Herrera, who has been involved in the direction of this center for more than 12 years, explained Granma newspaper that it develops important products for the country in the fields of health, food production, and economy in general.

He recalled that this institution was born from the Center on Biological Research (CIB), founded on January, 1982, as an initiative by the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro.

Herrera mentioned that the objective of the CIB was to expand the work of a group of Cuban specialists, who in May, 1981, developed Lekocyte Interferon, which is considered the starting point of the biotechnological development in Cuba.

The CIGB was founded on July 1, 1986, with just 150 specialists. Today it has more than 1,600 workers, spread among its three headquarters: one in Havana, another is Sancti Spiritus, and the other in Camaguey provinces. Out of these figure, about 50 percent are women.

Herrera noted that Fidel requested the nearly 80 technologists and scientists working in the CIB to cooperate with architects and engineers so as to provide them with the basic concepts to contribute with the design and construction of the center-to-be.
 
He said that these 80 specialists were in charge of monitoring the works so that it could fulfill its goal, and thus make true Fidel’s initiative, which had began with Interferon.