M.Sc. 2008 with Izeni Farias
As an undergraduate and during her Masters, Rafaela was studying phylogeography and population genetics of Podocnemys erythrocephala. Rafaela started in the laboratory as an undergraduate being a recipient of the prestigious CNPq PIBIC fellowship, and a winner of a 2004 PIBIC student project competition at UFAM. In 2005 Rafaela was selected as one of only five undergraduate students in all of Brazil in the area of Genetics, Evolution and Breeding of Animals, and invited to give a presentation at the annual meeting of the Brazilian Society of Genetics at Águas de Lindóias. Rafaela placed second, and won an Honorable Mention for her presentation. In 2008 Rafaela received her M.Sc. from the joint INPA/UFAM Genetics, Conservation and Evolutionary Biology program, and currently is working in the forensic department of the Amazonas state police department.