Graciana de Azambuja

Lab member
2022

Current position
Postdoctoral Researcher in Neurodegenerative muscle disease at VIB/KU Leuven, Belgium

Born and raised in the traditional extreme south of Brazil, I was a very active kid, with a greater passion for futsal, always playing in male teams, and never less than them. The curiosity about living things has always been encouraged by the school and by my ''academic'' family. With 17 y.o., I moved to Sao Paulo state to pursue a bachelor's degree in Sports Sciences in the University of Campinas (UNICAMP). During my undergraduation period I had two "scientific initiation" opportunities with internship projects in the Laboratory of Pain and Inflammation Research, with Prof. Maria Claudia Fusaro, to study physical exercise and muscle pain, which provided a space for learning basic laboratory techniques, handling and planning experiments and the responsibility of a scientific project. After the bachelor's period, I joined the master's program in the School of Applied Sciences (UNICAMP) in the same laboratory. With a scholarship from Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) I spent 6 months in Heidelberg University (Germany) studying electrophysiology in the spinal cord and chronic muscle pain models with Dr. Ulrich Hoheisel. Thus, I obtained my Master's degree studying the mechanisms by which physical exercise is able to prevent muscle pain conditions. In 2018, I started my PhD period with Dr. Fusaro, investigating more deeply how physical exercise can improve the neuroimmune mechanisms in skeletal muscle, dorsal roots ganglion and spinal cord, which makes it a great strategy to prevent and treat chronic muscle pain conditions. At the moment, I am in Professor Jorge Ruas' group as a visiting researcher, aiming to expand and strengthen my background in cellular and molecular biology of physical exercise, skeletal muscle tissue and inflammatory muscle pain.