Programa de Pós-Graduação em Bioquímica – Graduate Program in Biochemistry

Chronic Diseases Investigation Laboratory (LIDoC)

Prof. Rafacho holds an undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences and a doctoral degree in Functional and Molecular Biology (Physiology) from the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil. He carried out postdoctoral research at UNESP, Brazil, in collaboration with University of Geneva (Switzerland), Miguel Hernandez University of Elche (Spain), IBIMA (Spain) and CABIMER (Spain).
Publons link: https://publons.com/researcher/1313993/alex-rafacho/

“His research is focused on discovering new biological contexts that result in the perturbation of glucose and/or lipid homeostasis. Usually, these are contexts associated with insulin resistance and/or glucose intolerance, and both dysfunctions are commonly observed in obesity, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes). The studies are conducted in vivo (animal) and ex vivo (tissues) by applying numerous structural, functional, and molecular biology techniques.”

Main publications:

Taschetto APD, Zimath PL, Silvério R, Dos Santos C, Boschero AC, Dos Santos GJ, Rafacho A. Reduced insulin sensitivity and increased β/α cell mass is associated with reduced hepatic insulin-degrading enzyme activity in pregnant rats. Life Sci. 2021 Jul 15;277:119509. doi: 10.1016/j.lfs.2021.119509. Epub 2021 Apr 15. PMID: 33865877.

Santos CD, da Silva JS, Brunetta HS, Chagas TR, Zoccal DB, Nunes EA, Rafacho A. Impact of combined long-term fructose and prednisolone intake on glucose and lipid homeostasis in rats: benefits of intake interruption or fish oil administration. J Nutr Biochem. 2021 Apr;90:108572. doi: 10.1016/j.jnutbio.2020.108572. Epub 2020 Dec 31. PMID: 33388348.

Natividade da Silva F, Brunetta HS, Bruxel MA, Gomes FA, Rafacho A. Impact of glucocorticoid treatment before pregnancy on glucose homeostasis of offspring exposed to glucocorticoid in adult life. Life Sci. 2019 Nov 15;237:116913. doi: 10.1016/j.lfs.2019.116913. Epub 2019 Oct 14. PMID: 31622609.

Gomes FA, Flores RA, Bruxel MA, da Silva FN, Moreira ELG, Zoccal DB, Prediger RD, Rafacho A. Glucose Homeostasis Is Not Affected in a Murine Model of Parkinson’s Disease Induced by 6-OHDA. Front Neurosci. 2019 Jan 9;12:1020. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2018.01020. PMID: 30686986; PMCID: PMC6333712.