Rate My Professor Thairine Mendes Pereira

Thairine Mendes Pereira is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Entomology at Universidade Federal de Viçosa. She completed a Master’s degree in Entomology at the same institution in 2018 and earned a PhD in Microbiology from the Federal University of Minas Gerais. Her work centers on mycology, entomology, and ecology, with emphasis on the taxonomy, systematics, and life history of fungal parasites that infect spiders and insects, including their capacity to manipulate host behavior.

She has contributed to the description of new fungal species, including Gibellula aurea in 2022 and Gibellula mineira. In 2024, she was selected as a National Geographic Explorer and secured funding from the National Geographic Society for the project “Brain, immunity, and behaviour under parasite control: Can real-life zombies shed light on behavioural manipulation?”, which involves field expeditions in the Amazon and Mata Atlântica regions. She also serves as co-orientadora in the Graduate Program in Entomology at Universidade Federal de Viçosa and collaborates with researchers from multiple Brazilian and international institutions on studies of endophytic fungi, phyllosphere mycobiomes, and ecosystem services in the rhizosphere.

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