Education:

2000, DDS, Dental School of Piracicaba – FOP/UNICAMP, Brazil
2002, MS – Pharmacology, Dental School of Piracicaba – FOP/UNICAMP, Brazil
2003-2004, Visiting Scholar, Center for Oral Biology, University of Rochester, USA
2005, Ph.D. – Pharmacology, Dental School of Piracicaba – FOP/UNICAMP, Brazil
2005-2007, Post-doctoral, Eastman Dental Center, University of Rochester, USA

Research Interests / Professional Overview: Dr. Simone Duarte

is Assistant Professor in the Department of Basic Science and Craniofacial Biology and the course director of Pharmacology at the College of Dentistry. Dr. Duarte’s research focuses on the understanding and control of cariogenic dental biofilms using natural agents. She is working together with Dr. David Grier, from the department of Physics and Center for Soft Matter Reseach at New York University, trying to establish a new methodology to analyze the physical properties of dental biofilms, using holographic microrheology. This new methodology is very unique and shows promise for high-throughput combinatorial screening of candidate therapeutic or remedial agents. In addition, Dr. Duarte’s lab also studies the structural characterization of the biofilm matrix, using Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM); quantifying the structural properties by analyzing the CLSM images using COMSTAT software (Heydorn et al., 2000). Rather than assessing their biological or biochemical influence, holographic microrheology together with CLSM offers direct insight into these agents influence on biofilm matrix’s structure and physical properties.Her lab is also working together with Dr. Thais Russomano, from the Microgravity Centre/FENG-PUCRS group, in Brazil, and with Dr. Grier and Dr. Deepak Saxena, from NYU, determining the influence of microgravity on the microbial biofilm matrix, based on the hypothesis that there is an increased pathogenicity of biofilms formed under microgravity related to a change in their extracellular polysaccharide matrix. This innovative methodology is used to identify novel targets for prevention and treatment of infectious diseases associated with biofilms formed in situ during space travel