Role of vector saliva in blood feeding by arthropods, in particular determining the structure-function relationships of their components.
José Ribeiro, M.D., Ph.D.
Chief, Vector Biology Section
Education:
M.D., State University of Rio de Janeiro
Ph.D., Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
Languages Spoken: Portuguese
Patricia Hessab Alvarenga, Ph.D.
Staff Scientist
Education:
Ph.D., Biological Chemistry, Institute of Medical Biochemistry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
M.Sc., Biological Chemistry, Institute of Medical Biochemistry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
B.Sc., Biological Sciences (Genetics), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
Languages Spoken: Portuguese
Dr. Alvarenga has been studying vector biochemistry and physiology for more than 15 years. Lately, she has been involved in the functional and structural characterization of proteins with relevance to vector biology, including protein families present in the saliva of different disease vectors.
John Andersen, Ph.D.
Senior Associate Scientist
Education:
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin
Dr. Andersen studies the biochemistry and structure of proteins from disease vectors and pathogenic microorganisms to understand their roles in vector feeding and disease transmission.
Pedro Amado Cecilio, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Visiting Fellow
Education:
Ph.D., Pharmaceutical Sciences (Microbiology Specialty), Pharmacy Faculty, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Integrated Master, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmacy Faculty, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Languages Spoken: Portuguese, Spanish, French
Dr. Cecilio is particularly interested in vector-pathogen-host interactions and their implications for human disease.
Melina Garcia Guizzo, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Visiting Fellow
Education:
Ph.D., Biological Chemistry, Institute of Medical Biochemistry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
M.Sc., Biological Chemistry, Institute of Medical Biochemistry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
B.Sc., Veterinary Medicine, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
Languages Spoken: Portuguese
Dr. Guizzo has been studying tick-microbial relationships, especially focused on tick-endosymbiont-pathogen interactions in several species of economic/public health concern.
Stephen Lu, Ph.D.
Research Fellow
Education:
Ph.D., Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil
M.Sc., Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil
B.Sc., Biomedical Sciences, Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil
Languages Spoken: Portuguese
Dr. Lu was born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil. He earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the Federal University of São Paulo in 2019. Following his doctoral studies, he completed postdoctoral training in the Vector Biology Section at NIAID/NIH from 2019 to 2024. Dr. Lu’s research focuses on elucidating the roles of various proteins from hematophagous vectors, particularly in...
Van Pham
Biological Research Technician
Languages Spoken: Vietnamese
Ms. Pham provides technical support across many areas for the laboratory.
Former Research Group Members
1996-2002, Research Fellow, Jesus Valenzuela, Ph.D., Tenure track investigator, NIAID
1998-2002, Staff Scientist, Yasmine Belkaid, Ph.D., Cincinnati Children's Hospital Research Foundation
1999-2002, Research Fellow, Nanda Guderra, Ph.D, NIAID, Occupational Health Branch
2004-2008, Research Fellow, Ben Mans, Ph.D., Specialist Research Scientist, Agricultural Research Council, Ondertepoort Research Station, South Africa
2003-2008, Research Fellow, Eric Calvo, Ph.D., Staff Scientist, Food and Drug Administration
2005-2009, Research Fellow, Anderson de Sá Nunes, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, State University of São Paulo, Brazil
2003-2004, PostbaccalaureateTraining, Ana Veiga, Associate Professor, Universidade Federal de Ciencias da Saude, Porto Alegre, Brazil
2005-2009, Research Fellow, Michalis Kotsyfakis, Ph.D., Principal Investigator, Biology Center, National Academy of Sciences, Budweis, Czech Republic
2008-2010, Research Fellow, Patricia H. Alvarenga, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Medical Biochemistry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
2007-2010, Research Fellow, Nicholas Manoukis, Ph.D., Research Biologist, USDA-ARS, U.S. Pacific Basin, Agricultural Research Center, Hilo, Hawaii
2008-2012, Research Fellow, Xu Xueqing, Ph.D. , Research Scientist, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
2009-2009, Research Fellow, Carlo Oliveira, D.V.D., Associate Professor, Department of Parasitology, Federal University of Triangulo Mineiro, Brazil
2002-2016, Staff Scientist, Ivo Francischetti, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
2009-2013, Research Fellow, Tereza de Assumpção, Ph.D., Research Fellow, University of Maryland
2010-2015, Research Fellow, Andrezza Campos-Chagas, Ph.D. , Senior Scientist at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research
2010-2015, Research Fellow, Dongying Ma, Ph.D., Research Fellow, Sickle Cell Branch, NHLBI
2013-2015, Research Fellow, Willy Jablonka, Ph.D., Visiting Professor, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
2009-2018, Staff Scientist, Eric Calvo, Ph.D., Tenure-track Scientist, LMVR
2016-2016, PostbaccalaureateTraining, Ethan Strayer, Graduate Student, Yale University
2013-2018, Research Fellow, Julio Castillo Cabrera, Ph.D., Senior Investigator, Instituto de Investigaciones, Panama
2018-2020, Research Fellow, Lucas Tirloni, Tenure-track Scientist, National Institutes of Health, Rocky Mountain Laboratory
2017-2017, Summer student, Thulasi Kulasinghe, Post-Bac, National Institutes of Health (NCI), Rockville, MD
2017-2017, Summer student, Saiprasad Ravi, Post-Bac, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD
2016-2017, PostbaccalaureateTraining, Nina Picher Allan, Graduate Student, University of Hawaii at Manoa
2017-2019, Research Fellow, Frank Criscione, Ph.D., Life Science Market Analyst, Bioinformatics Inc.
2016-2019, Research Fellow, IL Hwan Kim, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist, National Research Foundation of Korea
2015-2019, Research Fellow, Ines Martin Martin, Ph.D., Research fellow with Dr. Eric Calvo, LMVR