Team:UFMG Brazil/Team

From 2014.igem.org

Home UFMG Team

Our Advisors

Liza Felicori

Dr. Liza is a professor at the Biochemistry and Immunology Department of the Federal University of Minas Gerais. Her work is focused on protein-protein interactions application to diagnosis and therapeutics. Since 2008, she is working on the field of systems biology and synthetic biology.

She is very enthusiastic with synthetic biology and very motivated to bring to light this field in the University through iGEM.

Rafaela Ferreira

Rafaela is a professor at the Biochemistry and Immunology department at UFMG. She has graduated in Pharmacy (2005) and got a PhD degree in Chemistry and Chemical Biology at UCSF (2010). Most of her research involves rational drug design, and recently she also got engaged with synthetic biology.

It is her first time participating in iGEM, and she is looking forward to meet the synthetic biology community. In addition to doing research, her passions are dancing, reading good books and traveling.

Clara Guerra

Clara is a postdoctoral fellow in the Immunochemistry laboratory at UFMG. She received her PhD in Biochemistry and Immunology from UFMG in August of 2011.

She was the major advisor for UFMG's iGEM team in 2013 and in this season she is more motivated than ever to share last year' experience and show the 2014 team members what iGEM is all about.

Students

Laila Sampaio

Laila is bachelor in Biology by the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, nowadays she is pursuing master's degree in Biochemistry and Immunology in the UFMG.

She has experience in Immunology, especially with murine models, so she's head of the experimental part of our project, aka collecting stools of the mice.

She helps with the patronage and has been taking many "no" for us.

Thiago Mafra

Thiago is degree in Biology (2006), MSc. in Molecular Biology (2009) and he's close to finish your PhD in Bioinformatics. His thesis is about genomics of probiotic yeast (NGS sequencing, assembly, annotation, comparative analysis).

The cool about him is your passion for dogs, especially his labrador (Luna) and his love for soccer (like most Brazilians). For him, Fifa World Cup is the bigger party of the world and Flamengo the best team, of course!!! He also enjoys playing guitar.

Rodrigo Baptista

Rodrigo is a Bachelor in Biomedical Sciences at FUMEC University from Minas Gerais, Brazil, has his Ph.D. in Bioinformatics at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) and is currently in a Postdoc position at Laboratório de Imunologia e Genômica de Parasitos at UFMG.

He was also technologist for genomic Sanger sequencing at Minas Gerais Genome Network (Rede Genoma Minas - RGMG) and has experience in Genomics, Population Genetics, Molecular Biology and Phylogeny, with emphasis on bioinformatics and molecular biology of parasites, acting on the following subjects: (1) Molecular basis of Chagas disease pathogenesis, (2) Trypanosomatids population structure and ecoepidemiology, (3) Molecular diagnosis of parasitic infections and (4) Trypanosomatids genome assembly and annotation.

He loves challenges, and he is pretty excited with the numerous possibilities that synthetic biology can bring to the future.

Eugenio Rezende

Currently pursueing a bacherlor's degree in Computational Mathematics. Main interests are : Cryptology, algorithms, bioinformatics a mathematical modelling.

Carlos Gonçalves

Carlos is a bachelor in Biology (2013), a masters student in Bioinformatics and also an amateur graphical designer. A senior participant on iGEM, Carlos is very passionate about Synthetic Biology and its many applications for making people's life better! He's back from last year's team and has helped with the designing of every aspect of the project - from the genetic circuit to the team's visual identity!

Christiane Freitas

Christiane Freitas is a PhD student at Biochemistry and Immunology’s department at UFMG. She has experience in biophysics and molecular biology. Concerning synthetic biology she is really excited about what she learned from this iGEM competition!

Isadora Prata

Isadora is bachelor in Biochemistry (2014) and a masters student in Biochemistry and Immunology since the first semester of 2014. She has experience in genetics, molecular biology and biochemistry. She wanted to become a part of iGEM because she’s someone who is always interested in learning new things.

Tiago Bruno Castro

I finished my studies in biological sciences in 2012, in which during the whole period was simultaneously engaged in scientific research and was directed by Professor Luciola da Silva Barcelos. During my scientific initiation, I participated in research projects involving models of wound healing, using pharmacological approaches and studies of the impact of the absence of microbiota in germfree animals in these models. Also participated in work with stem cells from human umbilical cord and their behavior under the effect of bradykinin potentiating peptides among others. In 2013 I joined the graduate program in biochemistry and immunology of ICB / UFMG and so far I am directed by Professor Andréa Mara Macedo, and co-directed by Professor Gloria Regina Franco. Currently my research project is to use approaches to next-generation sequencing to study molecules that may be involved in differential tropism of Trypanosoma cruzi in mice .

Marcelo Miranda

Graduated in Dentistry by Federal University of Minas Gerais (2010), has advanced course in Biotechnology by Tufts University (2013) and Culture Cell Manipulation (2013) – Boston University (2013). Nowadays, pursuing grad degree in Biochemistry and Immunology by Federal University of Minas Gerais at Dawidson Assis Gomes´ lab – Celular and Molecular Immunology , focus in mesenchymal stem cell and tumor cell signaling.

Lucas Thiago de Oliveira

Lucas is an undergraduate Biology student. Scholarship student of Scientific Initiation in Fiocruz/Brazil , he is working with mining bacteria. He plans to graduate this year, and already aims to follow up with a master.

Daniela Ferreira Chame

Daniela is a bachelor in Biology (2010). MSc. in Immunology (2013) and a phD Student in Molecular Biology at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG/Brazil). Her thesis is about RNA Binding proteins of Trypanosoma cruzi and she is passionate about immunology and molecular biology and all the possibilities of synthetic biology to improve diagnoses and treatments of diseases.

Veronica Melo

Graduated in Biological Sciences at Federal University of Minas Gerais (2012) and now is a masters studant in bioinformatics at the same University. Has experience in Immunology , Genetics and bioinformatics, mainly in the following topics: ortholog genes, immunology and systems evolution. It is her first year on iGEM competition and she is very excited aboout everything related to Systems Biology

Michele Araujo

Michele is a bachelor in Biology (2011), MSc. in Genetics (2013) and a PhD. student in Bioinformatics at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG/Brazil). Her thesis is about RNA-Seq of Trypanosoma cruzi after gamma radiation. She has great experience with molecular biology and genetics, two of her passions. Now, she is falling in love with bioinformatics and discovering how to use computational tools to understand biological phenomena.

Maria Cecilia Canesso

Maria Cecilia is a bachelor in Biology (2013) at UFMG - Brazil and Monash University - Australia. She is currently doing her masters in Physiology, and has experience with microbiology, immunology, vascular physiology and is interested in study the effects of commensal microbiota in inflammatory process. It is her first time on iGEM competition and she is very excited about it and about learning more of different areas!!!