University of Heidelberg and, former assistant to Carl Correns, one of the responsibles for the rediscovery of Mendel's Laws. In addition to the causes for her emigration and a brief history in Germany, the article reports the initial research proposals made by Afrânio and how the scientist adjusted herself to fulfill these tasks. Still, this article presents her production through reports of working conditions, association with other German and Brazilian researchers in addition to the Brazilian, São Paulo (state, province) and institutional political scenario at that time. Our main objective is to rescue the memory of the Butantan Institute. One way to get this objective is through the history of their laboratories. We used the Genetics Laboratory as a pilot plan for this purpose. Gerta von Ubisch's research is the first page of the history of the Genetics Laboratory of the Butantan Institute, still active today
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