Research Overview

• Nutritional Ecology
• Evolutionary Biology
• Statistics applied to Animal Biology

Current Research

Nutrition is key to animal fitness and is a major factor underpinning evolution. My research aims to better understanding how animals interact with their food and the physiological, behavioural, and evolutionary consequences of these interactions to individuals, groups, and species. I am particularly interested in insects. There are three streams of research that I develop in my group: theoretical, empirical, and applied. I am also heavily involved in Outreach activities in Latin America, with opportunities to expand to other countries and continents (see below).

1) Theoretical

I develop new frameworks to analyse multidimensional nutritional data. To do this, I employ different statistical methods such as Machine Learning, Reinforcement Learning, and Vectors.

2) Empirical

My empirical research is based on testing and expanding previous theoretical models in evolutionary ecology. My main model organism for empirical work is the fly Drosophila melanogaster, although I am interested in the biology of most animals (especially insects).

3) Applied

In 2020, I started a new stream of research focusing on policies to guarantee food security and ecosystem health using insects as the study case. New projects include (but are not limited to) (i) revisiting worldwide ecosystem conservation policies in relation to insects and (ii) developing practical apparatus for insect larval growth for feeding livestock.

Please contact me if you have an interesting idea and I will be happy to discuss personalised projects

Outreach

My goal is to support people to realise their dreams. To do that, I coordinate several outreach projects in Brazil aimed to stimulate at-risk and/or low-income students to apply and succeed at the University.

Most of my outreach projects have been funded by the Brazillian Research Council (CNPq). In 2016, the outreach teams visited more than 10 low-income schools in the South of Brazil, engaging with more than 500 pre-university students. In 2019, we launched our first e-book Geometria Poética (Poetic Geometry) to help students learn geometrical concepts in a easy and unorthodox way.

If you want to make an impact in the world, join us. I am always willing to discuss new ideas for ways in which we can influence people.