Marina Figueiredo

Contact Information:
Veterinary Sciences Building, Room 239C
1971 Commonwealth Ave
St. Paul, MN 55108
Tel: 612-624-4926
Email: figue016@umn.edu

Educational Background:
DVM, University of Vila Velha-EW (UVV), Brazil, 2008
Small Animal Internal Medicine Residency Program (UVV), 2009
Internship at Hospital Veterinario Pompeia, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2010
Minnesota Agricultural Student Training program, 2011
Masters student, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Veterinary Medicine Program

Research Interests:
My research interests are focused on developing safe and effective therapies to prevent calcium oxalate stone recurrence, evaluating different approaches for gene therapy and the feasibility of these techniques in vitro. Medical therapy to dissolve calcium oxalate uroliths is currently unavailable. It has been speculated that 50% - 80% of dietary oxalate is degraded by the oxalate metabolizing bacteria in the gut. There are four major classes of enzymes and related proteins found primarily in plants, fungi and bacteria, able to degrade oxalate. In my project, my principal objective is to evaluate enzyme gene expression and activity in a feline kidney cell line, in order to identify potential candidates for future gene therapy applications in dogs and cats.

Interests and Other Activities:
Music, technology, hanging out with friends, family, traveling