Dr Guilherme Ribeiro graduated in medicine at the Federal University of Bahia and Residency in Infectious Diseases at the Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil. He completed master’s in epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, US, and doctorate in biotechnology in Health and Investigative Medicine at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Brazil. Guilherme works as an associate researcher in public health at Instituto Gonçalo Moniz, FIOCRUZ, where he also serves as a permanent professor of the graduate program in biotechnology in health and investigative medicine, having been the coordinator of this program between 2016 and 2018. At the Federal University of Bahia, Guilherme works as an associate professor at the Faculty of Medicine, permanent professor of the graduate program in public health and the graduate program in health, environment and work. He was an associate professor at the Institute of Collective Health (ISC-UFBA) between 2009 and 2018, having served as vice-coordinator in 2009–2012 and coordinator in 2012–2015 of the undergraduate course in collective health and vice-head of the Department of Collective Health in 2013–2014. He was a visiting professor in 2011–2012 and assistant professor in 2012–2015 at Yale School of Public Health, US. He is a research productivity fellow from the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development CNPq and an associate editor of the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Guilherme has experience in the field of clinical epidemiology and public health epidemiology. He researches health problems associated with social inequality and urban poverty. His main lines of investigation include eco-epidemiology, clinics and diagnosis of communicable diseases, particularly on emerging arboviral illnesses.

Research interests: emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases; Arboviral infections

Collaboration ideas: I have expectations of strengthening relationships with Australian researchers, establishing solid and long-term scientific collaborations, which allow the sharing of data, resources and exchange of researchers and students, with the objective of producing knowledge and responses to confront emerging and re-emerging diseases and health conditions. Our research group has a special interest in collaborations for the study of arboviruses, including eco-epidemiology, transmission dynamics, diagnosis and clinical management. We are also interested in the study of other acute infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, flu-like illnesses, leptospirosis and neuroinfections.

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-6798-2059
Lattes ID: 9005813884698823

Dr Jorge Edison Ribeiro holds a PhD from the Department of Electrical Engineering of the Imperial College of Science and Technology of the University of London, UK. He completed MSc from the Biomedical Engineering Program of COPPE/UFRJ and physician from the Faculty of Medicine of the Federal University of Paraná, in Brazil. Jorge is working for more than 40 years in the areas of research and technological development. He directed and managed projects in the fields of biomedical engineering, information technology and industrial processes. Presently Jorge is a retired professor at the State University of Ponta Grossa and acts as an innovation international agent for the Araucaria Foundation. Jorge is a member of NAPI (New Arrangements of Research and Innovation) of bioinformatics, sponsored by the Araucaria Foundation. One of the topics of interest of the group is the prospection of molecular markers for the development of COVID-19 gravity test on genetic bases and with bioinformatics contribution. There are many research groups that have been engaged in this sense, however, Jorge’s proposal is the only one on post-transcriptional bases, which aims to detect early a predisposition to the disease in the face of infection by SARS-CoV-2.

Research interests: genomics; bioinformatics; medical information systems; biomedical engineering

Collaboration ideas: Applications of genomics and bioinformatics in COVID-19 research

Lattes ID: 9262950908233233

Dr Rodrigo Rico Bini is a trained biomechanist and an accredited exercise scientist by Exercise & Sports Science Australia, working as a senior lecturer at the La Trobe Rural Health School. Rodrigo teaches biomechanics and research methods subjects in the bachelor of exercise science. His research interests involve biomechanics of exercise and sports, with special attention to cycling and running. He also conducts studies on internal body loads during resisted training exercises and occupational tasks.

Rodrigo is a research associate at the Auckland University of Technology’s Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand and holds an honorary position supervising HDR students at the State University of Londrina, Brazil. He serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Science and Cycling and is a member of the editorial board of the Sports Biomechanics journal, Journal of Sports Sciences, European Journal of Sports Sciences and Human Movement journal.

Research interests: mobility

Collaboration ideas: Interested in discussing options of alternatives for commuting.

Dr Lívia Sacchetto is a biologist completing her master’s in biological sciences (immunology and infectious-parasitic diseases) in 2016 at the Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Brazil. She completed her PhD in microbiology in 2020 at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil. During her PhD, Lívia did a seven-month internship at The University of Texas Medical Branch, US, under the supervision of Dr Scott C. Weaver working with yellow fever strains. Lívia is currently part of the faculty of the Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences at the São José do Rio Preto Medical School (FAMERP) and is a postdoctoral fellow at the Laboratório de Pesquisas em Virologia at FAMERP for the coordinating research on emerging project Arboviral Threats Encompassing the Neotropics (CREATE-NEO, member CREID), a network of surveillance centers in Central and South America to anticipate and combat emerging/re-emerging arboviruses. Lívia is currently a member of the Trainee Leadership Group of the American Committee on Arthropod-Borne Viruses Subcommittee of The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Dr Kirsty Short is a virologist at the University of Queensland.

Research interests: COVID-19 and influenza

Collaboration ideas: COVID represents an important opportunity for Australian and Brazillian researchers to share samples and expertise.

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-4963-6184

Dr Shakti Shukla is a trained microbiologist and completed his PhD in medical studies from the University of Tasmania, Australia. Shakti has been actively involved in various aspects of chronic respiratory diseases, including the pathophysiology and immunology of respiratory diseases especially cigarette smoking-related chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, and asthma.

Shakti’s primary research interest involves the crucial role of microorganisms, in particular bacteria, in the development, progression, and exacerbations of COPD/asthma. His more recent research focuses on understanding the role of gastrointestinal microbiomes in the progression of COPD and whether the gut microbes could be utilized as a potential treatment for COPD. Shakti has published more than 65 publications in the last six years and has won Young Investigator Award from Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand (Tasmania Branch) for his research.

Website: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/shakti-shukla-2
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5796-0171

Professor Steve Simpson is the inaugural academic director of the Charles Perkins Centre and professor in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Sydney, Australia. The Charles Perkins Centre is a major cross-university initiative with the mission to ease the burden of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and related conditions by taking a multidisciplinary, complex systems approach. More than 1000 researchers and practitioners are involved in the work of the centre, spanning the humanities and social sciences, life and medical sciences, physical and mathematical sciences, clinicians and many more. Key themes include nutrition, physical activity, sleep, Indigenous health, politics, governance and ethics and complex systems modelling.

After graduating as a biologist from the University of Queensland, Australia, Steve undertook his PhD at the University of London, then spent 22 years at Oxford University, UK. He returned to Australia in 2005 as an Australian Research Council (ARC) Federation Fellow, then ARC Laureate Fellow. In 2007 he was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, in 2013 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, and in 2015 was made a Companion of the Order of Australia in recognition of his eminent service to biological and biomedical science as an educator, researcher and author.

Research interests: obesity; diabetes; cardiovascular disease and related conditions

Collaboration ideas: We are interested in engaging in collaborations that share Charles Perkins Centre’s themes, our cross-disciplinary, systems-based approach and our vision to make a difference in the lives of people, society and the environment.

Website: www.sydney.edu.au/charles-perkins-centre/our-people/centre-leadership.html
ORCID ID: 0000-0003-0256-7687

Dr Andre Siqueira is an infectious diseases clinician and epidemiologist leading research programs in malaria, arboviral infections and COVID-19 at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases at Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, in Brazil.

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-2208-0294

Professor Jeffrey Soar is an expert in eHealth, including artificial intelligence and emerging technologies. He came to academia in later life from CIO and senior healthcare executive roles in Australia and New Zealand. He was the founder of eHealth research centres at two universities, has supervised 25 PhD students to completion, attracted over $10 million in grants and published over 200 research papers.

Research interests: emerging technologies

Collaboration ideas: research, eHealth, AI, emerging technologies

Website: https://staffprofile.usq.edu.au/profile/jeffrey-soar
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-4964-7556

Dr Doris Souza graduated in biological sciences and with a PhD in biotechnology and biosciences from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Brazil, in 2014. Doris is part of the team of researchers in Environmental Virology at the Applied Virology Laboratory at UFSC. For her doctorate, Doris investigated the acquisition and elimination of contaminants in Bivalve Mollusc Tissues, carrying out part of her thesis at the Microbiology Laboratory of the Institut Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer-IFREMER, France. During her postdoctoral internship at the PPG in Biotechnology and Biosciences at UFSC during 2014–2016, she developed the project entitled: study of the dynamics of bioaccumulation and clearance of hepatitis A virus (HAV) and human Rotavirus (RV) in artificially contaminated cockles. In addition to research on viral contamination in bivalve molluscs, water and marine sediment, Doris has worked on research projects in environmental microbiology with a focus on One Health. She worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Laboratory of Applied Virology at UFSC in 2020, developing the project "Assessment of the presence and dispersion of human viral and zoonotic pathogens in the Santa Catarina springs: Risks for aquaculture ". Doris was a PNPD/CAPES fellow in the Postgraduate Program in Food Sciences at UFSC, in the project "Assessment of the decay of microbiological contamination in oysters submitted to the relaying process" during 2020–2021. Doris is a researcher with DTI-A FAPESC fellow in the project “SARs-COV-2 (Coronavirus) Genome Sequencing as a Health Strategy to Asses COVID-19 Dispersion, Origins and Mutations in the State of Santa Catarina: Support for Evidence-Based Government and Business Decisions – Phase II”.

Research interests: One Health; virology; food borne viruses; environmental contamination

Collaboration ideas: Collaboration in projects aimed at One Health, such as: zoonotic viruses contaminating water; food and sewage; monitoring of human viral pathogens through sewage; contamination of bivalve molluscs; plastic waste and viruses.

Lattes ID: 8563407129751811
ORCID ID: 0000-0001-7854-7661