Aurea D Sousa

Dr. Sousa earned her Ph.D. in Biochemistry (IQ/USP) from Universidade de São Paulo (2002). Dr. Sousa has experience in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology an Neurobiology and is currently a Research Fellow at the Nationa Institutes of Health (USA).Dr. Sousa has a long standing interest on how the cytoskeleton is dynamically rearranged to enable cells to contract, move and change their shape. Aurea has have studied protein-protein interactions involved in regulation of muscle contraction during her Ph.D. program. During her postdoctoral training, Dr. Sousa studied myosin-X - a molecular motor that links cell adhesion proteins to the cytoskeleton and powers the movement of cargoes along cellular protrusions that sense extracellular cues (filopodia). Aurea also studied the cell adhesion protein Caspr, and participate on the study showing that ablation of Caspr leads to cytoskeleton disorganization in myelinated axons. These findings provided insights as to how demyelinationg diseases lead to neurodegeneration. Dr. Sousa currently studies cell adhesion structures in the inner ear and myosins whose mutations lead to deafness.

Dra. Sousa possui doutorado em Bioquímica (IQ/USP) pela Universidade de São Paulo (2002). Dra. Sousa possui experiencia nas áreas de Bioquímica, Biologia Molecular, Biologia Celular e Neurobiologia e no momento atua como Research Fellow no National Institutes of Health (EUA).Por um longo tempo a Dra. Sousa se interessa em estudar como o citoesqueleto cellular se rearranja dinamicamente para permitir que as celulas se contraiam, movam e mudem de formato. Durante o doutorado, Dra. Sousa estudou as interacoes proteina-proteina envolvidas na regulacao da contracao do musculo. Durante o posdoc, Dra. Sousa estudou a miosina-X um motor molecular que liga proteinas responsaveis pela adesao cellular ao citoesqueleto, e promove o movimento de cargos ao longo de protrusoes celulares que percebem o ambiente extracelular (filopodia). Dra. Sousa tambem estudou a proteina de adesao cellular chamada Caspr, e participou de um estudo mostrando que a deficiencia de Caspr induz desorganizacao do citesqueleto de axonios mielinizados. Essa descoberta forneceu insights sobre como doencas de desmielinizacao induzem neurodegeneracao. Dra. Sousa atualmente estuda estruturas de adesao cellular no ouvido interno e miosinas cujas mutacoes levam a surdez.