Claudia de Oliveira Rodrigues, Ph.D.

Biography

Claudia Rodrigues received her B.S. degree in Pharmacy in 1994 from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and her PhD in Microbiology through an international exchange program with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1999. Her doctoral work focused on mechanisms involved in the regulation on intracellular calcium homeostasis in eukaryotic microorganisms. From 2003-2005. Dr. Rodrigues received postdoctoral training in vascular development at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (Memphis, TN), which was followed by a second postdoc at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine (Miami, FL) in stem cell biology focused on cardiovascular disease from 2005-2007. In 2007, Dr. Rodrigues joined the Department of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine as Assistant Professor, where she developed a research program focused on endothelial cell and vascular progenitor biology with emphasis in cardiovascular disease. In recognition of her work and contribution to cardiovascular research, Dr. Rodrigues received the Florida Heart Research Foundation 2015 Stop Heart Disease Researcher of the Year Award.

In 2021, Dr. Rodrigues joined Florida Atlantic University Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine as an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Science. Her research program remains focused on endothelial cell biology in cardiovascular disease, but has also been currently expanded to aging and multiple acute and chronic disease settings, including metabolic, lung, kidney and neurodegenerative diseases. One of Dr. Rodrigues’ main discoveries is the novel role for the transcription c-Myc in endothelial-mediated inflammation. In addition to her research, Dr. Rodrigues is committed to the education and training of young investigators. Dr. Rodrigues’ research program has been supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, the Florida Department of Health and the Florida Heart Research Institute.

Education

• 1994: Sc. Pharmacy, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• 1996: Sc. Microbiology (emphasis in Cell Biology), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• 1999: Microbiology (emphasis in Biochemistry), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Work History

• 1999-2003 Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Dept of Veterinary Pathobiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL
• 2003-2005 Post-Doctoral Research Associate, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis TN
• 2005-2007 Post-Doctoral Fellow, Dept of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
• 2007-2016 Research Assistant Professor, Dept of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
• 2016-2021 Research Associate Professor, Dept of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
• 2021-present Associate Professor, Dept of Biomedical Science, Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL

Scholarly Activity

Peer-Reviewed Publications

• Qi, Y., Qadir M.M.F., Hastreiter, A.A., Fock, R.A., Machi, J.F., Morales, A.A., Wang Y., Meng, Z. and Rodrigues, C.O. Endothelial c-Myc knockout enhances diet-induced liver inflammation and fibrosis. FASEB J. 2022 Jan;36 (1):e22077.
• Rangel EB, Rodrigues CO, de Sa JR. Micro- and macrovascular complications in Diabetes Melllitus: preclinical and clinical studies.  J Diabetes Res. 2019 1-5, Feb. PMID30911551.
• Pinto, M.T., Melo, F.U.F., Malta, T.M., Rodrigues, E.S., Plaça, J.R., Silva Jr, W.A., Panepucci, R.A.,  Covas, D.T.,  Rodrigues, C.O. and Kashima, S. Endothelial Cells from different anatomical origin have distinct responses during Snail/TGF-β2-mediated Endothelial-Mesenchymal Transition. American Journal of Translational Research 10(12): 4065-4081, 2018.
• Bellio, M.A., Pinto, M.T., Florea, V., Barrios, P.A., Taylor, C.N., Brown, A.B., Lamondin, C., Hare, J.M., Schulman, I.H. and Rodrigues, C.O.* Hypoxic stress decreases c-Myc protein stability in cardiac progenitor cells inducing quiescence and compromising their proliferative and vasculogenic potential. Scientific Reports 7: 9702, 2017.

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Honors and Awards

• 1991 - Undergraduate Research Assistant Fellowship, National Research Council (CNPq), Brazil
• 1993 - Research Assistant Fellowship, National Research Council (CNPq), Brazil
• 1994 - M. Sc. Fellowship, National Research Council (CAPES), Brazil
• 1995 - Teaching Assistantship, Institute of Microbiology, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• 1996 - Teaching Assistantship, Institute of Biophysics Carlos Chaga Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• 1996 - PhD Fellowship (National), National Research Council (CNPq), Brazil
• 1997 - PhD Fellowship (International), National Research Council (CNPq), Brazil
• 2000 - Visiting Researcher Fellowship, National Research Council (CNPq), Brazil
• 2005 - Postdoctoral Fellowship, NIH Cardiovascular Training Grant, Dept of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
• 2011 - Fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA)
• 2016 - Stop Heart Disease Researcher of the Year, FHRI/FCACC

Professional Memberships and Editorial Positions

• Member/FAHA, American Heart Association 2007-present
• Member, North American Vascular Biology Organization 2004-present
• Editorial Board Member, Microvascular Research
• NIH Respiratory Integrative Biology and Translational Research Study Section (RIBT) standing member for 6 years as of 2019
• NIH Ad hoc reviewer, AREA grants, Innovative research grants, career development grants
• Ad hoc reviewer, PLoS One, Circulation Research, Int Journal of Vascular Medicine, American Health Association, Lab Invest, Scientific Reports, Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry

Active Funding

• Florida Heart Research Institute (FHRI)
  Title: Molecular Mechanisms of Anthracycline-Induced Cardiovascular Toxicity
  Role: Principal Investigator
  Project Period: 08/23/2021-08/22/2022
  Total Award: $156,400
• NIH/NHLBI 1R01HL128536-01 A1
  Title: A Novel Role for cMyc in Vascular Homeostasis
  Role: Principal Investigator
  Project Period: 08/10/2017-07/31/2022
  Total Award: $1,532,025
• Florida Department of Health/9LA06 Live Like Bella Pediatric Cancer Research Initiative
  Title: Novel Mechanisms of Anthracycline-Induced Cardiomyopathy
  Role: Principal Investigator
  Project Period: 03/01/2019-02/28/22
  Total Award: $250,000