I. Braga Dias

Since childhood nature has been a constant in my life. Being born in the region of the Amazon rain forest has given me a strong respect for biological diversity. I have had contact with many "indigenous healers" in my youth, and was always fascinated how they used natural remedies to treat a variety of diseases in their tribes. My high school biology teacher, Ms. Ribeiro, sparked my interest in the field of molecular biology. In college I majored in biology, and after taking a course called "Introduction to Biotechnology" I realized this was what I wanted to do all along: Learning how to apply the secrets of nature to our benefit, similar to the "healers" of my childhood.

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to study at Rutgers University, one of the oldest and most prestigious Universities in the United States, where  I  finished my undergraduate education and received a Bachelor’s degree (BSc Honours) in biotechnology.

In my second semester at Rutgers Dr. Joan Bennett, a renowned genetic microbiologist known for her work with mycotoxins, invited me to work in her laboratory for one and a half years investigating ways to treat  the white-nose disease on hibernating bats in North America. This research led to me being accepted into the George H. Cook Scholarship program, where I was involved in experimental design, proposal writing, publication, and the defense of my honor thesis. 

However, my passion for stem research was growing during my bachelors. The relationship between various players at the molecular level, and how they interact to initiate or inhibit a disease is something that fascinates and inspires me. Learning how to use Tissue engineering, ES cells and gene therapy as tools for regenerative medicine have been a passion of mine since the beginning of my undergraduate studies. I believe that molecular mechanisms such as miRNA, siRNA, CRISPR/CAS9 are the tools to help humanity solve many of the present health challenges we face. That is why I choose a master in Molecular Medicine and Innovative Treatments (MMIT) at the University of Groningen. During the two years of the master I had the opportunity to work with human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), 3D engineered cardiac tissue (ECT), Salivary gland organoids during my two internships.

Now I have a new challenge as a Ph.D. candidate, which is to invesgatigate and unravell the molecular mechanism of anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity using iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes followed by 3D ECT.