EDUCATION

(2016 – present) Professor, Department of Pathology, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.

(2014 – 2016) Posdoc, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA, Field of Study: Stem cell biology, Advisor: Paul S. Frenette, MD.

(2010 – 2014) Ph.D., Neuroscience Program, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA, Field of Study: Stem cell biology, Advisor: Osvaldo Delbono, Ph.D., MD.

(2009 – 2010) Research Scholar, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA, Field of Study: Muscle biology, Advisor: Osvaldo Delbono, Ph.D, MD.

(2005 - 2009) B.S., Biomedical Science, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, UESC, Ilheus, Brazil, Field of Study: Genetics of microorganisms, Advisors: Rachel Passos Rezende, Ph.D. and Joao Carlos Teixeira Dias, Ph.D.

HONORS AND AWARDS

2015. Recipient of Gordon A. Melson Outstanding Doctoral Student Award for 2015

2014. Winner of 3-minute thesis (3MT) oral competition (2014 Fourteenth Annual Wake Forest University Graduate Student & Postdoc Research Day)  

2014. Editor's choice in Journal of Gerontology Biological Sciences Volume 69 Issue 12 December 2014 for the manuscript “Human Slow Troponin T (TNNT1) Pre-mRNA Alternative Splicing is An Indicator of Skeletal Muscle Response to Resistance Exercise in Older Adults.” by Zhang T, Choi SJ, Wang ZM, Birbrair A, Messi ML, Jin J-P, Marsh AP, Nicklas B, and Delbono O.

2013. Awarded with the Glenn/AFAR Scholarship for Research in the Biology of Aging

2012. Wake Forest University Graduate and Postdoctoral Students Research Day (Troponin T nuclear localization and its role in skeletal muscle aging) (12th annual competition) (First place) (Co-author)

2008. “Metagenome of soil contaminated with petroleum.” Scholarship from : Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia (FAPESB), Brazil.

2006.  “Best poster (Genetic diversity between isolates of Chromobacterium violaceum) presented in the area of biological sciences during the XII Seminário de Iniciação Científica da Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz – UESC, Ilhéus – Bahia.” 

Research Interest: Epidemiology, uro-oncology, prostate cancer