My academic career started in 1987 as an undergraduate student of Biological Sciences at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, in Florianópolis. In the third semester, after taking a course in Microbiology and Parasitology, I worked as volunteer in the Lab of Agricultural Microbiology, under the guidance of Dr. Margarida Matos de Mendonça. Fungi were for me (up to that moment) a very misterious organisms and start working in a laboratory dedicated to study these organisms was a way that I found to become familiar with them....it worked. Joining the laboratory, I worked in a research project aimed to study the interaction of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi with fruit crops in several parts of the Santa Catarina state. After reading several manuscripts of Rick Koske, I realized that not many studies of AMF in sand dunes had been carried out in Brazil. Living in Florianópolis, in the Santa Catarina Island, maritime sand dunes were an ecosystem that I could easily reach (10 minutes by car from the lab). Considering this, I started a research project to analyze species diversity and seasonal variation of AMF associated with Spartina ciliata in sand dunes at the Joaquina Beach. I defended a monograph in order to obtain a Bacharelous degree in Biological Science in 1991 with results from this study (also published in Can. J. Botany in 1994).
Working in this research project sparkled my interest in AMF taxonomy and systematics. After I finished College, I kept working in Dr. Mendonça's lab. with a CNPq scholarship in research projects aiming to select AMF for apple growth and ecological studies of AMF in tropical forests. At that time, Dr. Joseph Morton was invited by Dr. Mendonça to visit our laboratoy and he offered me a scholarship for my Master's degree at West Virginia University. As I had experience working with AMF in sand dune, I was inclined to go to University of Rhode Island and work with Dr. Rick Koske, but at the end I decided to go straight to West Virginia University (sometimes I regret not going to Rhode Island!!).
In 1994 I started my Master's degree in Environmental Microbiology at WVU under the supervision of Joe Morton, focusing on spore ontogeny of some species in Glomus, Acaulospora, and Entrophospora. While in the US, I submited a proposal to CNPq to get a full time doctorate scholarship; after getting the assistanship I went straight from a Master's to a Ph.D. program, and adding to my dissertation one study on AMF ecology in several ecosystems and another study testing growth response of two plant species when inoculated with isolates originating from the same mycorrhizal community. In 1998 I obtained my Ph.D. degree in Genetics and Developmental Biology by the West Virginia University.
Back to Brasil, I was a pos-doc with a CNPq assistanship at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, working again with AMF diversity and root colonization of sand dunes plants, under the supervision of Dr. Margarida M. Mendonça.
In 2000, I had a non-permanent position as a professor at the Universidade Regional de Blumenau (FURB) and in 2002 I was hired as a permanent professor. At FURB, I teach courses (Botany, Mycology) for undergraduate majors in Biological Science and for graduate majors in Environmental Engineering, and Biodiversity Programs. My research activities are summarized in three main lines: a) AMF taxonomy, systematics and diversity, b) biogeography of Glomeromycota, and c) managing of the International Culture Collection of Glomeromycota (CICG).
Between July/2017 and June/2018 I took a sabbatical leave at FURB and stayed at the laboratory of Dr. James Bever and Dr. Peggy Schultz, at the Univeristy of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA. In this period I had experience with molecular techniques to be used on AMF systematics, a field of expertise that I had to be familiar with to further use in studies of systematics at CICG. As a result, isolates of CICG are being sequenced (LSU) and sequences deposited in public repositories, contributing to the molecular characterization of well identified AMF species. During my sabbatical I also gained knowledge in systematic phylogenetics and methods to study AMF biogeography.
One of my favorite hobbies is to collect comic books, especially Tex, a comic book series that I collect since I was 7-8 years old. Tex is a ranger and the white chief of the Navajos, created by the italian G.L. Bonelli in 1948. Tex and his partner, Kit Carson, his son Kit Willer and his Navajo friend Jack Tiger, are involved in several adventures in the American wild west, Mexico, and Canada, facing bak robbers, train assailant, indians, and bad guys. I have the full collection and almost 1,400 comic books of Tex and other Bonellian characters. Follow the Link and check out the great universe of Tex and other Bonellian characters (page in portuguese).
I also like sports and I play indoor soccer twice a week and watch games on TV during the season. The team of my heart is one of the best in Brazil (Follow the LINK to find out). I also like American football, a sport that I learned to appreciate after living five and half years in the USA.
Book reading is another hobby that I treasure and I am always reading a novel book. My favorite authors are John Grisham, Lee Child, Tom Clancy, Ken Follett, Michael Connelly, James Rollins, Giorgio Faletti and Dan Brown. Besides that, I read about Vines, a beverage that I learned to appreciate in the late years.
I like music too and I am very ecletic about them. I enjoy a good music from the "gauchos", German and Italian folk music, and brazilian rock of the 1980's (I am not sure there was good rock in Brazil after the 80s!!). Recently I started to appreciate some celtic and Irish music, maybe a heritage from Joe Morton (or I am becoming old!!).
Due to my italian and germanic ancestry, I appreciate the italian and german culture and their culinary. Living in Blumenau, I am a big fan of Oktoberfest.
All of this I enjoy to do with my family, which provides me the necessary encouragement and support for everything. Together we practice the family hobby when time permits: travel to know new places and countries.