Brief Biography:
I have a broad background in medicine and have been working with molecular biology for over a decade. During medical school, I was awarded a Medical Research Training Fellowship (Pibic-CNPq) from the Brazilian Government and became responsible for the DNA sequencing facility of the Department of Genetics at the Federal University of Medical Sciences at Porto Alegre (UFCSPA). My work focused on establishing the molecular evidence that supported an association between human papillomavirus and breast carcinomas, and resulted in one publication. During my last year of medical school I was awarded an International Federation of Medical Students Association (IFMSA) Research Exchange Fellowship to visit one of the most prominent cancer research institutions in Europe, the Institute of Immunology and Molecular Pathology of the University of Porto (IPATIMUP), Portugal. During my exchange fellowship at IPATIMUP, I screened for genetic alterations in families with gastric cancer, and I identified the first Brazilian family with germline mutations in the E-cadherin gene and hereditary diffuse gastric cancer (HDGC).
Following medical school and this early introduction to cancer research, I moved to Europe to pursue my dream of becoming a scientist. In 2004 I was offered one of twelve spots in the prestigious Graduate Program in Areas of Basic and Applied Biology (GABBA Program) at the University of Porto. During my PhD studies at University of Porto in the laboratory of Dr. Carla Oliveira, and as an exchange student at University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in the laboratory of Dr. Miles Wilkinson, I focused on studying the role of an important RNA surveillance mechanism known as nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) and its role in regulating mutated E-cadherin transcripts in patients with hereditary gastric cancer. From this collective and multi-disciplinary work, which resulted in three publications, I observed that NMD modulates the phenotype of HDGC patients and therefore, constructed a working hypothesis that NMD is a putative target for the prevention and treatment of gastric cancer in HDGC patients with germline mutations in the E-cadherin gene.
Armed with a Ph.D. in cancer genetics, I continued as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Miles Wilkinson, initially at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and now at UCSD, where I have been working with different mechanisms of post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression, including NMD and microRNAs. Recently, I expanded my fields of interest to include neurobiology and stem cell research, which has contributed significantly to our finding of a microRNA that regulates the NMD pathway during neuronal differentiation and brain development. During my 3 years as a postdoctoral fellow, I have been highly productive and published three papers, two in Molecuar Cell, including two first author publications.
Academic positions:
2001-2003: Medical Research Training Program (Pibic-CNPq), Department of Genetics, Dr. Claudio Alexandre lab. UFCSPA, Brazil.
2004-2006: Graduate Student, Cancer Genetics Group, Dr. Carla Oliveira lab. Institute of Immunology and Molecular Pathology of the University of Porto (IPATIMUP), Portugal.
2006-2008: Graduate Student, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Dr. Miles Wilkinson lab. University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA.
Jan-Jul 2009: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Dr. Miles Wilkinson lab. UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA.
2009-present: Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Medicine, Department of Reproductive Biology, Dr. Miles Wilkinson lab. University of California, San Diego (UCSD), USA.
Research interests:
RNA biology, Oncogenetics, Unfolded Protein Response
What I think of the idea behind WebmedCentral:
I strongly support the concept of open access publication. Additionally, the post publication peer review model is an interesting alternative to the current publication system. Therefore, I am excited to contribute to the development of WebmedCentral.
Home Page:
http://repro.ucsd.edu/faculty/wilkinson/SitePages/Lab%20Members.aspx
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