Paulo Alexandre de Oliveira

Paulo started his research career in 2004 at the Laboratory of Pharmacology (Univ. Luterana do Brasil, Brazil) as an undergrad trainee, during four years he was involved in behavioral psychopharmacology screening of natural compounds. In 2010, he began his Masters in Pharmacology (Univ. Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil) at the Laboratory of Neurodegenerative Disease, where he participated in several studies using Parkinsons disease animal models focusing on behavioral analysis and pharmacological screening of preventive drugs. His Ph.D. thesis demonstrated the therapeutic effects of angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R) antagonism in animal models of aging and Parkinson's disease. He has also shown that AT1R can exert synergistic effects with adenosine A2A receptors (A2AR), by GPCR heteromerization.His current project seeks to understand the role of heteromers of dopamine, serotonin and opioid receptors as targets for substance use disorders. Using advanced biophysical techniques, such as bimolecular fluorescence complementation and bioluminescence resonance energy transfer, in mammalian transfected cells. Also, the results obtained with these in vitro assays will be investigated in- and ex-vivo models in rodents. The final goal is to identiify GPCR heteromer-based treatments for substance use disorders

Possui graduação em Farmácia pela Universidade Luterana do Brasil (2006), mestrado em Farmacologia pela Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (2012) e doutorado em Departamento de Farmacologia pela Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (2016). Atuou como professor da Universidade do Oeste de Santa Catarina na disciplina de Farmacologia. Pós-doutorado (2018) no National Institutes of Health (NIH) e no Lieber Institute for Brain Development Maltz Research Laboratories (LIBD) nos Estados Unidos. Atualmente atua como Staff Scientist no LIBD no departamento de Funcional Genomics. Desenvolve seus trabalhos na área de farmacologia, neuropsicofarmacologia, genômica e farmacogenomica.