Last Thursday, 03/23, the Instituto D’Or de Pesquisa e Ensino (IDOR) received an international guest, Dr. Danielle Beckman, to conduct a lecture. The meeting took place in person at the auditorium of the headquarters in Rio de Janeiro and online for remote participants. The introduction fell to Dr. Stevens Rehen, neuroscientist and researcher at IDOR.

Dr. Beckman is a researcher at the California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, in the United States, where she develops brain research in primates for a better understanding of human neurological conditions, as the brains of both have similarities and, in this way, the development would be possible of new therapies.

In her presentation, Dr. Danielle demonstrated in her research model relevant results about diseases such as Alzheimer’s, where they observed that the defective tau protein presents a cerebral distribution in areas responsible for cognition and, in addition, contributed to the development of inflammation.

The researcher also participated in research with viruses that affect the brain, such as Zika, HIV, and SARS-CoV-2. In the study with the Zika virus, the presence of the virus in the brain and cell death of immature neurons was observed. About HIV, the research revealed immune, neuronal, and synaptic alterations in brain regions that control cognition and motor function during the infection. Finally, the study observed the presence of SARS-CoV-2, in the area of the brain responsible for smell, after seven days of infection, accompanied by inflammation.