Personal Page – Professor

GLAUCIUS OLIVA is Full Professor of the University of São Paulo. He studied Physics and Electronics Engineering as an undergraduate of the University of São Paulo and subsequently obtained his PhD in Protein Crystallography and Structural Biology at the University of London in 1988l. His main research interests are structural biology and medicinal chemistry and its application in drug design and discovery, with a particular focus on parasitic infectious tropical diseases that affect the population of Brazil and other developing countries. His work on Chagas disease has led to the discovery of several new inhibitors of parasitic enzymes, promising new drugs for the treatment of this endemic illness. He was the key leader in the establishment of Protein Crystallography research in Brazil, including the development of the first protein crystallography beamline at the Brazilian National Synchrotron Laboratory. He has lead the first graduate program on Biomolecular Physics in the country and more recently created the first undergraduate course on Biomolecular Physical Sciences in Brazil. He was Vice-president of the Brazilian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology-SBBq (2005-2007). Prof. Oliva has lead several projects in collaboration with Brazilian pharmaceutical industries, including programs of biodiversity screening for new natural products drug candidates. Amongst other prizes, he is Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, Member of the National Order of Scientific Merit of Brazil, International Scholar of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (1997-2001), Member of TWAS (The World Academy of Sciences for the advancement of science in developing countries) and Fellow do Birkbeck College - University of London. He was Director (2010) and President (2011-2015) of the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq); founder and member of the Governing Board of the Global Research Council (GRC).