UCIBio researcher Peter Eaton has been appointed as a “Pesquisador Visitante Especial” - Special Invited Researcher, as part of the Brazilian “Ciência sem Fronteiras” program. The aims of the grant, which is fully paid for by the Brazilian CNPq are “to promote the international exchange and cooperation, through the attraction of international leaders who have outstanding scientific and technological knowledge in the areas covered in the program”. In this, case the project was funded under the area of Biotechnology. The project proposed is based on the development of nanomaterials based on biomolecules isolated in Brazil’s northeast region.
This project will fund research materials, as well as frequent visits of Dr. Eaton in the Laboratory of the host researcher - Dr. José Roberto Leite, of the “biotec” lab of UFPI - Universidade Federal de Piaui. This lab is based in the city of Parnaíba, in the Brazil’s northeast. The project will also fund a postdoctoral researcher based in Brazil, and a sandwich doctoral student based in Brazil and in UCIBIO, Porto. The project will include the nanoechnological application of molecules obtained from natural resources of this area. The photo below shows Dr. Eaton and Dr. Leite on a recent trip to collect natural specimens from the Delta of the Parnaíba river in this region.