Bilde av de Freitas Almeida, Gabriel Magno
Bilde av de Freitas Almeida, Gabriel Magno
The Norwegian College of Fishery Science gabriel.d.almeida@uit.no +4777646537 Tromsø The Norwegian College of Fishery Science

Gabriel Magno de Freitas Almeida


Associate professor

Job description

I started my position at the Marine Bioprospecting group of the CANS-UiT last October to study Arctic viruses and how to use them against bacterial infections.

There are two main research lines to be followed, one focused on phages and the other on giant viruses. Both start with viral isolation and characterization, to be followed by host-pathogen interaction studies and investigation of how to use them against bacteria.

From the phage side the final goal is phage therapy, aiming at the study of phage-bacteria interactions in mucosal conditions for the development of prophylactic phage therapy approaches. From the giant virus side we are interested in understanding the Arctic virome, ideally using local protist hosts to find novel viral groups. Exploring their large and mysterious genomes for finding new biological products is the desired outcome.

 ORCID 0000-0003-2317-5092 ; Research ID I-8910-2012

RECENT PUBLICATIONS:

Hongo JA, Castro GM, Menezes APA, Picorelli ACR, Silva TTM, Imada EL, Marchionni L, Del-Bem LE, Chaves AV, Almeida GMF, Campelo F, Lobo FP. CALANGO: A phylogeny-aware comparative genomics tool for discovering quantitative genotype-phenotype associations across species. Patterns Pub Date: 2023-04-14 , DOI:10.1016/j.patter.2023.100728


Sundberg LR, Rantanen N, Almeida GMF. Mucosal Environment Induces Phage Susceptibility in Streptococcus mutans. PHAGE. Sep 2022.128-135. http://doi.org/10.1089/phage.2022.0021 . https://doi.org/10.1089/phage.2022.0021

Almeida GM, Hoikkala V, Ravantti J, Rantanen N, Sundberg LR. Mucin induces CRISPR-Cas defense in an opportunistic pathogen. Nat Commun. 2022 Jun 25;13(1):3653. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-31330-3

Runtuvuori-Salmela A, Kunttu HMT, Laanto E, Almeida GMF, Mäkelä K, Middelboe M, Sundberg LR. Prevalence of genetically similar Flavobacterium columnare phages across aquaculture environments reveals a strong potential for pathogen control. Environ Microbiol. 2022 May;24(5):2404-2420. doi: 10.1111/1462-2920.15901

Almeida GMF, Sundberg LR. The forgotten tale of Brazilian phage therapy. Lancet Infect Dis. 2020 May;20(5):e90-e101. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30060-8

Almeida GMF, Laanto E, Ashrafi R, Sundberg LR. Bacteriophage Adherence to Mucus Mediates Preventive Protection against Pathogenic Bacteria. mBio. 2019 Nov 19;10(6):e01984-19. doi: 10.1128/mBio.01984-19

Borges I, Rodrigues RAL, Dornas FP, Almeida G, Aquino I, Bonjardim CA, Kroon EG, La Scola B, Abrahão JS. Trapping the Enemy: Vermamoeba vermiformis Circumvents Faustovirus Mariensis Dissemination by Enclosing Viral Progeny inside Cysts. J Virol. 2019 Jun 28;93(14):e00312-19. doi: 10.1128/JVI.00312-19


  • Anniina Runtuvuori-Salmela, Heidi M. T. Kunttu, Elina Laanto, Gabriel Magno de Freitas Almeida, Kati Mäkelä, Mathias Middelboe et al.:
    Prevalence of genetically similar Flavobacterium columnare phages across aquaculture environments reveals a strong potential for pathogen control
    Environmental Microbiology 2022 ARKIV / DOI
  • Lotta-Riina Sundberg, Noora Rantanen, Gabriel Magno de Freitas Almeida :
    Mucosal Environment Induces Phage Susceptibility in Streptococcus mutans
    PHAGE: Therapy, Applications, and Research 2022 ARKIV / DOI
  • Gabriel Magno de Freitas Almeida, Ville Hoikkala, Janne Ravantti, Noora Rantanen, Lotta-Riina Sundberg :
    Mucin induces CRISPR-Cas defense in an opportunistic pathogen
    Nature Communications 2022 ARKIV / DOI
  • Klara Stensvåg, Tor Haug, Gabriel Magno de Freitas Almeida, Ida Kristine Østnes Hansen :
    Antibacterial natural products from the ocean - a promising source for future antiinfectives
    2023 PROSJEKT
  • Gabriel Magno de Freitas Almeida :
    Bioprospecting potential of Marine Viruses
    2022
  • Gabriel Magno de Freitas Almeida :
    Bacteriófagos, os cem anos de historia da fagoterapia e aplicações em aquacultura
    2022
  • Gabriel Magno de Freitas Almeida :
    Phage-bacteria interactions in mucosal conditions
    2022
  • Gabriel Magno de Freitas Almeida :
    Bacteriófagos e os cem anos de historia da fagoterapia
    2022
  • Gabriel Magno de Freitas Almeida :
    Viruses of microbes: the next frontier for marine bioprospection?
    2022
  • Gabriel Magno de Freitas Almeida :
    Phage-bacteria interactions in mucosal conditions
    2022
  • Gabriel Magno de Freitas Almeida :
    Mucosal interactions as a bridge between past and future prophylactic phage therapy
    2022
  • Gabriel Magno de Freitas Almeida :
    The forgotten tale of Brazilian phage therapy
    2022
  • Gabriel Magno de Freitas Almeida :
    Fatores externos influenciam a decisão de mecanismos de defesa antiviral em bactérias
    2022
  • Gabriel Magno de Freitas Almeida, Jan Fredrik Frantzen :
    UiTs aller første bakteriofager
    24. May 2022 PROSJEKT

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    Research interests

    Virologist with a PhD in virus-host interactions. Research lines focused on viruses of microbes. Interest in phages, phage therapy, prophylactic use of phages, giant viruses and virus-host interactions.


    Member of research group



    The Norwegian College of Fishery Science