Curriculum Vitae: Andre R. O. Cavalcanti

Andre Ricardo de Oliveira Cavalcanti

Assistant Professor - Biology Department - Pomona College

acavalca@princeton.edu

Princeton University , Princeton,USA – Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 2002–2004.
Post Doctoral Fellow – Prof. Laura Landweber’s Laboratory – Gene rearrangements in ciliates, and annotation of the Oxytricha trifallax genome

University of Chicago , Chicago, USA – Dept. of Ecology and Evolution, 2000–2001.
Visiting Student – Prof. Wen-Hsiung Li’s Laboratory – Patterns of gene duplications in eukaryotes, and duplications affect genome evolution

Universidade Federal de Pernambuco , Recife, Brazil – Dept. of Fundamental Chemistry , 1996–2002.
Ph.D. in Chemistry – Advisor: Prof. Ricardo Ferreira – Dissertation: “On the Evolution of Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetases and Patterns of Gene Duplication in Eukaryotes”
M.A. in Chemistry – Advisor: Prof. Ricardo Ferreira – Thesis: “On the Origin and Evolution of the Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetases”

Universidade Federal de Pernambuco , Recife, Brazil – Dept. of Chemical Engineering , 1991–1996.
B.A. in Chemical Engineering – Advisor: Prof. Alexandra Amorim Salgueiro – Senior thesis: "Study of cellulolytic enzymes production by Penicillum citrinum in rice straw in different granulometries" (Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology)

Escola Tecnica Federal de Pernambuco , Recife, Brazil, 1991 – 1993.
Associate Degree in Electronics – Telecommunications

Universidade Federal de Pernambuco – Dept. of Fundamental Chemistry , 1994–1996.
Undergraduate research – Theoretical Chemistry Group – Origin and evolution of the genetic code

Universidade Federal de Pernambuco – Dept. of Chemical Engineering, 1996.
Undergraduate research – Laboratory of Process Control and Simulation – Computer simulation of chaotic biological growth processes using neural networks

Altronic (industrial controllers company) – Dept. of Engineering Research & Development, 1995.
Student Intern – Implementation of total quality program, cataloguing and redesign of products

Universidade Federal de Pernambuco – Dept. of Chemical Engineering, 1993.
Undergraduate research – Laboratory of Industrial Chromatography – Development of an adsorption measuring instrument used for specific surface area and pore distribution measurement

Universidade Federal de Pernambuco – Dept. of Chemical Engineering, 1991.
Undergraduate research – Laboratory of Industrial Microbiology – Biological monitoring of water

• Origin of Life, Origin of the Genetic Code and Translation Apparatus
• Evolution of Eukaryotic Genomes by Gene Duplications
• Evolution of Trans-splicing
• Evolution of Ciliate Genome Organization and Scrambled Genes

Pomona College - Department of Biology, 2005-Present.
Assitant Professor - Courses taught:

• BIOL173 - Genomics and Bioinformatics with Laboratory - Fall 2005, 2006, 2007
• BIOl040 - Introductory Genetics with Laboratory - Spring 2006, 2007
• BIOL189 - Computer Programming for Biologists - Fall 2006
• ID1 - Freshman Seminar: Why We Get Sick: The Evolution of Health and Disease - Fall 2007

Universidade Federal de Pernambuco - Department of Fundamental Chemistry, 1999-2000.
Adjunct Professor - Lectured and administered all course grades in the following laboratory courses:

• Introduction to Experimental Chemistry (60 hours)
• Experimental General Chemistry (30 hours)
• Experimental Inorganic Chemistry (30 hours)
• Experimental Physical-Chemistry (30 hours)

• Bioinformatics
• Molecular Evolution
• Perl Programming for Biologists
• Evolutionary Medicine

• Peter Elingboe - Pomona College - Department of Mathematics. Fall 2005 - Spring 2006.
  Thesis Title: A Study of the Biological Consequences of the “Chaos Game Representation” of DNA Sequences.
  
• Michelle Kaye - Pomona College - Program in Molecular Biology. Fall 2005 - Spring 2007.
  Thesis Title: Investigating Nested Genes in the Caenorhabditis elegans Genome.
  Paper: Stover, Kaye, Cavalcanti (2006).
  
• Alejandra McCord - Pomona College - Program in Neuroscience. Fall 2005 - Spring 2007.
  Thesis Title: Candidate Genes for Axon Guidance in the Drosophila melanogaster ventral nerve cord. (Co-advised with Prof. Karl Johnson - Pomona College).
  
• Karen Ring - Pomona College - Program in Molecular Biology. Fall 2006 - Spring 2007.
  Thesis Title: Investigating the Evolution of Stop Codon Resssignment in the Ciliates Tetrahymena thermophila and Paramecium tetraurelia.
  
• David Dorsey - Pomona Collge - Program in Molecular Biology. Fall 2006 - Spring 2007.
  Thesis Title: Toxicity Study of Phenolic Antioxidants in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. (Co-advised with Profs. Tina Negritto and Cynthia Selassie - Pomona College).
  

• Merk Grant
  
• CAPES (Brazilian government agency) international fellowship to visit Dr. Wen-Hsiung Li Laboratory in the University of Chicago, 2000-2001.
  
• CNPq (Brazilian government agency) doctorate fellowship, 1998-2002.
  
• CNPq (Brazilian government agency) master fellowship, 1996-1998.
  
• CNPq (Brazilian government agency) undergraduate research fellowships, 1994-1996.
  
• Prize Prof. Luiz Freire for Young Scientists for best undergraduate presentation in the sciences area in the III Conic (undergraduate research congress of the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco), 1995.
  

• Genomes and Evolution 2004 (SMBE meeting), State College, USA, 2004.
  
• IXth Congress of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology, Leeds, England, 2003.
  
• 10th International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology, Edmonton, Canada, 2002.
  
• 10th ISSOL Meeting and 13th International Conference on the Origin of Life, Oaxaca, Mexico , 2002.
  
• 2001 Annual SMBE Meeting, Athens, USA, 2001.
  
• XVII Annual Meeting on Micromolecular Evolution, Systematics and Ecology, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1997.
  
• XI SINAFERM (Brazilian Nacional Symposia on Fermentation), Sao Carlos, Brazil, 1996.
  
• III CONIC (Undergraduate Research Congress), Recife, Brazil, 1995.
  
• Brasilian Academy of Sciences Meeting, Recife, Brazil, 1994.