I am a neuroscientist who originally graduated in Medicine with a PhD in Biophysics in Brazil, and I have a postdoctoral stay in Psychology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. During my stay in Cambridge, my daughter was diagnosed with a brain malformation, and this strongly attracted my interest in the development and plasticity of the brain. From then on, I dedicated my work to understanding how brain connections form along life and how they become molded by the environment, for the good (education) or for the bad (diseases).
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change its structure and function by interaction with the environment. My first studies on this topic employed animal models of developmental defects of a big bundle of fibers in our brain, called corpus callosum. I was interested in checking whether the brain was able to change callosal connections throughout life and how this occurred. From animal models, my team at the lab moved to a direct approach to human brains, employing neuroimaging tools. We discovered a phenomenon called long-distance plasticity, by which the great avenues of brain connections could change profoundly in certain circumstances: malformations, trauma, and body accidents. My group is now dedicated to studying brain plasticity in naturalistic settings, such as person-to-person interactions, using portable brain imaging techniques.
Key Findings
During the work to investigate pathological changes in human brain connections, a PhD student in my group discovered that what we thought were abnormal connections arising from pathologies, in fact, were present “secretly” in normal circumstances. We concluded that our brains develop a set of subtle connections that could serve as a connectomic reserve for later development under environmental demands. This discovery intensified my interest in education as a crucial example of the power of societal initiatives to influence the plastic sculpting of brain connections throughout life.
Useful Links
Rede Nacional de Ciência para Educação: https://cienciaparaeducacao.org
UNESCO Chair of Science for Education: https://www.catedraunescocpe.org/english
Articles IBE-UNESCO: https://solportal.ibe-unesco.org/
Where to buy his books: Amazon link.
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