Professor Maurício da Silva Baptista, from the Instituto de Química at the Universidade de São Paulo (USP) and a member of the RIDC Redoxoma, has been elected a full member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC). The announcement was made after the Academy General Assembly on Friday, November 29. The newly elected full, corresponding, and affiliate members will receive their diplomas during the ABC Annual Meeting, scheduled for May 6-8, 2025, in Rio de Janeiro.

With a distinguished academic career, Maurício Baptista holds a degree in Pharmacy and Biochemistry from USP in 1990, a master’s degree in Biological Sciences (Biochemistry) also from USP in 1992, and a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Marquette University, USA, in 1996. He completed postdoctoral research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1997 and was a visiting professor at Université Joseph Fourier in France in 2006. He is a full professor at the Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Química, USP, and a member of the São Paulo State Academy of Sciences.

Baptista is internationally recognized for his scientific contributions and editorial work. He is co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology and Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology, both published by Elsevier. He also serves as the pharmaceutical sciences editor for the journal Recent Patents on Anti-Infective Drug Discovery and is a member of the editorial board of Scientific Reports, part of the Nature group.

Additionally, he serves as a board member of the American Society for Photobiology (ASP) and vice president of the International Union of Photobiology, for the 2024-2029 term. In Brazil, he is an active member of the Brazilian Societies for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SBBQ), Chemistry (SBQ), and Biophysics (SBBf).

His research spans key areas such as photochemistry, photobiology, photodynamic therapy, redox processes, and regulated cell death mechanisms, with a focus on applications in cells, membranes, and interfaces.

With the election of Baptista, RIDC Redoxoma now counts five full members of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences: Ohara Augusto (2002), Francisco Laurindo (2012), Alicia Kowaltowski (2018) and Paolo Di Mascio (2021).

See the full list of new ABC members at https://www.abc.org.br/2024/11/29/novos-membros-da-abc-eleitos-em-2024/