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Dr. L. Caetano Antunes

Researcher in Public Health
Oswaldo Cruz Foundation
 

Brief Biography:


My career started over 16 years ago, when I joined a Bachelor of Science program at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, from which I majored in microbiology with honors (Magna Cum Laude). During my undergraduate studies I worked for 4 years studying antibiotic resistance in anaerobic bacteria of the gastrointestinal microbiota. This has led to the publication of three articles in this subject area. After finishing my undergraduate studies, I joined a Master of Science program in microbiology at the same university, when I studied the production of small signaling molecules in species of Bacteroides. This work was later published as the first account of the production of such molecules by Bacteroides. After finishing my M.Sc. I moved on to the University of Iowa, USA, to pursue my doctoral studies. During my Ph.D., I worked in the laboratory of Dr. E. Peter Greenberg, a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA and a pioneer in the field of microbial communication, or quorum sensing. During my tenure in Dr. Greenberg’s laboratory I studied quorum sensing in the marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri, using DNA microarrays and site-directed mutagenesis to define the quorum sensing regulon of this organism and understand the genetic requirements for gene activation by the quorum sensing regulator LuxR. I then moved on to the University of British Columbia, Canada, for my post-doctoral studies in the laboratory of Dr. B. Brett Finlay, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute International Research Scholar and world leader in the area of bacterial pathogenesis. During that time I studied the interactions between Salmonella, the intestinal microbiota and the mammalian host, particularly with regards to the role of small molecules and chemical signaling in such interactions. I have used cutting-edge metabolomics approaches to understand the chemical composition of the gastrointestinal tract and how microbiota disruption through antibiotics and enteric infection affect intestinal homeostasis. I have recently moved on to a permanent position as a Researcher in Public Health at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, in Brazil. To date, I have published 25 articles, 20 of these in the last 5 years. I serve as an editorial board member of several journals such as Reviews in Medical Microbiology, Genetics and Molecular Research, Journal of Basic Microbiology and others. I have also served as an ad hoc reviewer for the journals Anaerobe, Bioanalysis, FEMS Microbiology Letters, Reviews in Medical Microbiology and others.      

 

 

Academic positions:


See CV.

 

Research interests:


Metabolomics, Systems biology, Chemical biology, Chemical ecology, Microbial signaling, Quorum sensing, Sociomicrobiology, Gene regulation, Intestinal microbiota, Transcriptomics, Microbial pathogenesis, Enteric pathogens, Host-pathogen interactions, Salmonella pathogenesis.

 

 

What I think of the idea behind WebmedCentral:


The current peer-review system as well as the current publishing industry focus on many aspects that are not related to the quality of science or the advancement of scientific pursuit. Personal interests, economical issues and others need to be completely removed from the review and publication system, giving it total transparency. With this in mind, WebmedCentral comes as a fresh perspective on all of these issues, and I believe it represents a signifcant step towards a more transparent and fair scientific publication system.