Brazilian biomedical scientist Jaqueline Góes de Jesus was one of the scientists chosen by toy manufacturer Mattel to be honored with the Barbie doll, for her work in research into the new coronavirus.
Góes de Jesus was part of the team responsible for the genetic sequencing of the new coronavirus in the first cases of Covid-19 in Latin America.
In addition to her, five other scientists were also honored with the doll, including Briton Sarah Gilbert, who led the creation of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
Despite being young, she is only 31 years old, Góes de Jesus has been following a successful trajectory in the field of biomedicine.
Before delving into research into the new coronavirus, she was part of the team that sequenced the genome of the Zika virus.
Born in Salvador, daughter of a nurse and a civil engineer, she is currently a researcher with a postdoctoral fellow at FAPESP (Research Support Foundation of the State of São Paulo) at the Institute of Tropical Medicine of São Paulo – University of São Paulo (IMT-USP). It also conducts research in the area of ??emerging arboviruses.
The scientist has a degree in Biomedicine from the Bahia School of Medicine and Public Health, a Master in Biotechnology in Health and Investigative Medicine (PgBSMI) from the Gonçalo Moniz Research Institute – Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (IGM-FIOCRUZ) and a PhD in Human Pathology from the Federal University of Bahia in broad association with the IGM-FIOCRUZ.
Góes de Jesus and his colleagues, under the coordination of immunologist Ester Cerdeira Sabino, managed to sequence the genome of the SARS-CoV-2 virus just 48 hours after the confirmation of the first case of Covid-19 in Brazil — a time below the world average of 15 days.
The samples came from the first Brazilian patient infected with the new coronavirus, on February 26, 2020.
The sequencing allowed us to differentiate the virus that infected the Brazilian patient from the genome identified in Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic in China.
The samples revealed that this case was closer to versions of the coronavirus detected in Germany in late January.