New Members Announced

Gonçalo Apolinario de Souza Filho is a Full Professor at the Laboratory of Biotechnology, Center of Bioscience and Biotechnology at the State University of North Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Prof. Apolinario has received the “Scientist of Our State” Award from the Rio de Janeiro State Foundation to Support Research (FAPERJ) for the last five years and is a Scientist of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). He has published 52 scientific articles in international journals and has mentored dozens of students during their master and doctoral degrees. Originated from a minority class, Prof. Apolinario witnesses the transforming role of scholarships and opportunities for personal development. He was a beneficiary of fellowships for graduation, master's, PhD and Sabbatical stage throughout his training. Currently, he teaches disciplines in the areas of entrepreneurship, intellectual property, and technological innovation, and has mentored the emergence of several technology-based startups.

 Ronan Batista was born in 1973 in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, where he completed his B.Sc. (Pharmacy, 1994), M.Sc. (Organic Chemistry, 1997), and Ph.D. (Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2005) degrees at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). In 1999, he joined the Department of Basic Sciences (DEBI) at the State University of the Southwest of Bahia (UESB) as an Organic Chemistry lecturer. Under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Alaíde B. de Oliveira, at the Faculty of Pharmacy – UFMG, he completed his Ph.D. studies (2001-2005) working on the synthesis of kaurane derivatives with potential trypanocidal activity, in collaboration with the parasitologist Prof. Dr. Egler Chiari (UFMG) for the assays against Trypanosoma cruzi, the aetiological agent of Chagas Disease (American Trypanosomiasis). Part of his Ph.D. studies was on the synthesis of diterpenyl-naphthoquinones, which was carried out during a doctoral stage at the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry of the University of Salamanca, Spain, from April 2003 to March 2004, under the supervision of Profs. Dr. José M. Miguel del Corral and Dr. Arturo San Feliciano. In November 2012, he joined the Department of Organic Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), in Salvador, Bahia State, Brazil, asan  Adjunct Professor. From July, 2014, to January, 2016, he took his Post-Doc studies at the College of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, U.K., under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Alan H. Fairlamb, working on the design, synthesis, and evaluation of cinnoline fragments as tools for target validation in Leishmania donovani. His current research interests are focused on natural products and derivatives active against neglected diseases and malaria.