Clarisa Palatnik de Sousa

 

Professor CB Palatnik de Sousa is a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (1980), Master of Science (Microbiology) from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (1983) and PhD in Microbiology from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (1989). She is currently a full professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. She has a large experience in the field of Parasitology, with emphasis in Vaccinology, acting mainly in the following subjects: adjuvants, saponins, vaccine, canine vaccine and visceral leishmaniasis. She is a permanent member of the Postgraduate Program in Microbiology of the Paulo de Góes Institute of UFRJ (since 1991), the Plant Biotechnology and Bioprocesses program, Health and Industry, of the CCS, UFRJ, from 2014 and a visitant member of the Health Science program of the Federal University of Sergipe, Brazil. She was the only Latin American member of the Executive Board of the International Society for Vaccines supported by the Vaccine-Elsevier Journal and the One-Health Scientific Committee of the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA). She was Editor in Chief of Procedia in Vaccinology of Elsevier and obtained the title of Fellow of the International Society for Vaccines, in recognition of his contribution in the field of vaccinology and its contribution to the society. She has developed several diagnostic tests for human and canine visceral leishmaniasis and described the possible transmission of the disease by blood transfusion. In addition, she studied the impact of the epidemiological control of the visceral leishmaniasis in Brazil. She developed the first 2nd generation vaccine licensed against canine visceral leishmaniasis (FML-saponin-Leishmune® (Pfizer-Zoetis) and a DNA vaccine based on the nucleoside hydrolase NH36, which is the main component of the FML antigen. She is currently engaged in the development of a synthetic epitope or chimeric vaccine based on the NH36 domains and epitopes in the murine model. Likewise, it leads the group investigating which NH36 epitopes, chimeras and domains are recognized by PBMCs from human patients of visceral or cutaneous leishmaniasis. She is interested in the molecular aspects of the interaction of the epitopes of NH36 and the receptors of the major histocompatibility complexes.