Principal Investigator

Angela K. Cruz completed her undergraduate studies in biomedical sciences in the University of São Paulo, in Ribeirão Preto. She obtained her Master Degree in the same Institution. Working under the supervision of Carlos Morel, she conducted her Ph. D. project at Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, in Rio de Janeiro and obtained the PhD in Genetics at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, UFRJ. She conducted her Post doctoral studies at Harvard Medical School from 1989 to 1992, working on of the genetics of the protozoan parasite Leishmania, under the supervision of Stephen Beverley. After her Post Doctoral training she returned to the University of São Paulo at Ribeirão Preto to establish a laboratory devoted to understanding  molecular genetic mechanisms and aspects of Leishmania genomic organization and regulation of gene expression central to the parasite biology and parasitism.

Postdoctoral Fellows

Caroline R. Espada has a degree in Biological Sciences (2014) and since 2012, when she started her academic career as an undergrad student, is interested in the fascinating parasite Leishmania. Caroline obtained her Ph.D in Sciences (2020) at Institute of Biological Sciences (University of São Paulo, Brazil) where she investigated the mechanisms involved in differential susceptibility of L. braziliensis clinical isolates to the oral drug Miltefosine. During her Ph.D she spent six months working with CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing in Leishmania at University of Oxford (UK) aiming to validate some findings using reverse genetics and also to implement this technique in Leishmania (Viannia) species. Caroline is currently a post-doctoral research associate in the AKC lab and her work is focused on investigating the function of differentially expressed putative long non-coding RNAs in the control of gene expression in L. braziliensis. Caroline work is also focused on developing new tools for studying gene expression regulation in Leishmania parasites.

Gustavo graduated as a Bachelor in Biological Sciences from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil, in 2014. By the end of that year, he was awarded a PhD scholarship from Science Without Borders to join Professor Harry de Koning’s group at the University of Glasgow where he characterised several purine and pyrimidine transporters from different parasitic protozoa, tested the chemotherapeutical potential of purine and pyrimidine analogues against these organisms, and got further involved in studies on drug mechanism of action and resistance in trypanosomatids. In 2018, after obtaining his PhD in Parasitology, Gustavo returned to Brazil for a post-doc at the State University of Campinas. He joined Professor Angela K. Cruz’s lab at the Ribeirão Preto Medical School in 2020 and is currently studying the roles played by Leishmania braziliensis arginine methyltransferases during cell infection. His research interests are related to the cell biology and biochemistry of protozoan parasites, and to the development of new therapeutics against tropical infections.

J.C. Quilles Jr. is a Post-doctoral Researcher Associate in the Cruz lab. JC completed his Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry (2019) at the Chemistry Institute of São Carlos, University of São Paulo, Brazil. His Ph.D. thesis was centered on the investigation of cysteine protease inhibitors against Leishmania and T. cruzi parasites. During his Ph.D., he spent an year at the Center of Biomolecular Sciences at the University of Nottingham, UK, working with nanoencapsulation of bioactive molecules against pancreatic cancer cells. As a post-doctoral research associate, JC has been working to characterize and understand the biological role of previously identified putative differentially expressed non-coding RNAs of Leishmania braziliensis. Currently, he is spending a year at Kramer’s lab at Universität Würzburg monitoring the stability and processing of ncRNA in Leishmania parasites by fluorescence in situ hybridization.

Lissur Orsine has a degree in Biological Sciences by the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG, 2014), and MSc and PhD degrees in Bioinformatics by the same institution (2016 and 2021, respectively), with an internship period at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, 2019). During her undergraduate studies, she got scientific training at the Molecular Pathology Laboratory at the School of Dentistry at the UFMG, where she worked with molecular biology applied to the study of head and neck tumors. In her MSc, she investigated the molecular mechanisms behind the biology of the mammary gland, as well as its evolutionary origin. In her PhD, she investigated tissue expression profiles with a focus on the development of metrics for distinguishing key genes for tissue biology. Currently, she works as bioinformatician at the Molecular Parasitology Laboratory at the Ribeirão Preto Medical School at the University of São Paulo (FMRP-USP), where she has been mainly focused on the study of gene expression in Leishmania braziliensis.

Scientific Initiation Student

Brenda N. de Freitas is an undergraduate student in Biological Sciences at the University of São Paulo and has been involved with the laboratory since 2021 as a Scientific Initiation intern. Her project involves investigating the regulatory role of differentially expressed long non-coding RNAs (DE lncRNAs) during the life cycle of Leishmania braziliensis, present in strand switch regions (SSRs), where two contiguous polycistronic units converge (cSSRs) or diverge (dSSR). Based on this, we are testing the hypothesis that these DE lncRNAs may be involved in regulating the transcription of polycistronic transcription units (PTUs) upstream and downstream of the SSRs where their non-coding sequence is present. 

Fernanda is an undergraduate student majoring in Biological Sciences at the Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences, and Letters of Ribeirão Preto (University of São Paulo). In her Scientific Initiation internship, her project involves studying the essentiality and functionality of the RuvB-like 1 protein in Leishmania braziliensis using the induced DiCre (Dimerised Cre recombinase) knockout technique. She is also investigating the impact of silencing this gene on the parasite and its involvement in resistance to genotoxic stress. Additionally, she is researching the subcellular localization of LbrRuvB-like 1 during the different phases of the cell cycle of L. braziliensis parasite. 

 

Research Technician Staff

Tânia P A Defina obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences, with a focus on Molecular Biology, from Unicamp, and a Teaching degree in Sciences from the same university (1998). She participated in the Genome Projects of Xanthomonas axonopodis and Xanthomonas campestris at the Department of Genetics of FMRP at the University of São Paulo. Following that, she took part in the Cancer Genome Project with a technical assistance scholarship TT3 from Fapesp (2000). She completed her Master’s degree in Sciences at Unesp Rio Claro with funding from Fapesp and Fundecitrus (2000-2002). In 2002, she became a Laboratory Specialist and joined the staff of the University of São Paulo in the Department of Cell Biology at FMRP. Since then, she has been working in the Molecular Parasitology laboratory, training postgraduate students and students in Molecular Biology assays, solution preparation, and good laboratory practices. She serves as a monitor for practical classes in the Biomedical Sciences course and is responsible for the multi-user equipment ABI 7500 for real-time PCR.

Viviane Ambrósio joined the Ribeirão Preto Medical School in pursuit of her dream to complete her Biology degree and work in her professional field. To achieve this, she resigned from her stable job to start as an intern in the Pharmacology Department from 1989 to 1991, under the guidance of Dr. Adolfo M. Rothschild, and later in the Morphology Department from 1991 to 1993, with Dr. Antonio Haddad. In 1993, she completed her degree in Biology (Full Teaching License) at the Barão de Mauá University. She was hired by the Ribeirão Preto Medical School of the University of São Paulo on October 26, 1993, until June 1994, to work in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics in the laboratory of Dr. Marcos Felipe de Sá at the Ribeirão Preto Clinical Hospital. Since then, Viviane has been working in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology and Pathogenic Bioagents in the laboratory of Dr. Angela Kaysel Cruz, performing activities that support the completion of tasks from other teams, collaborating to achieve results, and actively participating in the laboratory’s activities in harmony with everyone.