He is a FAPESP Young Investigator and Master’s and Doctoral Advisor in the Graduate Program in Systems Biology at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo (ICB/USP). He is a Collaborating Professor III (Ms-3.1) at USP in the PART/USP program in 2020. He is a Postdoctoral fellow in the Cancer Molecular Biology and Gene Editing Laboratory under the supervision of Dr. Edna Kimura at ICB/USP. He conducted a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley, under the supervision of Dr. Lin He (1-year BEPE Fellowship – FAPESP). He holds a Master’s and a Ph.D. in Sciences from ICB/USP, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology. His research focuses on integrating knowledge about the molecular mechanisms underlying the dysregulation of microRNAs (e.g., miR-146b, miR-17-92, miR-200, let-7) triggered by the oncogenic MAPK pathway (BRAF, RAS, and RET/PTC) with novel regulators such as lncRNAs (long non-coding RNAs), RNA-binding proteins (LIN28), chromatin modifications, and transcription factors in thyroid and lung cancer. This work emphasizes understanding the acquisition of aggressive and metastatic traits. During his BEPE postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley, he investigated the transcriptional regulation of the miR-200 microRNA cluster in lung cancer and identified a signature of transcription factors inhibited by the PRC2/EZH2 complex (chromatin remodeling via methylation of lysine 17 on histone H3), leading to miR-200 inhibition during lung cancer metastasis. This mechanism is conserved in thyroid cancer, which shares the activation of these transcription factors during the organogenesis of the thyroid gland and lungs. Currently, his research explores the role of oncogenic signaling pathways as regulators of metastasis and aggressive traits in thyroid and lung cancers. He employs CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing therapy to disrupt microRNAs and oncogene expression, as well as CRISPR/dCas9 variants to modulate gene expression. Additionally, he integrates RNA Immunoprecipitation (RNA-IP), Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) coupled with high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-Seq) to study the role of interactions among non-coding RNAs, transcription factors, and chromatin in tumorigenesis and cancer progression. He has been honored with the Young Investigator Award by the Latin American Thyroid Society (LATS) and the Brazilian Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism (SBEM) during the Brazilian Thyroid Meeting and received the José Carneiro Award from the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at ICB/USP. (Translated from Currículo Lattes)
