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Hi there! My name is Luiz and I’m a postdoctoral researcher at the Biomechanics Research Unit at the GIGA Institute - In Silico Medicine, part of the University of Liège, in Belgium, since 2021, under the supervision of Prof. Liesbet Geris. I’m currently working on the ONTOX project, designing molecular interaction pathway maps, which we call Physiological Maps. But I also collaborate on various other systems biology and toxicology projects.

Before I joined the Biomechanics Research Unit, I graduated with PhD and MSc in Cell and Structural Biology from the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), in Brazil. During that period, my research was focused on toxicological and pharmacological effects of phytochemicals from native and exotic plant species in different in vivo models of metabolic diseases, such as liver steatosis and type 1 diabetes nephropathy and cardiomyopathy. I worked in the Laboratory of Structural Biology under the supervision of Prof. Izabel Maldonado. I also collaborated on different environmental and reproductive toxicology projects and food and nutrition projects in different in vivo models and human patients.

I am a positive, flexible and resilient person, passionate about learning new things and applying them to solve problems. I also like to share what I learn, and because of that, I engaged as a Volunteer Professor at Ludic Course of Cell Biology and Histology, utilizing active methods in education to help more than 300 students from various undergrad courses during the 2 years I was there. As a postgrad student, I served as a representative for my colleagues in the Coordination Committee of my program from 2017 to 2019. With my colleagues, I created the first Summer School in Cell and Structural Biology from UFV in 2017 and helped in the organization of the other 2 following editions.

At the University of Liège, in addition to ONTOX, I have the opportunity to actively volunteer at the VPH Institute and the Avicenna Alliance, in which I contribute to advocating for in silico methods in healthcare and research.

Some of my research interests include (but are not limited to): Physiology, Physiological Maps, Disease Maps, SBGN, Metabolism, Cell Signaling, Gene Regulation, Ontologies, Adverse Outcome Pathways, Dynamic Modeling, Digital Twins, Networks, Developmental Biology, Hepatology, Immunology, Open Science & FAIR.