Keizo Asami Immunophatology Laboratory (LIKA), Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE, Brazil)
Professor Zé Luiz obtained his MB from UFPE (1983) and his PhD from the University of St Andrews (1987; Biochemistry and Microbiology). He has also received postdoctoral degrees in Germany (GBF), Japan (Tokyo Institute of Technology) and the USA (NIST) for work on biosensor diagnostics and development, plus is a consultant to various Brazilian biomedical and government agencies, including FACEPE, FINEP, CAPES, FIOCRUZ, CNPq, and CTNBIO. He is currently Professor and Scientific Director of the Laboratory of Immunopathology Keizo Asami (LIKA), UFPE. His honours include the Grand Cross of the National Order of Scientific Merit (2010), and Life Fellowships of the Pernambuco Science Academy (2018) and Pernambuco Academy of Medicine (2019). [1,2]
His research interests encompass the area of instrumentation and biological processes, particularly biosensors, enzymology, cancer, metabolic diseases and biotechnology. Directly relevant to MEWAR is his published work on arboviruses, including technological-driven studies to monitor and combat zika, dengue, and chikungunya infections. Indeed, LIKA-UFPE researchers and their start-up groupings Epitrack and Health Drones aim to be at the forefront of endeavours to minimise the impact of these diseases on human health throughout the world.