Chief, Tick-Pathogen Transmission Unit
Tenure-Track Investigator
Education:
Ph.D., Cellular and Molecular Biology, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
M.Sc., Cellular and Molecular Biology, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
B.Sc., Biomedical Science, Universidade de Cruz Alta, Brazil
Biography
Dr. Tirloni was born and raised in Brazil. He received his B.Sc. in biomedical science from Universidade de Cruz Alta, Cruz Alta, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in 2009. He then earned his M.Sc. (2012) and Ph.D. in cellular and molecular biology (2015) from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
His M.Sc. dissertation research, conducted in the laboratory of Dr. Carlos Termignoni, investigated serpins from the cattle tick Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus. His Ph.D. thesis research, co-advised by Dr. Termignoni and Dr. Itabajara da Silva Vaz Jr., utilized a proteomics approach to investigate proteins involved in tick-host interactions.
Dr. Tirloni spent one year of his Ph.D. training at Texas A&M University (College Station, TX) in the department of entomology with Dr. Albert Mulenga. He continued his research on tick salivary proteins during postdoctoral training, which included one year at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, two years in the department of veterinary pathobiology at Texas A&M University, and two additional years in the Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research with Dr. José Ribeiro (DIR, NIAID, Rockville, MD).
In 2020, Dr. Tirloni became a tenure-track investigator in the NIAID Laboratory of Bacteriology, where he leads the Tick-Pathogen Transmission Unit. His research focuses on studying tick-feeding biology to understand how salivary gland and midgut proteins impact blood feeding and facilitate the establishment, replication, and transmission of pathogens.