I am a Bachelor of Science by the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Ph.D. in Neuroscience by Maastricht University, the Netherlands, currently working as a Postdoctoral Associate at the Department of Neurosurgery, Yale School of Medicine. My research interests include, but are not limited to, the structural organization of the hypothalamus, comparative morphology, and brain plasticity during lactation. Of particular importance to me is the Melanin-Concentrating Hormone (MCH) system, for the well-defined spatial distribution of MCH-synthesizing neurons and its broad range of functions in vertebrates. To perform these studies, we employ immunohistochemistry and histology, microscopy and stereology and three-dimensional reconstructions.