Education

Education

PhD Candidate in Genetics and Plant Breeding
“Luiz de Queiroz” College of Agriculture - University of São Paulo

MBA in Project Management
“Luiz de Queiroz” College of Agriculture” - University of São Paulo

MSc in Genetics and Plant Breeding
Federal University of Goiás

BSc in Agronomy
Federal University of Goiás

International Experience

February, 2021 - October, 2021 Visiting PhD Student (remote)
University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

July, 2012 - December 2012 Visiting undergraduate student - CAPES-FIPSE Exchange Program Scholarship
Kirkwood Community College, United States

July, 2012 CCI Pre-Academic Program, 150h
Kirkwood Community College, United States

Professional experience

February, 2022 to January, 2024 Veracel Celulose - Breeding analyst

• Responsible for data analysis, clone, and parental selection of the whole breeding program
• Evaluated the experimental network efficiency through GxE analysis
• Defined the phenotyping strategy of cloned progeny trials for genomic selection
• Reviewed and redesigned the tree improvement strategy official document
• Recommended 10 clones for pre-commercial testing and 1 clone for commercial use
• Build a database for more than 120 trials with measurements and pedigree information
• Designed and deployed a rolling front breeding strategy for the eucalyptus program
• Defined breeding schemes for Eucalyptus and Corymbia orchards
• Developed KPIs and dashboards to track advancements in the tree improvement program
• Reconstructed the pedigree of the main breeding population with SNP markers
• Presented results at quarterly meetings to shareholders
• Represented the company and presented research findings at national and international scientific meetings

July, 2017 to January, 2024 Laboratory of Bioinformatics Applied to Bioenergy - ESALQ/USP - PhD Researcher (CNPq Fellowship)

• Assembled a de novo sugarcane transcriptome
• Performed gene annotation, gene and isoform expression, and gene enrichment analysis
• Developed in-house scripts for bioinformatics and statistical analysis
• Presented research findings at national and international scientific meetings
• Collaborated in more than 5 different research projects
• Published more than 5 papers (in progress)

July, 2017 to January, 2024 Embrapa Rice and Beans - Master’s Degree Researcher (CAPES Fellowship)

• Responsible for designing and conducting a field trial with more than 300 rice genotypes
• Phenotyped the plots on the field for 5 different traits
• Performed multi-trait multi-environment analysis and GxE analysis for selecting the inbred lines with best performance
• Recommend to the rice breeding program 8 inbred lines to be used as parents and 2 for genotype development
• Analysed population structure with SSR markers identifying two heterotic groups
• Performed linkage and QTL mapping using SNP markers and found 3 QTLs related to rice yield
• Presented research findings at national and international scientific meetings
• Published a dissertation with the research results

Skills

Informatics

• Microsoft Office Suite
• Power BI
• Programming in R, Bash and Python (beginner)
• Linux and remote server user
• LIMS (Laboratory Information Management System)
• SQL (basic knowledge)
• ASReml
• Experience in Genomics (GBS, WGS) and Transcriptomics (RNA-Seq) data analysis
• Proficiency in bioinformatics tools (BWA, Hisat2, Trinity, Trinotate, GATK, Samtools, and others)
• Teamwork with GitHub

Field and Wet Lab

• Planning, leading, and evaluating field experiments
• Traditional phenotyping and selecting genotypes in the field
• DNA and RNA extraction
• Sample preparation for sequencing

Spoken languages

• Native Portuguese
• Fluent English
• Basic Spanish

Science popularization

• Scientific communication and writing
• Event organization
• Teaching in training courses

Awards

2018 ISCB Wikipedia competition - awarded by the page update about Biostatistics

2021 Honorary mention at the Postgraduate Video Award 2021, University of São Paulo

Publications

Journals and Pre-Prints

2023 Sampling strategies for sugarcane using either clonal replicates or diverse genotypes can bias the conclusions of RNA-Seq studies, Genetics and Molecular Biology

2023 Moving towards a rolling front strategy for VERACEL’s advanced-generation eucalypt hybrid breeding program, Agrociencia Uruguay

2023 Genetic parameters for early growth and disease resistance in a cloned F2 hybrid progeny of Eucalyptus urophylla × grandis, Agrociencia Uruguay

2021 The experience of teaching introductory programming skills to bioscientists in Brazil, PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY

2021 The Wild Sugarcane and Sorghum Kinomes: Insights into Expansion, Diversification and Expression Patterns, Frontiers in Plant Science

2018 Marker-Assisted elimination of drought-susceptible accessions in upland rice breeding, Genetics and Molecular Research

Book Charpter

2019 Fenotipagem de alto rendimento, Melhoramento de forrageiras na era genômica (in portuguese)

Presentations

2023 Moving towards a rolling front strategy for VERACEL’s advanced-generation eucalypt hybrid breeding program. Lecture at the IUFRO 2023: Working Group 2.08.03 – Improvement and Culture of Eucalyptus, Uruguay

2021 How do alternative transcripts influence drought response in sugarcane
Talk at the Plant Science Theme Seminar, Univeristy of Birmingham, United Kingdom

2019 Differential gene expression analysis in roots of commercial sugarcane genotypes under drought stress
10th Brazilian Plant Breeding Congress, Brazil

2019 Challenges and perspectives for breeding polyploid crops
Talk at the XIII Vacation Workshop in Genetics and Plant Breeding, Brazil

2018 RNA-Seq of sugarcane genotypes contrasting in brix content reveals polymorphisms in functional genomic regions
XXII International Congress of Genetics, Brazil

2017 Caracterização genética por modelos mistos de uma população de linhas puras recombinantes de arroz irrigado
9th Brazilian Congress of Plant Breeding, Brazil

Attendance at courses and workshops

June, 2021 Constructive Peer Review Workshop, 2h (online)
Nature Communications

May, 2021 SEB Practical Presentation Skills for Scientists & Researchers course, 16h (online)
Society of Experimental Biology, United Kingdom

May, 2021
Presenting at an Online Conference, 4h (online)
Society of Experimental Biology, United Kingdom

April, 2021 Workshop - How do you communicate your Science?, 2h (online)
University of São Paulo / ESALQ

April, 2021 Standing up for Science Workshop, 4h (online)
Sense About Science, United Kingdom

January, 2021 Tools for Genomics-Assisted Breeding in Polyploids Workshop Workshop, 30h (online)
polyploids.org

December, 2019 Training in Polyploid Genetic Data Analysis: From Dosage Calling to Linkage and QTL Mapping, 24h
University of São Paulo / ESALQ

November, 2019 Systems Biology and Gene Networks Inference: Application to Livestock Breeding and Genetics, 36h
University of São Paulo / ESALQ

October, 2019 Training in Machine Learning Methods for Genomic Prediction, 8h
University of São Paulo / ESALQ

September, 2019 Training in Data Analysis and Visualization in R - TidyR, 16h
University of São Paulo / ESALQ

September, 2019 Training: Genotype to Phenotype Models for Traditional and New Phenotyping Data in Plant Breeding, 9h
University of São Paulo / ESALQ

September, 2019 Python Programming Training, 24h
University of São Paulo / ESALQ

July, 2018 Workshop in Genetic Analysis: A statistical approach for phenotypic and genotypic data for plant breeders, 40h
University of São Paulo / ESALQ

May, 2018 Quantitative Genetics and Genomics Course, 30h
University of São Paulo / ESALQ

Event organization

Janurary, 2021 Course - Peer review: how can I improve the process of knowledge generation?
University of São Paulo / ESALQ

September, 2020 III Python Workshop for Biological Data
University of São Paulo / ESALQ

October, 2019 VII Workshop on Teaching in Higher Education
University of São Paulo / ESALQ

October, 2019 III INTERNATIONAL MEETING ON PLANT BREEDING - New approaches on plant breeding: insights into artificial intelligence
University of São Paulo / ESALQ

July, 2019 Smart Tools for Plant Breeding Symposium
University of São Paulo / ESALQ

2019 Programming in R environment Training
University of São Paulo / ESALQ

2018 Programming in R environment Training
University of São Paulo / ESALQ

October, 2018 II INTERNATIONAL MEETING ON PLANT BREEDING - Advances in Experimental Design and Statistical Analysis in Genetics and Plant Breeding
University of São Paulo / ESALQ