Aurea Denise de Sousa Soller Ferreira

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. (Source: Lattes Curriculum)