Cecília is a developmental biologist. During her PhD, she investigated the dynamics of the extracellular environment during early eye development.
As a Schmidt Science Fellow, she will pivot from developmental Biology to Neuroscience, shifting her focus to exploring the cellular aging process working with Professor Vadim Gladyshev at Harvard Medical School. Cecília’s research will involve analyzing omics data and developing organoids to study the biology of the naked mole rat’s hippocampus, aiming to identify molecular targets associated with hippocampal aging.
Growing up in Brazil, having witnessed the negative impacts of poor infrastructure and where support and incentives for scientific research were scarce, Cecília developed a growing interest in global health challenges. In particular, Cecília hopes her science will help tackle significant challenges of neural aging, such as increased risk of depression, neurodegenerative diseases, and decreased cognitive capacity, empowering her and younger generations to contribute to humanity’s understanding of this pressing issue.