Celebrating Philippe Vieira Alves
Celebrating Dr. Philippe Vieira Alves: From the Phyloinformatics Lab to Assistant Professor at UNESP!
It is with immense pride and excitement that I share some fantastic news: my former post-doc, Dr. Philippe Vieira Alves, has officially secured a position as an Assistant Professor (Professor Assistente) at the prestigious São Paulo State University (UNESP)!
Philippe earned this incredible role in the area of Parasitology within the Department of Biodiversity and Biostatistics at the Institute of Biosciences, Botucatu Campus. Securing a position like this is no small feat — he ranked 1st place with an impressive final score of after navigating a famously grueling and rigorous public selection process (Concurso Público de Títulos e Provas).
Philippe first joined the Phyloinformatics Lab at UNC Charlotte through a scholarship from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). From the very beginning, it was a deeply collaborative journey. We wrote his research project together, setting out to answer complex questions in evolutionary biology and phylogenetics. During his time in the lab, his dedication to leveraging computational tools and rigorous optimality criteria to understand parasite evolution resulted in two major, high-impact publications:
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Machine learning models accurately predict clades of proteocephalidean tapeworms (Onchoproteocephalidea) based on host and biogeographical data — Published in Cladistics, this paper represents a major breakthrough. We demonstrated how machine learning (random forests) could successfully classify tapeworm species into clades with nearly 89% accuracy, revealing hidden evolutionary patterns tied to host species and biogeography that were difficult to reconcile under traditional phylogenetic optimization.
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Mining natural history collections for molecular treasures: mitogenomes and nuclear ribosomal transcription units of proteocephalid tapeworms (Onchoproteocephalidea) via genome skimming — Published in the International Journal for Parasitology. In this study, we utilized genome skimming on decades-old, ethanol-preserved specimens from natural history collections, unlocking dozens of mitogenomes and nuclear ribosomal transcription units to deeply refine the phylogenetic framework of these parasites.
Philippe’s work consistently pushed the boundaries of how we apply computational biology to understand the complex life cycles and evolution of marine and freshwater parasites. His success is a testament to his hard work, brilliance, and the late hours spent refining data and writing manuscripts.
Please join me in congratulating Dr. Alves on this massive career milestone. UNESP Botucatu is gaining an exceptional scientist, mentor, and colleague, and I cannot wait to see the incredible discoveries his new lab will undoubtedly produce!
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