Melanin-Concentrating Hormone

Dr. Bittencourt is Full Professor of the Department of Anatomy and Head of the Laboratory of Chemical Neuroanatomy at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. He has served on multiple major University and Faculty committees while at the same time maintaining a significant research group and an extensive publication output. During his career spanning almost four decades, he has supervised more than 50 Master, Doctorate students, and Postdoctoral Fellows. He is the author of over 150 original articles, reviews, books, and book chapters. He has supervised Ph.D. students, many of whom now hold significant academic and other positions throughout Brazil and internationally.

Professor Carol Elias earned a PhD in Neuroscience and Behavior from the University of São Paulo, Brazil. She completed the postdoctoral training in Neuroscience and Neuroendocrinology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. After her postdoctoral training, she returned to Brazil to establish a research program at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Sao Paulo, where she worked for approximately 10 years. In 2006, she returned to the United States for a 1-year sabbatical at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX. She was invited to join the faculty at the Division of Hypothalamic Research. In 2013, she moved to the University of Michigan in Ann Abor, MI. She currently holds the position of Professor in the Departments of Molecular & Integrative Physiology and Obstetrics & Gynecology at University of Michigan. She is the Director of the Neuroscience Graduate Program and the Director of the Michigan Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping Center (MMPC-Live), a National Center funded by the NIDDK. She is a member of the Latin American Academy of Sciences (ACAL) and a fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS).