Rate My Professor Vadim Viviani

Vadim Viviani is a Professor Associado 4 of Biochemistry in the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics at the Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Sorocaba campus, affiliated with the Centro de Ciências e Tecnologias para a Sustentabilidade. He graduated in Biological Sciences from the Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas in 1990. He earned his master’s degree in 1992 and PhD in Biological Sciences-Biochemistry from the Institute of Chemistry at the University of São Paulo in 1996. He completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Institute of Chemistry at USP (1996-1997), Shizuoka University in Japan (1997-1999), and the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University in the USA (1999-2002). He obtained his Habilitation (Livre-docência) from the Institute of Chemistry at the University of São Paulo in 2014. Viviani previously served as a FAPESP Young Researcher and professor in the Cellular and Molecular Biology graduate program at UNESP Rio Claro from 2003 to 2009, where he founded the Bioluminescence research group. He joined UFSCar as an Assistant Professor in 2006 and advanced to his current role. He founded and coordinated the Biotechnology and Environmental Monitoring graduate program at UFSCar in 2012 and again from 2018 to 2020. He leads the CNPq research group Bioluminescence and Biophotonics and participates in the graduate programs in Evolutionary Genetics and Molecular Biology, Biotechnology, and Environmental Monitoring at UFSCar. His research focuses on the structure and function of luciferases and proteins in bioluminescent systems, the molecular evolution of bioluminescent systems, bioluminescence, luciferase enzymes, and their applications in biosensors, bioimaging, and bioanalysis. He has served as president (2017-2019) and vice-president of the International Society for Bioluminescence and Chemiluminescence (ISBC) and organized the XXII International Symposium on Bioluminescence and Chemiluminescence in Foz do Iguaçu in 2024. He is a visiting researcher at institutions including the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Japan, Vanderbilt University in the USA, and the University of Bologna in Italy.

Viviani maintains an active research profile with numerous publications on beetle luciferases, bioluminescence spectra, pH sensitivity, and related enzymatic mechanisms. His work has contributed to advancements in understanding the origin, diversity, and structure-function relationships of insect luciferases. He has organized and participated in multiple international symposia and forums on bioluminescence and biotechnology. His professional contributions include leadership in graduate education and research coordination at UFSCar.