mini-curriculum

Rodrigo Mendes is the Head of Research and Development Department at Embrapa Environment, where also works as a researcher at the Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology. He is also a lecturer and doctorate supervisor at Agricultural Microbiology Graduate School of University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. He graduated as agronomist from the University of Sao Paulo in 2002 with specialization in Biotechnology, where developed his first research on interactions between microbial communities and plants (FAPESP grant). From 2003 to 2008 conducted his PhD (CNPq and FAPESP grants) at the Department of Genetics of University of Sao Paulo, which included 13 months as a guest researcher (CAPES grant) at the Laboratory of Phytopathology of Wageningen University, The Netherlands. Between January 2008 and April 2009 worked as a researcher at CanaVialis/Monsanto on the sugarcane breeding program and from April 2009 to November 2010 worked as an Associate Researcher (Postdoctoral Fellow - NWO grant) at the Bacterial Ecology and Genomics group of Laboratory of Phytopathology, Wageningen University. He was a visiting scientist at Lausanne University, Switzerland, at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, USA, at the Rothamsted Research, UK, and a visiting professor at the Isaac Newton Institute, University of Cambridge, UK. Dr. Mendes is the executive secretary of the international research program "Back to the Roots" [http://backrootsproject.wix.com/backroots] and his research focuses on interactions between complex microbial communities and their hosts in order to understand how microbiomes support and sustain life of higher organisms [http://rrmendess.wix.com/rdgmendeslab]. In 2011 he published a breakthrough study, in the Science journal, revealing how bacterial communities naturally defend plants against soil-borne pathogen infections. Currently his projects are focusing on the plant microbiome (rhizosphere ecosystem) in collaboration with several international research groups.

Education

1994 - 1996

Ensino Médio em

Escola Técnica Estadual Trajano Camargo

Title:

Obtained year: 1996

1994 - 1997

Escola Técnica Estadual Trajano Camargo

Title:

Obtained year: 1997

1998 - 2002

Graduação em Engenharia Agronômica

Universidade de São Paulo

Title: Fungos Endofíticos de Soja: isolamento, caracterização e avaliação da interação com o hospedeiro.

Obtained year: 2002

Orientador: Aline Aparecida Pizzirani-Kleiner

2003 - 2008

Doutorado em Agronomia (Genética e Melhoramento de Plantas)

Universidade de São Paulo

Title: Diversidade e caracterização genética de comunidades microbianas endofíticas associadas à cana-de-açúcar

Obtained year: 2008

Orientador: Aline Aparecida Pizzirani-Kleiner

2009 - 2010

Pós-Doutorado em

Wageningen University

Title:

Obtained year: 2010

Areas of expertise

1. Grande área: Biological Sciences / Área: Microbiology / Subárea: Applied Microbiology
2. Grande área: Biological Sciences / Área: Microbiology / Subárea: Microbiologia Agrícola
3. Grande área: Biological Sciences / Área: Microbiology / Subárea: Molecular and Microorganism Genetics