Vanessa Alexandra Fernandes Magalhães

I have a degree in Biochemistry (FC-UP), a Master in Clinical Immunology (FCS- UBI) and a PhD in Biomedical Sciences (ICBAS-UP). Since my graduation internship in Mário Arala Chaves Laboratory of Immunology at ICBAS, I´ve been working in the host-parasite interaction, initially in murine malaria and later, during the Masters and PhD in bacterial infection (Group B streptococci).

Currently, I am working on the project ““Host-parasite Co-evolution” in the Immunogenetics, Microbes and Co-Evolution group (IMID, CIBIO/InBIO) as a PosDoc. The major interest of our Research Group is to study the host-parasite co-evolutionary processes by monitoring changes in the genetic content of populations using as a model species, the European rabbit, in relation to two epizootics that have decimated wild populations in the recent past (i.e. Myxomatosis and Rabbit Hemorragic Disease). Some ongoing studies focus the genetic variation at the host (rabbit and hares) candidate genes (innate and adaptive immune system genes, like Toll like receptors, Interleukins, Major Histocompatibility Complex and antibodies) that confer resistance against these diseases as these are the prime candidates for undergoing adaptive evolutionary change.

My tasks focus on the characterization of the MHC genetic structure in the Iberian wolf population and in several wild rabbit European populations. Actually, since MHC is intimately linked with factors likely to affect the individual fitness, population viability and evolutionary potential in a changing environment, it has been increasingly used for determining genome wide diversity in a conservation context to identify populations that are relatively depauperate in diversity. Furthermore, I´ll also study the host-parasite interaction concerning the Giardia infection in dogs.