Jacqueline M. Valverde-Villegas, PhD
Woman in Science, working in Genetics and Immunology. I study the human immune variability against infectious and inflammatory/chronic diseases through genetic, cellular and statistical analyses.
In SINAPSIS, meeting of Peruvian scientists in Ghent, Belgium, 2019.
About me
I knew I wanted to become an immunogeneticist from the first time I discovered that South American camelids, like alpacas, have different responses against enterotoxemia or pneumonia, severely impacting one group while another group remains resistant to infection or develops a mild disease. I was fascinated by the immune response variability.
Since then, I have been looking for new opportunities outside my native country to develop my creativity process in science. More than a decade later, I hold a master and doctorate degrees in Genetics and Molecular Biology, working in the HIV field in the immunogenetics and immunobiology laboratory in Brazil.
My research interests lie within the wide range of infectious/inflammatory diseases, from the host genetic and immunology aspects to complex and multidisciplinary approaches, such as One Health. One of my major interests is to contribute to understanding the host genetic and immune factors of chronic inflammation, which contribute to developing various disorders in the long term. I am currently building more capabilities in computational methods to dissect genomic data for genetic epidemiologic studies.
