Researcher biography

Dr Fernanda Cardoso is a Brazil-born Australian researcher interested in venom peptide-based biodiscovery and therapeutics development. Cardoso was awarded MSc in Molecular Pharmacology and PhD in Immunology and is part of the Institute for Molecular Bioscience where she develops novel therapies for complex neurological diseases. Cardoso has a strong background in drug discovery and development, and interdisciplinary training in the fields of pharmacology, immunology, and neuroscience, which provide the skills to identify naturally occurring or synthetic bioactive molecules, and to study their effects in human physiology with applications in neurologic disorders such as chronic pain, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and motor neuron disease (MND). Please see Dr Cardoso's Grants and Publications list for more details.

Before joining the University of Queensland, Dr Cardoso was part of the Queensland Institute for Medical Research holding a prestigious CAPES Postdoctoral Fellowship. During this period, Cardoso developed unique high-throughput screen platforms for the discovery of protein and peptide targets of novel therapies to combat infectious diseases; and novel helminth-derived bioactives with anti-inflammatory properties. Please see Dr Cardoso's Publications list for more details.

Dr Cardoso is currently part of the Centre for Drug Discovery and manages a number of industry and academia projects studying ion channels modulators derived from natural repertoires, particularly from venoms, and the development of novel effective drugs to treat neurological disorders.