Biologist at Federal University of Santa Catarina (1985), master (1989) and Ph.D. (1996) in Physiology at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Post-doc experiences at Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universitaet (2000), Otago University (2008), Salk Institute (2013 and 2015) and Universidade de São Paulo (2018). Working at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (1991), recognized as Professor Titular (2017), working as the head of Departament of Physiology (2003), and Department of Biochemistry (2016-2021), and as the Biology course coordinator or vice-coordinator (2007-2012). Dafre leads the Cell Defenses Lab. (Labdef), with emphasis in comparative physiology and neurosciences. In comparative physiology Dafre focused on cell defense mechanisms against toxicants, especially in fish and bivalves as models. Alzheimer-, Parkinson- and metal toxicology-related topics have been studied in vivo and in cell culture models. Recently has dedicated efforts in elucidating the molecular mechanisms related to methylglyoxal toxicity, an endogenous toxin. Key words related to research areas: glutathione metabolism, antioxidant defenses, oxidative stress, neuroprotection; redox regulation, glyoxalase, thioredoxin and peroxiredoxin.
