Dr. Nathalia Rodrigues de Almeida

Nathalia Rodrigues de Almeida (photo) graduated from Dom Bosco Catholic University (Campo Grande, MS) with a pharmacy degree. In 2011, she started a master’s program in chemistry (INQUI-UFMS), working with ozonolysis of vegetable oils under guidance of Professor Adilson Beatriz. Nathalia stood out during her graduate studies, winning several awards related to her master’s degree, including being nominated, in 2012, for the 8th Santander Entrepreneurship Award in the Biotechnology and Health category and for the best scientific paper at the 4th WSO (Workshop on Organic Synthesis of the North, Northeast and Midwest).

After defending her thesis (2013), Nathalia started a doctoral program in chemistry, working on the synthesis of new hydrazones and 1,3,4-oxazoles from phenolic lipids, as well as evaluating the biological activities of synthesized compounds, obtaining her doctorate in 2017. Dr. Adilson and Dr. Ana Camila supervised her dissertation.

During her doctoral fellowship at the Sintmol Lab, she always faced challenges by not stopping and going beyond her experiments in organic chemistry. She developed various protocols for the use of laboratory equipment and for bioassays. She did a teaching internship and has always actively participated in academic activities. She was a senior assistant editor for Orbital: The Electronic Journal of Chemistry. Even before defending her dissertation, she went to the United States to do an internship at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which does excellent research on cancer and infectious diseases, in Dr. Martin Conda-Sheridan’s research group. After defending her dissertation in 2017, she returned to Dr. Conda-Sheridan’s team for her post-doctoral fellowship, with research focuses on the design of self-assembling biomaterials and small molecules for the treatment of infectious diseases and targeted therapeutic nanosystems to treat cancer.

Starting in August, 2019, Nathalia will be the newest Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO), in the United States. She was selected as the top candidate after a competitive three-stage interview process that includes both research presentations and teaching demonstrations. Professor Nathalia’s advice for young people wishing to pursue the same career is to invest in knowledge, classes, reading, and experiences. “Focus on scientific research and have a good plan for the experiments that are necessary to publish your work,” recommends Dr. Nathalia.

The team at the Sintmol Lab is proud and wants to take the opportunity to congratulate Professor Nathalia for this important accomplishment. The Sintmol group is honored whenever one of our former students achieves success, and this is a source of inspiration for us to continue our work and train competent, capable professionals and citizens who are prepared to face the challenges of the world.

Here are some of Nathalia’s favorite research papers:

• Almeida NR, de Arruda EJ, Micheletti AC, Matos MFC, de Oliveira LCS, de Lima DP, Carvalho NCP, de Oliveira PD, de Castro Cunha M, Ojeda M. Synthesis, characterization, thermal behavior, and biological activity of ozonides from vegetable oils. RSC Advances, 2015, 5 (80), 65427-65436.
• De Oliveira P, Almeida NR, Conda-Sheridan M.; do Prado Apparecido R, Micheletti AC, Carvalho NC, Dos Santos EDA, Marques MR, De Arruda E, Alcantara GB, Ozonolysis of neem oil: preparation and characterization of potent antibacterial agents against multidrug resistant bacterial strains. RSC Advances, 2017, 7 (55), 34356-34365.
• Almeida NR, Han Y, Perez J, Kirkpatrick S, Wang Y, Conda-Sheridan M. Design, Synthesis, and Nanostructure-Dependent Antibacterial Activity of Cationic Peptide Amphiphiles. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2018, 11 (3), 2790-2801.
• Wood NA, Chung KY, Blocker AM, Almeida NR, Conda-Sheridan M., Fisher DJ, Ouellette SP. Initial Characterization of the Two ClpP Paralogs of Chlamydia trachomatis Suggests Unique Functionality for Each. Journal of Bacteriology, 2019, 201(2):e00635-00618.

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