Hello! My name is Francisco Ferreira, a veterinarian from Brazil with a PhD in Parasitology. I am interested in infectious wildlife diseases, especially zoonoses and those transmitted by Diptera and tick vectors. I have field and laboratory experience in a diversity of disease systems that affect birds, lizards, rodents, carnivores, bats, non-human primates and humans.
My work as a graduate student and then as a postdoc at the Federal University of Minas Gerais was focused on interactions between environmental changes and avian malaria parasites (Plasmodium and Haemoproteus). As a Research Scientist at Smithsonian National Zoological Park, Washington DC, USA, a great team and I evaluated how mosquitoes respond to Plasmodium infections. For this, we focused on the avian malaria system from Hawaiʻi (Plasmodium relictum is decimating the endemic Hawaiian honeycreepers). Laboratory work took place at the Rutgers Center for Vector Biology, NJ, USA. In my second appointment at Rutgers, I worked on a tick-related project by capturing wild mammals and checking them for ticks and for the presence of enzootic and zoonotic arthropod-borne pathogens (protozoans, bacteria e viruses). Now I am an Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Entomology at Texas A&M University working with Dr. Gabriel Hamer on zoonotic viruses that affect humans and other animals. My current research focus is on the epidemiology and evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in pets, white-tailed deer, other ungulates (mainly exotic and domestic species), and wildlife. I am also involved on projects conducting vector and vector-borne diseases surveillance in Texas. |
I use classic parasitology tools and high throughout molecular biology methods to understand host-parasite-vector interactions in wildlife systems.
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