Lúcia Mendonça Previato facts for kids
Lúcia Mendonça Previato is a smart Brazilian scientist born in 1949. She is a biologist who studies tiny living things. In 2004, she won a special award called the L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science. She earned this award for her important work on how to stop Chagas disease, a serious illness.
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Early Life and Education
Lúcia Mendonça Previato was born in 1949 in a city called Maceió, in Brazil. When she was five years old, her family moved to Rio de Janeiro. She loved learning and went to Universidade Santa Úrsula, where she graduated in 1971.
She continued her studies at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. In 1976, she earned her doctorate degree. This means she became an expert in Microbiology and Immunology. These are fields that study very small living things like bacteria and how our bodies fight off sickness.
Scientific Discoveries
After her doctorate, Dr. Previato traveled to Canada for more advanced training. She worked at the National Research Council in Saskatoon. There, she studied carbohydrate chemistry, which is about sugars and starches in living things. Later, she went to the University of California, Berkeley in the United States to work with another famous scientist.
When she returned to Brazil in 1980, she started her own lab. It was called the Surface Structure of Microorganisms Laboratory. She became a full professor in 1992 and led this lab until 2001. After that, she became the director of the Laboratory of Glycobiology. This lab studies how sugars on the surface of cells affect their behavior.
Understanding Chagas Disease
Dr. Previato and her team made a very important discovery. They found out how Trypanosoma cruzi works. This is a tiny parasite that causes Chagas disease. They learned how this parasite tricks the human body's defense system. This discovery helps scientists find better ways to fight Chagas disease.
For her amazing work, Dr. Previato received the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards in 2004. She also won the TWAS Prize in Biology in 2007. In 2001, she was honored with the National Order of Scientific Merit in Brazil.
Personal Life
Lúcia Mendonça Previato is married to Jose Osvaldo Previato. They have two children together.
Awards and Honors
- National Research Council of Brazil, Top Research Career Investigator, 1986
- Petrobras Award, National Invention Prize, 1987
- Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, 1992
- International Research Scholar, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 1997
- Scientist of Rio de Janeiro State Award in Biological Sciences, 1999
- Editor-in-Chief of Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Science, 2003
Images for kids
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Dr. Lúcia Mendonça Previato received the National Order of Scientific Merit.
See also
In Spanish: Lúcia Mendonça Previato para niños
