Rural do Semi-Árido

International students from Member States of the Organization of American States (OAS) can apply for PPGCA under the Partnerships Program for Education and Training (PAEC). The program aims at the integration of the Americas by granting scholarships for students to pursue graduate studies in a Brazilian university.

For further information about PAEC, access http://www.grupocoimbra.org.br/Programas/PaginaProgramas.aspx?programaID=1 (in Portuguese).

Another opportunity for international students is the Exchange Program for Graduate Students (PEC-PG), supported by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE), and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).

Students from developing countries with which Brazil maintains educational, cultural or scientific-technological agreement can apply for a scholarship under the call for applications announced every year in the program’s webpage. For information on dates and deadlines, scholarships and the list of eligible countries access http://www.capes.gov.br/cooperacao-internacional/multinacional/pec-pg (in Portuguese).

PPGCA is mainly focused on Animal Health and Production, and there are 3 specific research focus areas:  

Animal Morphophysiology and Biotechnology

This area covers studies on: physiological and morphological aspects of domestic and wild species; development of in vivo and in vitro reproductive techniques; determination of anesthetic drugs for different animal species. The main objectives of the studies in this area are:

• understanding morphology, with particular stress on histological and morphometric tools to establish and describe the different systems of species in the semi-arid region, especially reproductive and placentation tools;
• developing in vivo reproductive biotechnologies (estrous cycle synchronization and monitoring, artificial insemination, and embryo production) in wild and domestic animals in the Caatinga biome;
• establishing in vitro reproductive biotechnologies (gonadal transplantation, embryo production, and somatic cell nuclear transfer cloning) in wild and domestic animals in the Caatinga biome;
• developing conservation tools for biological material, such as cryopreservation of gonadal tissues, somatic tissues, somatic cells, and gametes of wild and domestic animals in the Caatinga biome;
• developing new anesthetic drugs for surgical clinics of domestic and wild animals.
•  

Animal Conservation and Production in the semi-arid region

This area covers studies on: ecosystem conservation, assessment of animal adaptability to the semi-arid climate, animal husbandry development, and establishment of fish technology. The main objectives of the studies in this area are:

• developing traditional and emerging fish technologies for the establishment of new products and optimization of food industry processes;
• assessing nutritional and performance requirements of monogastric species for production optimization by the design of new nutrient formulations;
• understanding the complexity of population dynamics and assessing animal adaptability to the semi-arid climate aiming at species conservation in the semi-arid region;
• assessing the ecology of aquatic communities, especially in reservoirs and rivers, aiming at biological conservation;
• developing tools for the learning of animal behavior, sensory ecology, and animal ecophysiology;
• establishing animal production, especially regarding nutritional management, use of alternative feed for ruminants, and meat quality.
•  

Animal Health

This area covers studies on: pathology diagnosis and epidemiology, development of veterinary drugs, and microbiological analysis in the quality control of animal products. The main objectives of the studies in this area are:

• using histopathological diagnosis tools in domestic and wild animals;
• optimizing animal product inspection techniques, especially the quality control of local products, in order to benefit the products of small and medium-sized farmers;
• diagnosing infectious diseases in domestic and wild animals, especially the zoonotic diseases and the ones impacting animal health in the semi-arid region;
• understanding deficiency and metabolic diseases in ruminants raised in the Caatinga biome;
• conducting epidemiological studies on the main occurring species in the semi-arid region, focusing on the development of tools for epidemiological studies and new products.
•  

• Alex Augusto Gonçalves: Fish Technology and Quality Control

          (alaugo@ufersa.edu.br)

• Alex Martins Varela de Arruda

          (alexmva@ufersa.edu.br)

• Alexandre Rodrigues Silva: Wild Animal Reproduction

          (alexrs@ufersa.edu.br)

• Alexsandra Fernandes Pereira: Biotechnologies applied to domestic and wild mammals

          (alexsandra.pereira@ufersa.edu.br)

• Carlos Eduardo Bezerra de Moura: Animal Morphophysiology

          (carlos.moura@ufersa.edu.br)

• Carlos Iberê Alves Freitas

          (ibere@ufersa.edu.br)

• Cecilia Irene Perez Calabuig: Ecology and Conservation of the Semi-arid Region

          (cecicalabuig@ufersa.edu.br)

• Cristiano Queiroz de Albuquerque: Fish ecology

          (cristiano.albuquerque@ufersa.edu.br)

• Débora Andréa Evangelista Façanha: Bioclimatology and genetic resources

          (debora@ufersa.edu.br)

• Dejair Message

          (dmessage@ufersa.edu.br)

• Gustavo Henrique Gonzaga da Silva: Aquaculture and limnology applied to aquaculture

          (gustavo@ufersa.edu.br)

• Jael Soares Batista

          (jael.batista@ufersa.edu.br)

• Jean Berg Alves da Silva: Inspection of animal products

          (jeanberg@ufersa.edu.br)

• João Marcelo Azevedo de Paula Antunes

          (joao.antunes@ufersa.edu.br)

• Jose Domingues Fontenele Neto

          (fontenele-neto@ufersa.edu.br)

• Jose Luís Costa Novaes: Fish stock assessment

          (novaes@ufersa.edu.br)

• Marcelo Barbosa Bezerra: Animal Reproduction

          (mbezerra@ufersa.edu.br)

• Márcia Viviane Alves Saraiva

          (viviane.saraiva@ufersa.edu.br)

• Michael Hrncir

          (michael@ufersa.edu.br)

• Moacir Franco de Oliveira: Anatomy of domestic and wild animals

          (moacir@ufersa.edu.br)

• Patrícia de Oliveira Lima: Ruminant production

          (pattlima@ufersa.edu.br)

• Raimundo Alves Barreto Junior: Deficiency and metabolic diseases, Preservation, and Blood transfusion

          (barreto@ufersa.edu.br)

• Sidnei Miyoshi Sakamoto

          (sakamoto@ufersa.edu.br)

• Valéria Veras de Paula: Anesthesia, analgesia and welfare of domestic and wild animals

          (valeria@ufersa.edu.br)

General courses:

• Biostatistics
• Scientific research methodology
• Seminars – Master degree
• Special topics in seminars – Doctoral degree
• Special topics XI – Academic writing

Animal Morphophysiology and Biotechnology:

• Molecular biology
• Biotechniques applied to the reproduction of wild animals
• Physiopathology and treatment of pain
• Tools applied to the formation of somatic banks in mammals
• Hormonal physiology and control of folliculogenesis and ovulation
• Fundamentals of high-performance liquid chromatography and biological sample preparation
• Assisted animal reproduction: innovation and alternatives
• Morphophysiology of placenta and placentation in domestic and wild animals
• Morphophysiology of animal reproduction
• Reproductive morphophysiology in female domestic mammals
• Reproductive morphophysiology in male domestic mammals
• Experimental oncology
• Advanced embryo manipulation techniques
• Morphological techniques applied to research in animal science
• Advanced topics in oncology
• Special topics in cell biology in transgenics
• Special topics in reproductive immunology
• Special topics in applied proteomics
• Special topics in applied immunology

Animal Production and Conservation in the semi-arid region:

• Food and feeding of ruminants
• Food and nutrition of monogastrics
• Uni- and multivariate data analysis in animal bioclimatology
• Sensory analysis of foods of animal origin
• Apiculture and meliponiculture
• Apiculture
• Physiological aspects and application of omic tools to livestock production
• Bioclimatology and ambience
• Environmental biophysics I
• Environmental biophysics II
• Invasion biology
• Cattle farming
• Shrimp farming
• Biodiversity conservation in nature reserves
• Conservation of animal genetic resources
• Biological control of arthropods
• Fish ecology
• Reservoir ecology
• Ecology and conservation of aquatic macrophytes
• Applied statistics
• Earth’s structure and ocean dynamics
• Freshwater shrimp larviculture
• Limnology applied to aquaculture
• Watershed management and sustainability
• Ecological management in aquaculture
• Minerals and vitamins in animal nutrition
• Poultry nutrition
• Research and development of new fisheries and aquaculture products
• Poisonous plants of livestock interest
• Practices in experimental biology
• Poultry production
• C++ programming language applied to numerical problems
• Analytical chemistry as a tool to study the ecology of aquatic organisms
• Fish technology, inspection and quality control
• Advanced topics in goat and sheep farming
• Advanced topics in meat quality

Animal Health:

• Advances in diagnosis and treatment of nutritional and metabolic diseases in production animals
• Animal biochemistry
• Anatomopathological diagnosis of neoplasia in domestic animals
• Diagnosis of endoparasitosis in small ruminants
• Parasitic diseases of small ruminants
• Pathophysiology of lactation
• Immunology of inflammation
• Epidemiological research
• Laboratory methods applied to animal science
• Molecular and immunological diagnosis methods
• Apiculture pathology
• Pathology of toxic and infectious diseases
• Advanced topics in microbiology
• Special topics in infectious diseases of domestic animals