CV Lattes
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Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Biociências (IB) (Institutional affiliation from the last research proposal) Birthplace: Brazil
He is currently Assistant Professor of evolutionary developmental biology (EvoDevo) at the University of São Paulo. He also worked as an Assistant Professor at the Universidad de los Andes, Colombia (2010-2013). He received his undergraduate degree from the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (2001), his PhD from the University of Washington (2008), and his postdoctoral studies at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology (2008-2010). Using ascidians, planarians and nematodes (among other invertebrates) as experimental models, his laboratory focuses in the study of stem cell regulation in the evolutionary and developmental processes affecting reproduction and animal life cycles, as well as their influence in the evolution of major biological transitions, such as the evolution of animal coloniality or the evolution of cave adaptations. Former Fulbright Scholar (2002-2004), American Heart Association Fellow (2006-2008) and Max Planck Institute Fellow (2008-2010). Elected Member of the Ecuadorian Academy of Sciences (2016) and Young Affiliate Member of the World Academy of Sciences (2013-2018). The Government of Ecuador awarded him a Prometeo Professorship, with distinction (2012). Received the Distinguished Scientist Award from the Ecuadorean General Consulate in São Paulo (2017). As a founding member, he helped establish the Pan-American Society of Evo-Devo and articulated the initial network of researchers that allowed the founding of the Colombian Society of Developmental Biology. Member of the Board of the Latin American Society of Developmental Biology (2010-2013 representing Colombia and 2018 to date representing Brazil). As of 2024, he is a member of the Executive Committee of TYAN-TWAS representing the Latin America and Caribbean region. He serves as Associate Editor for EvoDevo and Neotropical Biodiversity; Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B (JEZ-B); Review Editor of evolutionary developmental biology for Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution; Member of the Board of the Colombian Bulletin of Evolutionary Biology (COLEVOL). Project evaluator for research funding agencies in Colombia (U. Antioquia, Uniandes), Ecuador (ESPOL), the Netherlands (NWO), Israel (ISF) and Germany (GIF); member of the board or advisor on faculty recruitment committees in Brazil (UFBA and USP-RP) and abroad (U. of Vienna); reviewer of 25 indexed international scientific journals, including high-impact journals such as Nature Communications, Nature Ecology and Evolution, and Molecular Biology and Evolution; and has advised graduate programs in Brazil (Zoologia IB-USP and Biologia Comparada USP-RP), Colombia (UNAL) and France (Sorbonne). Member of the production team of the interactive evolutionary developmental biology game "Bons de Bico" which has been translated into Spanish ("El Enigma de los Picos") and English ("Finch Quest"). (Source: Lattes Curriculum)
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Ascidians possess closely related solitary and colonial species, providing an opportunity to employ a comparative approach to shed light on the evolutionary origins of budding and colonial life histories. It has been documented that colonial ascidians dominate in the tropics and subtropics, whereas in temperate systems, solitaries comprise the majority of the ascidian species. Recent stud…
Prof. Anthony De Tomaso (UCSB) and his research team have contributed significantly for the understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of immunity and asexual development of the colonial ascidian model species, Botryllus schlosseri. His lab is solely responsible for generating some of the major breakthroughs in this species, including the characterization of genes involved in …
Many chordate species have lost the ability to regenerate complete adult structures. However, marine chordates with sedentary and colonial life forms, e.g. tunicates, have remarkable potentials of regeneration possibly related to their ability to reproduc (AU)
Ascidians are sessile, filter-feeding tunicates that serve as important models for studies on regeneration and animal development. Within this group, the genus Perophora, colonial ascidians composed of zooids interconnected by stolons, has been studied for its regenerative capacity from stolon fragments. In this context, the present work aims to understand a phenomenon described in the li…
Within tunicates, coloniality has evolved several times independently with colonial species in two of the group's three classes. Bud shapes and budding mechanisms are different among colonial lineages. Colonial organisms are composed of semi-dependent modules, which correspond to clonal individuals of asexual reproduction (zooids). The different types of budding mechanisms facilitated the…
Animals with less developed visual abilities, like many organisms that inhabit the subterranean environment, generally rely on chemotaxis to find food. This is the case of the planaria, a model organism that exhibits chemotactic behavior. Recently, a new species of planaria (Girardia multidiverticulata) was described, which represents the first obligate cave-dwelling species in South Amer…
Pluripotent cell progenitors are associated with high regenerative capacities in animals. Its potential to differentiate into any cell type has made possible the evolution of asexual reproduction in some species. The colonial sea squirt Perophora viridis is a species that reproduces sexually and asexually through budding and due to the presence of pluripotent progenitor cells, it also h…
Due to their simplicity, planarian eyes depict the anatomy of the metazoan eye prototype. However, we postulate that eyes of planarians are more variable and complex than generally assumed. Sensory systems have diversified as a result of evolutionary pressures found in the distinct habitats that planarians occupy, including fresh water, terrestrial, caves, and oceanic systems. Among the T…
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Adaptations to dark environments lead to a convergent loss of eyes in different phyla, resulted by changes in classic eye development genes expression. Planarians are an interesting group to study eye development because adult animals can regenerate their eyes within a week after decapitation, recruiting classic eye development genes orthologues. During my PhD project I found that the obl…
For nearly sixty years, colonial ascidians (mainly Botryllus schlosseri) have been used as laboratory models to study chordate origins, including the evolution of the immune system and allorecognition, as well as different aspects of colonial animal biology, including asexual reproduction, budding (i.e. blastogenesis), regeneration, or adult somatic and germline stem cell transmission and…
Colonial organisms, those that reproduce clonally and remain organically attached, can survive changing environmental conditions by adding/removing modules. Additionally, many colonial species survive adverse conditions by going dormant, where modules or whole colonies enter a state of physiological and morphological inactivity. Coloniality arose independently many times in the metazoans,…
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