Moara did her Bachelor in Biological Sciences and Master in Zoology at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil, working in trypanosomes of wildlife animals. Then she started her PhD in Microbiology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil working with electron microscopy associated with parasitology to elucidate the cell cycle of trypanosomatids using light and electron microscopy and phylogenetic analysis (collaboration with Erney Camargo and Marta Teixeira’s group from the Federal University of Sao Paulo) in which she described the new species Trypanosoma abeli. Moara did her first post-doc in cell biology and ultrastructure of protozoan parasites at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro using conventional EM and cryo-techniques (high pressure freezing and freeze substitution) associated with 3D techniques (FIB-SEM slice-and-view and tomography – serial sectioning). She joined the Laboratory of Nanosciences and Nanotechnology core facility (LABNANO) at the Brazilian Center for Research in Physics (CBPF) for 10months in a post-doc in the intracellular traffic and biodistribution of nanoparticles of iron oxide and nanostructured hydroxyapatite in mammalian cells, using FIB-SEM in a 3D approach. In 2016 she joined the Philippe Bastin group to study Trypanosoma brucei intraflagellar transport. During that time she applied her expertise in conventional EM, cryo-techniques (HPF and FS), and 3D approach (FIB-SEM and Amira for reconstruction) associated with fluorescence live-cell imaging and basic molecular biology and biochemistry techniques. Since 2019 she joined the ESMMC team for developing new methods on sample preparation applied to Cryo-Correlative Light and Electron Microscopy (Cryo-CLEM) and Cellular Cryo-Tomography for different biological systems.
Awards
- 2018 Best Poster Presentation Award – Parasites & Insects Vectors Department Retreat of Institut Pasteur
- 2013 Best Poster Presentation Award – Postdoctoral fellow category – IV Annual Meeting of The National Institute of Science and Technology for Structural Biology and Bioimaging (INBEB), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
- 2011 Best Poster Presentation Award – VIII International Symposium of Fish Parasites – University of Antofagasta, Chile
- 2007 Best Oral Presentation Award- Sembio – Federal University of Juiz de Fora, MG, Brazil