David Susana

Born in Lisbon, Portugal, I hold a PhD degree in Microbiology by the “Institut Nacional Agronomique Paris-Grignon”, France. I have carried out research activities essentially in mycobacteriology at the Pasteur Institute of Paris, “Institut Gustave Roussy”, Ville Juif, France, and “Centro de Malária e Outras Doenças Tropicais/ Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical (IHMT)/ Universidade Nova de Lisboa”, Portugal. From 1999 to 2006, I held a teaching position as invited professor at the IHMT. In 2006, I won a position as principal investigator in the area of Tuberculosis, Department of Infectious Diseases, “Instituto Nacional de Saúde Dr. Ricardo Jorge, INSA,IP”, Portugal. End of September 2011, I transferred my research activities to the group Investigation in Human Genetics of Susceptibility to Infection, Human Genetics Department, INSA,IP. As an Engineer (in the area of food and agriculture), I have been particularly versatile, taking interest in interdisciplinary research related to the genus Mycobacterium with investigation on the mycobacterial cell wall, taxonomy, drug discovery and genotyping. More recently my work on the population genetics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis revealed important particularities of the circulating strains in Portugal and Portuguese speaking populations which led my interests to the relationship of the agent to the host. Present objectives focus the contribution of human genetic background to disease, with particular emphasis on multi-factorial and complex diseases, in an approach that includes genetic epidemiology in the search for variants responsible for diverse disease phenotypes in infectious diseases. I am currently participating in studies by various infectious agents such as influenza virus; dengue virus e Mycobacterium spp.