New postdoctoral researchers start activities through PUCRS-PrInt
Four scholarship-holders will work in different University Labs
Foto: Mariana Haupenthal
The beginning of September was marked by the arrival of four postdoctoral researchers under the Institutional Project of Internationalization (PUCRS-PrInt). During their period at the University, the students will carry out research in different fields of knowledge with the support of PUCRS researchers.
Biodiversity in focus
Among the newly arrived researchers is the Venezuelan living in Spain Josefa Celsa Señaris Vazquez, from the area of Biological Sciences. Celsa will work at the Vertebrate Systematics Laboratory and is linked to the project Discovering the products of evolution at the species level: Using DNA barcoding to solve the puzzle of Pan-Amazonian Biodiversity, of the Graduate Program in Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity The researcher’s study focuses on neotropical herpetofauna, developing biodiversity assessments and studies on the taxonomy, systematics, biogeography, and conservation of amphibians and reptiles, especially taxis in Guyana and the Amazon River.
Crowd simulation
Computer Science researcher Amyr Borges Fortes Neto will work at the Virtual Human Simulation Laboratory, under the coordination of Soraia Musse, a professor at the School of Technology. Fortes Neto will work in the field of crowd simulation, assessing the impact of fluid dynamics from torrents, floods and dam breaks on groups of people and crowds.
Microbial communities
Researcher Audrey Menegaz Proença will work at the Institute of Petroleum and Natural Resources of PUCRS. Her research investigates microbial communities in unexplored environments such as marine sediment. “Through genetic and bioinformatic analysis, we seek to learn about the metabolic processes and interactions between the organisms that form these communities,” she says.
Molecular targets
Researcher Leticia Matter will work at the Molecular and Functional Biology Research Center (CPBMF), developing research to identify, validate and characterize the molecular targets of new drugs for the treatment of tuberculosis. This is the theme developed by the research group in which Letícia will work during her postdoctoral research at PUCRS.