Geraldo Aleixo da Silva Passos Júnior

Graduated in Biology from UNESP São Paulo State University, Brazil (19801983), and earned both a Masters degree (19841986) and a PhD (19861988) in Biochemistry from the Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil. He completed his postdoctoral studies at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of Montpellier (CNRS, Montpellier, France) from 1992 to 1994.From 1997 to 2017, he collaborated closely with INSERM U1090 in Marseille, France, conducting large-scale gene expression (transcriptome) studies of the mouse thymus gland. He is currently an Associate Professor of Genetics and Molecular Biology at the School of Dentistry and the Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto Campus, Brazil.He coordinates the Molecular Immunogenetics Group (http://sites.usp.br/imunogenetica/), located in the Department of Genetics at the Ribeirão Preto Medical School, USP. He also leads the FAPESP Thematic Project: Using the CRISPR-Cas9 System to Edit the Aire Gene in mTEC Cells.He is the editor of the book Thymus Transcriptome and Cell Biology (https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-77921-3), published in 2025 by Springer Nature Switzerland AG. His research expertise lies in molecular genetics, with a primary focus on functional genomics, including transcriptome analyses of mRNAs, miRNAs, and lncRNAs in the immune system (Aire gene function, transcriptome profiling, induction of indel mutations in Aire using CRISPR-Cas9, microRNAs, and autoimmunity).In addition, he works on projects investigating the regulation of gene expression during osteoblastic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells derived from human dental pulp. He supervised two PhD theses recognized by the Brazilian Ministry of Education with national CAPES awards: the 2008 CAPES Thesis Award and the 2010 CAPES Thesis Honor in Genetics. (Fonte: Currículo Lattes)