Cassius Vinicius Stevani

He earned his Bachelors degree in Chemistry from the Institute of Chemistry at the University of São Paulo (USP) in 1992 and completed his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry in 1997 under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Josef Wilhelm Baader, with a dissertation titled Mechanistic Study of the Peroxyoxalate System. He then conducted postdoctoral research at the same institute, this time in the Department of Biochemistry, working within the research group led by Prof. Dr. Etelvino José Henriques Bechara. He is currently an Associate Professor, teaching courses in Environmental and Organic Chemistry at the University of São Paulo, where he leads research on fungal bioluminescence. His expertise includes bioluminescence, biochemistry, chemiluminescence, metagenomics, and organic chemistry. Internationally recognized in his field, Stevani has made pioneering contributions to unraveling the chemical mechanisms behind fungal light emission, including the discovery of the Caffeic Acid Cycleessential for bioluminescence in certain fungal species. His research has significantly deepened scientific understanding of natural light-emitting systems and their potential biotechnological applications, such as in bioimaging, biosensors, and synthetic biology. In addition to his scientific work, he is also deeply committed to teaching and mentoring both undergraduate and graduate students in the areas of chemistry, photochemistry, and molecular biology. His laboratory is widely recognized for its multidisciplinary approach, integrating chemical, biochemical, and photophysical methods to investigate bioluminescent systems in a range of organisms, including fungi, dipterans, marine species, and millipedes. (Source: Lattes Curriculum)