Rannyele Passos Ribeiro
Education
PhD. in Biology. Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain. 2021.
MSc. in Environmental Sciences and Conservation. Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 2015.
BSc. in Biology. State University of Maranhão, Brazil. 2013.
Biography
I come from São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil, with a diverse heritage that includes Native Brazilian ancestry from the Guajajara tribe, as well as African and Iberian roots. My interest in science began at a young age, and I eventually became a biologist. During my undergraduate studies, I was introduced to a remarkable realm inhabited by creatures both delicate and conspicuous: polychaete worms Polychaetes are segmented worms found mostly in marine environments.
Over the years, I have explored many aspects of these worms, from taxonomy and ecology to reproduction and regeneration. Sometimes my research adventures carried me deep into the mangroves, where I dug through the mud in search of hidden worms; sometimes, they led me beneath turquoise waters, scuba diving around paradisiacal oceanic islands; and most often, they returned me to the quiet rhythm of the lab bench, pipetting and counting segments.
Each adventure has revealed a new way to appreciate the biology of polychaete worms. Fascinated by their extraordinary regenerative abilities, my research has become a quest to uncover the mechanisms through which their cells proliferate and differentiate after injury, allowing them to endure and, in a sense, defy the passage of time. This curiosity has led me toward Regenerative Systems Biology, where I seek to understand how regeneration influences cells and tissues throughout the body, even far from the injury site. I believe that this understanding will shed light on how regenerative processes engage diverse cells, organs, and systems, and how the evolution of regeneration has contributed to the vast diversification of animal life.
Ultimately, these creatures inspired me to launch a sci-art project: Wormly Speaking. In Wormly Speaking, I illustrate short stories that portray my research findings. Additionally, as these worms have shown me, I aim to share messages of hope and resilience, reminding us that, like these worms, we can always find ways to rebuild.
How to pronounce my name
I go by Ranny, pronounced as “hun-ny”.