My projects
List of current or previous projects. 📚
DNA methylation associated with mental disorders (2021)
Analysis of epigenetic data in a cohort of traumatized male clients that took part in a clinical trial, first reported by our team in 2019. This project analyzed saliva samples for DNA methylation using the EPIC BeadChip Array, together with the genotyping PsychArray (Core Exome) technique. With this project I aimed at further understanding the relationship between epigenetics and mental health and trauma. Project was funded by Univ. of Konstanz and the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts in Baden-Württemberg (ca. 100k €).
Epigenetics of mental disorders (2019-2021)
Involvement in various international studies that had collected data on epigenetics in association with psychological measures, particularly trauma related mental disorders. I helped build and maintain a database of epigenetic data related to those studies at the University of Konstanz. My tasks were to centralize, integrate and manage the data of over 10 studies in 8 countries in Africa and Latin America. The abovementioned studies measured violence and psychological outcomes, such as depression, aggression and PTSD which can be related to epigenetic modifications, particularly DNA methylation.
Narrative Exposure Therapy effectiveness (2017-2021)
The main line of research in the lab of Prof. Thomas Elbert, which focused on the development and evaluation of NET. Clinical studies have been conducted in different contexts and with different populations in that purpose. NET is a well-established psychotherapy that deals with trauma-related mental disorders. Much research, however, is still needed to test several aspects, such as the possibility of scaling NET or the identification of epigenetic biomarkers associated with NET. My main contributions have been to the following projects: (1) Narrative Exposure Therapy for traumatized offenders in North Kivu, DRC; (2) Narrative Exposure Therapy vs. treatment as usual in trauma survivors, Brazil.
THL Android App (2018)
Development of a portable tool to be used for data collection in fieldwork settings, specifically focused on one instrument used to evaluate the threats to human social integrity (THL by Köbach et al. 2016). This project was funded by a small grant of c. 5,000 €, which I received from the **Zukunftskolleg** of the University of Konstanz. The original plan was to develop a digital version of the original paper-version instrument, with the aim to optimize studies by allowing data to be gathered, stored and formatted more efficiently (automatically). The objective was to reduce the costs of additional data control (such as time-consuming data cleaning and data wrangling), paper waste or transportation.
Selfing mating system evolution (2013-2017)
This project was the core of my PhD studies. I conducted a series of experiments to test the consequences of selfing evolution (mating system) on plants. For this, I analyzed traits such as floral morphology, inbreeding depression and pollination of plants from selfing and outcrossing populations. After a classical formation in plant ecology and evolution, I learned the basis for programming and statistical analysis. I was funded by the CNPq (Brazil).