User:BrunoAfonso: Difference between revisions

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My name is Bruno Afonso and I am at the moment working in the Silver Lab as PhD student, recently moved to the Systems Biology Department @ Quad.
= Bio =
[[Image:BA-fishies.jpg|frame|right|Spearfishing @ Lagos, Summer 2006...]]


Being an engineer by training I am interested in exploring possible avenues of elegant, reliable and controlled designs that can be realistically and reliably implemented in living organisms. Things that interest me at the moment are:
Biological Engineering ([http://www.ist.utl.pt/en Instituto Superior Tecnico], Lisbon, Portugal)


# Exploring alternative ways of controlling gene expression using mammalian cellular machinery such as RNA interference, chromatin structure and nuclear organization, post-translational changes and post-transcriptional changes. Unfortunately much much less is known about these fantastic "technologies" the cells use as regulatory methods comparing to DNA/promoter-based regulation. That said, it makes these aims more interesting scientifically speaking.
Systems Biology PhD ([http://sysbio.med.harvard.edu/phd/ Systems Biology PhD Program], [http://silver.med.harvard.edu Silver Lab])
# Understanding the best ways to mathematically model simple systems and understanding how insulated the designs and simulations can be inside a cell
# Evolutionary stability of transgenic organisms. I believe a theoretical framework hasn't yet been developed in this regard. I have thought about multi-dimensional spaces ( as in n-dimensions with n-genes. Though, I'm not sure if n-genes is a good idea...) and trying to understand where the "evolutionary stable plateaus" are - if they exist at all -, if there are more than some or we are constantly jumping thoughout the n-dimensional space. Ideally, this would help us understand
## How to optimize stability throughout time of transgenic organisms
## how to avoid evolutionary genome changes going in directions we don't want to


If you want to discuss any of this matter feel free to email me at my first and last name separated by an underscore at hms dot harvard dot edu.  
PhD funding by the [http://gabba.up.pt Gabba Graduate Program]


stay cool until the next update :)
Systems Neuroscience Post-doctoral fellow: [http://worms.physics.harvard.edu Aravi Samuel] (Harvard), [http://http://lab.debivort.org Ben de Bivort] (Harvard) and [http://www.hhmi.org/janelia Janelia Farm] (HHMI institute in Ashburn, Virginia)
 
= Scientific =
 
I'm currently trying to understand the molecular basis of some behaviors in animals with simple neural networks or circuits. I decided to work with Drosophila larvae in order to use its powerful genetics to drive optogenetic analysis.
 
Feel free to email me at the first letter of my first name and last name at gmail.
 
= Hobbies/Personal/Outside of Science =
 
My homepage can be reached at [http://brunoafonso.com http://brunoafonso.com] and it's updated somewhat regularly. It's directly correlated with my mood and workload. :) Mostly english.
 
I love music, sports and all kinds of fine arts, mainly photography, the art of capturing moments in time. I have a couple of online galleries (very outdated...)<br>
 
# [http://www.olhares.com/bafonso/ Olhares' gallery - portuguese site ]
# [http://www.treklens.com/members/bafonso/ Treklens rocks!] - I especially like the idea of seeing others galleries without ratings, etc, helping you make non-biased analysis of photos
 
My latest photos can normally be found on facebook.

Latest revision as of 16:17, 14 July 2011

Bio

Spearfishing @ Lagos, Summer 2006...

Biological Engineering (Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisbon, Portugal)

Systems Biology PhD (Systems Biology PhD Program, Silver Lab)

PhD funding by the Gabba Graduate Program

Systems Neuroscience Post-doctoral fellow: Aravi Samuel (Harvard), Ben de Bivort (Harvard) and Janelia Farm (HHMI institute in Ashburn, Virginia)

Scientific

I'm currently trying to understand the molecular basis of some behaviors in animals with simple neural networks or circuits. I decided to work with Drosophila larvae in order to use its powerful genetics to drive optogenetic analysis.

Feel free to email me at the first letter of my first name and last name at gmail.

Hobbies/Personal/Outside of Science

My homepage can be reached at http://brunoafonso.com and it's updated somewhat regularly. It's directly correlated with my mood and workload. :) Mostly english.

I love music, sports and all kinds of fine arts, mainly photography, the art of capturing moments in time. I have a couple of online galleries (very outdated...)

  1. Olhares' gallery - portuguese site
  2. Treklens rocks! - I especially like the idea of seeing others galleries without ratings, etc, helping you make non-biased analysis of photos

My latest photos can normally be found on facebook.