I am a Biologist currently engaged in the Master´s Program of the Department of Genetics and Evolution at UNICAMP, Brazil. I work at the Genomics and Expression lab, that participates in the genome project of the fungus Crinipellis perniciosa, causal agent of witches’ broom disease of cocoa (www.lge.ibi.unicamp.br/vassoura). It has been stated that pathogen biodiversity is an under-exploited source of inference regarding disease processes and the evolution of pathogenesis. In my project, I intend to reconstruct a gene genealogy based on nucleotide sequence data from C. perniciosa. This information can be applied in the inference of the phylogeographic pattern of the species, the reliability of its classification in four biotypes, the presence of genetic recombination in the species and the time of divergence between the pathogenic and non-pathogenic supposed lineages. The objective is to investigate the evolution of the pathogen interaction with its several hosts.

Home page: http://www.lge.ibi.unicamp.br