Contact
Research/Lab Website
Roles
Research Assistant Professor
IACUC member
Surgery IRB Reviewer
-
Biography
I have been conducting research since 2002, when during my college period I joined a research lab at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). At that time, I was awarded with a scholarship and actively participated in research projects studying the regulation of collagen expression during lung mechanical stress. After my undergraduate degree, I applied for a Master’s degree and was invited by the University’s leadership team to, instead, join a PhD program directly. During my PhD, I was also awarded with a competitive scholarship, and I dedicated the first 2 years of my program to studying the beneficial effects of bone marrow-derived cell therapy on pulmonary diseases. In my second year, I was invited to do part of my PhD program at The Johns Hopkins University. I accepted it, recognizing the amazing opportunity to initiate a strong, internationally-based scientific career. During this period, I joined the Physiology Department and my focus was to study the splicing variant of the cystic fibrosis gene. During six productive years working mostly in the field of pulmonary physiology, both at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and Johns Hopkins, I came to know the thrill of discovery, the joy of publishing data for the scientific community, and the pride of graduating with Highest Honors for my PhD thesis outlining the role of bone marrow-derived stem cells in a mouse model of silicosis. After completing my PhD, I took a challenging step and changed the direction of my research field, accepting a postdoctoral position in the Cardiovascular Laboratory at MedStar Health Research Institute in Washington DC, to study the effects of aging, stress, and gender in angiogenesis and arteriogenesis. This training experience resulted in six publications and three awards establishing my research area in neovascularization during limb ischemia. In 2012, I applied with the Director of the Vascular Biology Institute at the University of Miami, for a Postdoctoral Diversity Supplement from the NIH. My ambition was to build an academic career in the vascular field and complete the final research training needed to pursue a faculty position. With the Postdoctoral Diversity Supplement awarded in 2013, I started my second postdoctoral position conducting research in vascular gene therapy after limb ischemia. On 2016, I was invited by Dr. Omaida Velazquez, the Chair of the Department of Surgery at the Miller School of Medicine to join the Department as a Research Assistant Professor. I have been working in the Department of Surgery since March 2016, leading my own laboratory with a technician, few students/postdocs and, currently, securing a NIH K01 award and a generous research support package. I have been publishing manuscripts as senior author, and recently one of our manuscripts was accepted at ATVB and awarded as Featured Manuscript of Feb 2022. Our idea is to continue our research focus studying the therapeutic strategies to improve neovascularization after limb ischemia. -
Education & Training
Education
Post Graduate Training
-
Honors & Awards
No result found
-
Teaching Interests
Create a welcoming environment in my laboratory to receive undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in vascular research. Continue mentoring postdoctoral fellows and students, including the international ones who are seeking for opportunities to perform research in America. -
Research Interests
Our research interest is to study novel therapeutic strategies to increase neovascularization in a pre-clinical model of peripheral arterial disease. Recently, we have been using ischemic-trained monocytes and leukocyte integrin activators to induce neovascularization during hindlimb ischemia. In addition, we study the c-Kit signaling pathway during arteriogenesis and endothelial dysfunction. -
Publications
Disclaimer: The information presented in this section has been consolidated using AI and machine learning technologies. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, errors may occur. If you identify any inaccuracies, please use this link to inform our data team. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and helps us improve the quality of our content.
-
Professional Activities
No result found