I have been invited and accepted to write not exactly the history but my recollections about what may be called the starting of Mexican Biochemistry, which was formally initiated in the late 1950s of last Century. In any case, history is written not always from established and clear facts, but from the memories of some of the participating actors. Perhaps, someone more professional should take the task of writing on more solid grounds, not only about Biochemistry but also about Mexican Science in general during the last 50 years. I was lucky enough to be part and witness of the starting, as student of Dr. José Laguna, one of the main protagonists of that quest, with whom one day I decided to explore the possibility of working on my thesis to get my M.D. degree. Back in 1958, one of my colleagues and dearest friend in the Medical School, Armando Gómez-Puyou, recommended me to his professor, who after a short but impressive interview decided to accept me under some kind of strict probation, previously warning me that the most important fact to be considered was the intensity and enthusiasm of each and every one of the young students. It was a rule that besides some acceptable capacity, those failing to show these characteristics were asked to abandon the Department. This was the Department of Biochemistry of the Medical School at the National University of Mexico (UNAM). If we want to believe in the Genesis, when God created our World, it was all chaos, but his work implied organizing existing materials. He was omnipotent and omniscient, but above all, in a more realistic vision, all happened, not in days but in billions of years. The pioneers of Biochemistry in Mexico started from what was not even chaos; there may not be chaos where there is only the absence of everything. Although not yet enough, it is amazing for our Country what came after that. There were two main components of those beginnings, an illusion, but accompanied by a great decision to make it real. Illusion was that plans were based on nothing but almost empty places, with practically no equipment, only may be colorimeters, rudimentary water baths, glassware, and, in general, the most indispensable materials and reagents to run simple experiments. The first biochemists were just a few, mostly scattered in different places of Mexico City, mainly in the Polytechnic Institute, the National Institutes of Nutrition and Cardiology, the Medical School, the Institutes of Chemistry and Biology at the University, and the Children's Hospital. Most of those initial researchers had either obtained their Ph.D. in Biochemistry or were M.D.s who had spent some time abroad. One group in particular had been attracted by Dr. Phillip Cohen at the Biochemistry Department in the University of Wisconsin at Madison, in the United States; these were: Guillermo Soberón, Edmundo Calva, Jesús Kumate, Graciela Delhumeau, Carlos Gitler, and Mario García. While in there, they made plans for their return to Mexico, but nothing really concrete. They came back and incorporated to the mentioned institutions, but most of them scattered and rather isolated in the very few places where, with great limitations, they could carry out their work. There were, of course, antecessors who, without a defined direction, opened the way to form those biochemists. One of them was Salvador Zubirán, founder and director of the National Institute of Nutrition, who was responsible for the enrollment of at least Laguna, Pardo, and Soberón. There were also promoters, like Ignacio Chávez, who created a Department of Biochemistry in the National Cardiology Institute. Later on, Arturo Rosenblueth convinced the Ministry of Education to create a modern research center in the Polytechnic Institute, but not until 1961; this was the Center for Research and Advanced Studies (CINVESTAV) in the Polytechnic Institute. In there, an important Biochemistry Department was conceived and developed. There was also a physiologist, Efrén del Pozo, who while being Secretary General at UNAM helped and supported the illusions of the pioneers and contributed to the development of Biochemistry. Special mention deserves Dr. Philip Cohen, in those times, Head of the Department of Biochemistry of the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, to where he attracted quite a number of Mexican young people. Most important is perhaps that this man, with an enormous human quality, was able to communicate to those young students not only his knowledge and experience but also enthusiasm and, it is at least my belief, the sense of solidarity, which is frequently lacking among scientists, particularly in developing countries. At this time, i.e., the end of the 1950s and early 1960s, the main task was the attraction of young students to be trained as the most reasonable candidates to fulfill their then nothing but fantasy. However, not many years passed, when the number of students was rather numerous in such a way that the next step to consider was the establishment of a graduate program, both for the new young students and some of the established researchers who did not have it, and to offer the possibility of getting a doctoral degree. The first important action was that two of them, Guillermo Soberón and José Laguna led the way; they were the ones who actually complemented the illusion with the decision and started by organizing small meetings among themselves to communicate one another their small advances and to define future directions to their research. This created a small nucleus of incipient biochemists, but at the same time, they started promoting the incorporation of bright young students from different careers, most from the Medical and some from the Biology Schools, to assure the growth of the groups. At the same time, a general strategy was defined; besides the meetings, something rather advanced for that time was the decision to organize a Society, the Mexican Biochemical Society, which was created in July 1957. The value of this decision can be estimated by considering that it became a reality before the creation of the Mexican Physiological Society from a group already much larger and with a much longer tradition and number of scientists. Even the Mexican Academy of Sciences was created next year. Actually, it is very possible that the creation of the latter two societies was inspired by the actions of the Mexican biochemists. It is to be mentioned that not all of the founders of the Society were actually biochemists. Besides organizing and taking actions toward growth, one of the main and essential problems was defining some way the quality of the work and results of each group. In those days, most of the older Mexican societies had their own journals, with very limited means, editorial boards, and standards in the reviewing and quality of the papers published. The Mexican biochemists, took a transcendental decision, they chose not to follow that example, but that of performing, even with the limited means they had, research that should be submitted to the more demanding criticism of the international journals of the area. This would be the only way to assure the quality of the work. The founders, practically each alone, were: Barbarín Arreguín, in the Institute of Chemistry, at UNAM; Edmundo Calva and Mario García, in the National Cardiology Institute; Guillermo Carvajal, in the Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, at the Polytechnic Institute; Joaquín Cravioto, Jesús Kumate and Silvestre Frenk, in the Children's Hospital of Mexico; Guillermo Massieu was at the Biology Institue, also at UNAM. Particular mention deserves Guillermo Soberón, who after getting his Ph.D. in Biochemistry incorporated to the Hospital of Nutrition Diseases and soon recruited his first two students, Estela Sánchez and Jaime Mora. He was the first President of the Biochemical Society, and, as already mentioned, one of the two main leaders in the consolidation of Biochemistry in Mexico. Later on, he was appointed Director of the Biomedical Institute at UNAM, where he promoted the formation of an even larger research group, and later on, after his designation as Rector of the University, promoted the creation of three other Research centers, one around Nitrogen Fixation, another in Biotechnology, and ours on Cellular Physiology. One of the main groups formed was that of José Laguna, an M.D., who had made a series of visits to foreign laboratories, where he acquired not a Ph.D. but an excellent preparation in Biochemistry. He, after his return to Mexico, was soon appointed Head of the Department of Biochemistry in the Medical School of UNAM. Right after this, he managed to hire Raúl Ondarza, a Biologist who several years later obtained his Ph.D. Jesús Guzmán, with a Master's degree in Biochemistry, who also later obtained his Ph.D. as one of the first products of a Graduate Program in Biochemistry at the Polytechnic Institute. Carlos Del Río was also incorporated to the Department, having obtained a Ph.D. in Rutgers. He would later propose the logo of the Society. José Laguna, as already told, after a series of visits to foreign laboratories and returning to Mexico, was an impressive personality. He started lecturing in the Medical School in 1955 while working in a Division of the Health Ministry and was invited next year to head the Department of Biochemistry of the Medical School at UNAM. Besides sharing with Soberón the illusion of developing his discipline, he took the responsibility of modernizing, together with Guzmán, the teaching of Biochemistry in the Medical School at UNAM, recruiting bright young students to help as assistants in the teaching laboratories and in the initial research projects, with the longer term idea of incorporating them as lecturers in Biochemistry. Even, realizing that there was not an adequate textbook of Biochemistry, he took the task of writing one, which became the most popular one used in Mexico and other Latin American countries. Efraín Pardo, one of the other founders, was hired as Head of the Pharmacology Department of the Medical School; he used to say “I am not a Biochemist but rather a friend of many of them, who honored me with the invitation to participate in the creation of the Mexican Biochemical Society.” Even though all of them participated in the creation of the Mexican Biochemical Society, beyond any doubt, those leading its creation were Laguna and Soberón, who organized, promoted, invited, and if necessary, forced their students and colleagues to attend monthly meetings. Next is the photograph taken the same day of the foundation of the Society. The following picture shows most of the founders 25 years later; Laguna and Massieu were not present, but all look definitely happier, smiling alter having survived and moved along the first quarter of a Century. From meetings and talks, we have heard about their experiences and achievements, but their initial more concrete goals appear somewhat confusing. The task was enormous from improving teaching of Biochemistry to starting their own projects in such a way that results would come out as publications in serious international journals. They had to grow and multiply; they had the students, so they managed to start a graduate program. Within an admirable spirit of solidarity and collaboration, they looked for the best place for that program, and the first one was established in the School of Biological Sciences of the Polytechnic Institute. That program mostly allowed the attainment of a Ph.D. for the already established researchers, most of which were M.D.'s or only had a master's degree. In the meanwhile, at UNAM, the number of students kept growing, and the Polytechnic Institute was quite far within the City; this created the necessity to organize another graduate program in Biochemistry in the former. They managed to generate it based on courses borrowed from other programs, mainly the Ph.D. program in Chemistry. To complete the preparation of the students, they organized a series of short intensive courses, given by invited professors, mostly from the United States, as well as visits of few months to laboratories also in that country. The program was informal; nowadays, we would call it “pirate,” because it did not have the approval from the University Council, indispensable to be official and valid. However, from the beginning, allies were found in the Chemistry School, who lent themselves to provide shelter to the program; it was approved by the University Council in 1969, the academic situation of the students was formalized, and a significant number of them almost immediately obtained their degrees. The beginning was slow; from the 14 members of the Society, in 1962, they reached the number of 33, the new ones were Margarita Escobedo, Emiliano Cabrera, Ma. de la Luz Suárez, Luz María del Castillo, Manuel Servín Massieu, Mauricio Russek, Fernando Bastarrachea, Félix Córdoba, José Ramírez de Arellano, Carlos Gual, Graciela Delhumeau, and Jesús Torres. Also Carlos Gitler, who was not back yet, David Berliner, who never came back, Salomón Bartnicki, who did not come back until 2001, and la Dr. Miriam Nurnberg de Salegui, who apparently was never even in Mexico. Special mention should be made of Jaime Mora, student of Soberón, the first student of one of the founders. Still in 5 more years, another 22 are incorporated, most of them students of the founders. Starting in 1962, given the reduced membership, joint congresses were organized with the Physiological Society. This continued to be so until 1972, when the current President of our Society, Fernando Bastarrachea, and myself, as his Secretary, organized the first independent congress of the Mexican Biochemical Society in Guanajuato, Mexico. It is to be mentioned that a fortunate decision was adopted to have our congress every 2 years and not in a yearly basis as it had been accustomed while associated with the physiologists. Meetings were important; however, what was even more important was materializing our findings into formal publications. These only started in 1960, first because of the commitment of the founders to show our results not to other Mexicans but to the international community, and second, because of the time it took to form from nothing the students, getting adequate means, equipment, and funds. However, slowly but steadily, the number of publications kept increasing; perhaps, it was not until the beginning of the 1970s when a continuous Mexican academic production in international journals was achieved. Funding was a complicated matter; it was not easy to convince anyone, starting with the officials of our own institutions that it was necessary to invest in something that they hardly understood; this was worse with our Government. Each group tried to find its own ways; I can relate the situation in our Biochemistry Department in the very early 1960s. We started working with Drs. Laguna and Guzmán in a project to define the effects of different glucocorticoids, particularly the latest synthetic ones, in the carbohydrate and protein metabolism, and their effects on mineral metabolism in chick embryos, with some interesting results that could be rounded and published. Then, in some way Dr. Laguna established a connection with the Rockefeller Foundation to apply for a research grant to increase our perspectives by obtaining more and more modern equipment and funds for materials and reagents. So, a delegation of the Foundation visited our Department, heard about all our projects; all of us students properly dressed were introduced to them, and they appeared rather enthusiastic. However, the most difficult question of the interview came out, related to what had we published, and the answer was of course that none. Nonetheless, the delegates of the Foundation practically assured Dr. Laguna that some funding could be granted, under the condition that some published material was presented. It was so, that forced by those people we started rounding up our results, working all day from Monday through Sunday, and between 1960 and 1962, we managed to publish four papers in international journals. Then, only a few months later, we received notice of the approval of a grant for 125,000.00 USD and shortly after the funds. This allowed Dr. Laguna to buy refrigerated centrifuges, an ultracentrifuge, three Zeiss spectrophotometers, one with a fluorescence attachment, a registering spectrophotometer, and several other minor items, such as recorders, to which a home-built oxygen meter could be attached, pH meters, etc. Even some money was left as a sacred reserve for reagents, which was carefully administered by Dr. Laguna himself. Also the University started to provide more funding for our projects. Then, it was not until 1970 that the Mexican Council for Science and Technology was founded, and at the end of the 1970s a grant system was implemented. Gradually, we could get more and more, but never adequate funding; actually, if we look along these 60 years, we had only one 6-year-period (with President Salinas) when funding appeared to be increasing, but that was also ephemeral. This is how Mexican Biochemistry started and developed. At this moment (2011), our Society has close to 1000 members, many in Mexico City and close by and not so many in different states. Our last Congress brought together around 1,300 attendants. Publications, practically all of them in international journals represent a significant part of the Mexican scientific production. Another fortunate situation, having a general congress every 2 years allowed one of our colleagues, Carlos Gómez-Lojero, to make the proposal to organize, during the odd years, smaller and more specialized meetings that he also proposed would be called “branches.” He, attended by myself, started organizing the first one, i.e., on Bioenergetics and Biomembranes, which has been meeting every 2 years since 1979. The idea appealed other groups, and now the Society has six branches. Also slowly, and in many cases, promoted by Guillermo Soberón, more and more places where Biochemistry is cultivated have been created. Around the Country, there are around 20 places where Biochemistry is cultivated. The teaching of our discipline has also greatly improved, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate level. Even other research areas have benefited from the example of biochemists, mostly in the biological area. As already said, from 1960 to 1970, each group survived through the meager support from their own institutions. It was not until the early 1970s, when the National Council for Science and Technology (CONACyT, for abbreviation of its name in Spanish) started a modest grant system that allowed a somewhat more comfortable situation for scientific research. Grants continued to slowly increase funding until the early 1980s, when a serious economic crisis hit Mexico with the crash of the oil prices. We had suffered a devaluation of the Mexican peso in 1976 and then another one in March 1982, seriously affecting also the salaries. In 1984, the Ministry of Education created the National System for Researchers (Sistema Nacional de Investigadores), which since then provides for an additional salary at different levels, depending on an evaluation of each one. This period was so named the “lost decade” for science and many other activities in our Country. On top of this, one of the directors of CONACyT decided to establish some sort of bet, using a significant part of the already insufficient budget to support applied science above all. This generated an additional shortage of funds to support basic research. Since then, this has been a recurrent policy of our governments, with the exception of the rule by President Salinas, who concerted a loan from the World Bank, to reinforce and develop the scientific infrastructure of Mexico. Then, we suffered the damage of a strange phenomenon during the rule of President Zedillo. As one of the ministers of Salinas, he was in charge of negotiating the loan from the World Bank, and all of us expected him to continue the existing policy of support to Mexican science. However, during his period as President of Mexico, the support to science started to decrease, or was rather maintained, but without considering inflation and the consequent price increases of all our requirements. At the start of his administration, he made a terrible mistake that took us to another devaluation of the peso, which took several years to recover from. In this way, we had to suffer 6 years of limitations. To this, we have to add the incapacity of the new appointed Director of CONACyT. He also decided to channel part of the budget to applied science in detriment of basic science. This is what happened under the rule of presidents originated in the official political party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional or PRI), but then in the 2000 elections, Mexicans decided to elect “for a change” Vicente Fox, from another party (Partido Acción Nacional or PAN). There is a Mexican saying “where there is bad, there is worse,” and so it was. He appointed as Director of CONACyT an engineer coming from a private industry, who again was more worried about applied science and even supporting some foreign companies to develop “new products.” This substituted in an important measure basic science. Once, I dared to qualify him as an “ignorant farmer,” which gave way to an editorial in “Nature Medicine,” that in a strange way not only defended him but also accused us scientists of doing nothing about application of our knowledge, among other things, to Medicine. Finally, here we are finishing another 6 year period with the last of our presidents, also from the PAN, who has shown nothing but an almost absolute lack of interest, not only in developing and growing the scientific infrastructure of Mexico but also even of adequately supporting it. Since long, the already scarce budget has been atomized into a series of new programs, some involving the support of projects with the joint funding of CONACyT and almost every Government of each State of Mexico. Another great idea was to establish what they call “Macroprojects,” in which several groups associate to receive large amounts of money, under the premise that results and advances of several groups will be more significant than those of individual ones. The most recent Program is one called “Thematic Networks” with a more or less similar idea. Part of the idea has been already for several years to solve “National Problems,” never clearly defined, never to my knowledge, even partially solved. The position of many of us has been that they can do as they wish, but all these modalities and experiments should be performed “besides” and not “instead of” basic science, which is what most researchers in most institutions perform. On the other hand, applied science is difficult to conceive, given the lack of interest and development of industries in Mexico. Not many years ago, CONACyT hired the Carnegie Mellon Foundation to analyze the general situation of science in Mexico. One of the main conclusions of that study was that the scientific infrastructure of Mexico was clearly insufficient. However, the policy of the Mexican Government, difficult to understand, has been in the last few years to cut the funding to positions for new investigators, particularly by the larger and stronger institutions of the Country. We already have a small output of Ph.D.s from our graduate programs, but in top of that, we have great difficulties to hire them; the logical question then is “¿What for?” However, although with vague previous antecedents, the starting of the history of Biochemistry in Mexico can be traced to the late 1950s. Many are its achievements; its growth remarkable, but I, and most of us, wonder if that happened with so many difficulties, what with adequate support might have been achieved. The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology has a Membership of 12,000 Biochemists, for a population of 250 million people, only biochemists are close to 50 per million. Mexico has only 1000, out of which probably one fourth are inactive, for 110 million inhabitants (close to 7 per million); that is clearly not enough.