Cancer metabolism is based on alterations of metabolic activities compared to normal cells. One of the most observed metabolic alterations in several cancers is the increased uptake of glucose to support growth by energy production and the formation of precursors such as nucleotides, amino acids, and lipids. The primary experience of the researcher is in biochemistry, genetics, and metabolism, more specifically, in the characterisation of carbon source metabolism.

Tumour progression requires a metabolic rewiring of cancer cells, providing enough energy for metabolism and cellular growth and increasing cancer cells fitness for proliferation and survival. The Researcher is working on carbohydrate metabolism supporting brain tumour growth and signalling pathways responsible for meningioma progression. Meningioma is the most common primary brain tumour and can be classified according to distinct DNA methylation classes, which provide a more accurate prediction of tumour behaviour than histopathological grading alone. DNA methylation profiling stratifies meningiomas into molecular groups associated with favourable, intermediate, and adverse clinical outcomes, reflecting differences in recurrence risk and overall prognosis.

Review/ Editor, Cancer Metabolism: Frontiers in Oncology

Journal reviewer: mBio, Biotechnology for Biofuels, Spectrum Microbiology, Fungal Genetics and Biology, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Cell Surface, Fungal Biology, Virulence.

Awards

Cover Illustration mBio November/December Volume 9, N˚ 6 (de Assis et al., mBio 9 e01952-18, 2018), American Society of Microbiology (ASM). https://mbio.asm.org/content/9/6.cover-expansion

Cover Illustration Plos Genetics August Volume 16, N˚ 8 (de Assis et al., Plos Genetics e1008996, 2020), Plos.https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article/figure?id=10.1371/image.pgen.v16.i08.g001   

Special collection on resilience Trends in Microbiology May Volume 29, N˚5 (Pradham, A et al., Trends in Microbiology, Cell Press, 2021) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2020.09.010   

Patent 

2014   Engineered yeast strain that reduces the production of foam during fermentation processes, Patent number: BR10201400268, National Institute of Intellectual Property, Brazil

Dr Alistair J. P. Brown, MRC Centre for Medical Mycology, University of Exeter, UK.
Dr Neil Andrew Brown, Department of Biology & Biochemistry, University of Bath, UK.
Dr Thomas Kruger, Department of Molecular and Applied Microbiology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Germany.
Dr Gerhard H. Braus, Microbiology, and Genetics, Gottingen, Georg-August-University of Gottingen, Germany.
Dr Bayram Ozgur, Fungal Genetics and Secondary Metabolism Laboratory, Department of Biology, Maynooth University, Ireland.
Dr Daysuke Hogawara, Medical Mycology Research Centre (MMRC), Chiba University, Japan.
Dr Gustavo H. Goldman, Molecular Biology, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, University of São Paulo, Brazil.