Matheus Henrique da Silva

Matheus is a student in the Pharmacy-Biochemistry B.Sci. course (last semester) at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto (FCFRP), University of São Paulo (USP) - Brazil. He was a former vice-president (2017-2018) at the League of Pharmaceutical Care and Health Education (LCFES) (clinical-pharmacy area). Matheus conducted an undergraduate research project at the Laboratory of Vascular Pharmacology (2018-2019, FCFRP-USP), where he worked with the following topics: vascular endothelium-dependent relaxation, nitric oxide donors, and the spontaneous hypertension model (SHR). Vascular reactivity experiments and biochemical and molecular biology assays were conducted. Additionally, he was an undergraduate researcher at the Laboratory of Chemistry of Microorganisms (2021-2022, FCFRP-USP) and developed a project with the following themes: natural products, endophytic microorganisms, and Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). The position entailed the maintenance of microbial cultures of biotechnological interest and the manipulation of human pathogens (BSL2) for bioactivity tests. The role required an understanding of concepts from natural products chemistry and chromatographic techniques (TLC and HPLC), as well as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, to isolate and identify compounds with activity against NTDs. In 2022, Matheus was an intern at the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Source (LNLS), where he worked with the preparation of biological samples for imaging studies performed in the synchrotron beam lines (micro and nano tomography, X-ray fluorescence, and infrared). He also conducted a study on a resin commonly used in biological sample preparation, utilizing Design of Experiments (DOE) and Chemometric methods. Matheus was a trainee at the Translational Neuropsychiatric Unit (TNU) of Aarhus University in Denmark (2023), where he collaborated with an international team. In a pre-clinical model of COVID-19, they have investigated the sequelae in the central nervous system of animals that have recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection. He prepared cryopreserved samples, carried out immunohistochemistry assays, acquired images using a fluorescence microscope, and established qualitative and quantitative analysis of the generated images. Moreover, Matheus has experience working with Human Resources (2015-2017) and has an interest in Scientific Illustration. (Source: Lattes Curriculum)