BRUNA FERNANDA SILVA DE SOUSA

My career has focused on the study of microorganisms and their relationships with plants and the environment, as well as their application in biotechnology and agriculture. Currently I am a Junior Group Leader at State University of Campinas / Biology Institute supported by CNPq (Talent Attraction Call Conhecimento Brasil). I am a proactive and collaborative researcher who has spent time at universities and research institutes, who enjoys participating in scientific outreach and dissemination activities, and who has supported her studies and research by winning a competitive grants. I hold an undergraduate degree in Agronomic Science Engineering (2016) from the UEMA, during which I took an erasmus year to study at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and an undergraduate internship at the Center for Plant Biotechnology and Genomics (CBGP, Spain). In 2016 I started masters studies in Genetics and Plant Breeding at UNESP/FCAV (Jaboticabal, SP). Since 2019 I have been working with the Type Six Secretion System (T6SS) of rhizobia as a PhD at the UPM/CBGP. During this time I also carried out an international internship financed by the Bayer Foundation at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (Germany). I obtained a high level of qualification in my tesis defense in july 2023 Cum Laude and have an International thesis. My first postdoctoral period I had the opportunity to continuous at UPM/CBGP for study in deep plant mechanisms activated by the T6SS of rhizobia. My second postdoctoral period was at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Centro de Biologia Molecular Severo Ochoa (CBM/UAM, Madrid) working with synthetic biology tools of bacteria.Throughout my career, I have taken pleasure in scientific dissemination of my work in international conferences. I was awarded two FEMS travel grants in 2023 and 2024. In addition, I have also directed students and collaborated as an assistant teacher in classes in universities. I also enjoy dissemination activities targeted at non-scientific audiences and have participated in science outreach activities including the International Day of Microorganisms, the Science Week, the European Researchers Night, activities related to the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, Apadrina la Ciencia in Juvenalia's fair and the Orbita Laika television programme in Spain.

My lab, RhizoBiotech has focused on the study of soil microorganisms and their relationships with plants and the environment, as well as their application in biotechnology and agriculture. We used as a models rhizobial strains (symbiont and commensal bacteria), which can infected the plant cells.

Our lab aims at using molecular biology and synthetic biology approches to transform rhizobia into a tool for biocontrol of bacterial pathogens, to obtain more competitive and efficient inoculants, and to elucidate which plant mechanisms are related to plant-microbe interaction, such us the role of the type six secretion system (T6SS) of rhizobia during the plant infection.

We are currently accepting master's and doctoral students in Mirobiology and Molecular Biology fields.

Are you interested to study/work with us?

Send me an email.