HEAD OF RESEARCH GROUP
Prof. Dr. Marcio Vinicius Bertacine Dias
Prof. Marcio Dias is a biologist by Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) (2004). He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Molecular Biophysics also by UNESP in 2007 studying key target proteins from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. After, he joined Sir Prof. Tom Blundell Research Group at the University of Cambridge as Research Associated for more than 4 years working with structural biology applied to Fragment-Based Drug Discovery and enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of natural products. In 2011, he returned to Brazil as Young Research Fellow (FAPESP) at Laboratório Nacional de Biociências and, in 2014, he joined to Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB) (USP) as Assistant Professor in Microbiology (Bacteriology) and 2021 he was pointed as honorary Associate Professor at University of Warwick-UK and Associate Professor at ICB-USP. He has an interest in structural biology (crystallography) and other biophysical techniques, including isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and differential scanning fluorimetry. His research interest includes drug discovery against tuberculosis and natural products biosynthesis, including aminoglycosides, macrolides, ionophore polyethers, and glycopeptides. In his free time, he enjoys eating good food, reading novels, watching movies, and getting together with friends and family.
Post Docs
Dr. Gabriel Stephani de Oliveira
Dr. Oliveira is a biologist and finished his Ph.D. in epoxide hydrolase enzymology. His post-doctorate project involves enzymes involved in mechanisms of cyclization in natural products, including ionophore polyethers and spirocyclases. He is currently working as a FAPESP BEPE fellowship at Ben Luisi Laboratory at The University of Cambridge.
Catharina is a biologist and joined the group in 2015 as Scientific Initiation. She finished her Ph.D. at LBEA and shed continued her career as Postdoc in our group. She has an interest in how Mycobacterium tuberculosis controls when it should divide or should elongate. She is also interested to apply FBDD in the development of new drugs against TB. She is currently funded by CNPq. In her free time, she enjoys traveling and visiting new places, and plays with her amazing daughter Lorena.
Ph.D. Students
Bruno joined the group in 2019 as a master's student, but he converted it to a Ph.D. in 2020. He is interested to apply Fragment-based drug discovery to different enzymes from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, particularly CoA and cell wall biosynthesis in collaboration with our friends from the University of Pavia, Italy.
Danilo is a biomedical professional and joined the group in 2020. He is studying the structure, function, and inhibition of unusual transpeptidases from Mycobacterium leprae aiming to contribute to developing new therapies against leprosy.
Luiz is a biomedical professional and joined the group in 2021. He is interested in natural product research and his project involves the structural study of unusual spirocyclase classes in different polyketides from Streptomyces.
Nicolas Rossini
Nicolas finished his undergrad in biomedical science at ICB USP. He is at LBEA since 2016 when he joined as a scientific student funded by a FAPESP scientific initiator fellowship. Currently, Nicolas is a Ph.D. student focused on understanding the effect of missense mutations in different genes found in clinical isolates from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. When he is free, he enjoys cooking (very nice desserts!)!
Renan Passos Freire
Renan joined the LBEA in 2022 as a Ph.D. student with a FAPESP fellowship. His project is focused on the understanding of butirosin biosynthesis, an aminoglycoside that inspired the production of the semi-synthetic antimicrobial amikacin.
Master Students
Scientist Technician
Undergrad students
Luís Victor Santana
Luís is a Biotechnology undergrad with a CNPq fellowship. His project involves studying transpeptidases involved in the cell wall biosynthesis in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Isaac Matheus de Sousa Pereira
Isaac is a Biotechnology undergrad student and holds a PUB fellowship. His project involves studying enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of pantothenic acid and CoA in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Camilla Cristhina Escobar Pereira
Camilla is a Biotechnology undergrad student and holds a CNPq fellowship. Her project involves studying Diels-Alderases involved in the biosynthesis of polyether antibiotics.
Sabrina Tomi Shiroma
Sabrina is a Biomedical Science undergrad student and holds a FAPESP fellowship. Her project involves studying the application of Fragment-Based Drug Discovery to DNA Gyrase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Technician
Alexandre Aparecido Alves
Alê is a general technician of the Lab and gives didactic support for our practical courses of Microbiology for Pharmaceutical Sciences and Odontology.
ALUMNI
Dra. Catharina dos Santos Silva - LBEA (Postdoc)
Ms. Laura Alejandra Rivas Arenas
Dra. Fernanda Cristina Rodrigues Paiva - EMS - Campinas
Paula Canôas
Dra. Tábata Peres Cardoso
Dra Priscila dos Santos Bury - UTSA - The University of Texas at San Antônio - USA
Dr. Gerardo Andres Libreros Zúñiga - Universidad del Valle - Colombia
Dr. João Augusto Ribeiro - Perito Polícia Federal - São Paulo
Ms. Nátália Cerrone de Araújo - Chemi Pharma Ltd - Malta
Ms. Sair Máximo Chavez-Pacheco
Ms. João Giudice Pimenta
Ms. Larissa Antelo de Sá
Dr. Carolina Wilson