Leandro holds his BSc in Microbiology from the Federal University of Viçosa, and PhD in Genetics and Molecular Biology from the State University of Campinas. His PhD was about metabolic engineering and adaptive evolution of yeasts to produce biofuels from renewable sources. Since then, he has worked as researcher in the area of synthetic biology and metabolic engineering in industry and research institutes, designing yeasts to produce biofuels and value-added biochemicals. He joined the Cai lab at the end of 2022 applying evolution to understand molecular mechanisms of speciation. Personal interests include travelling, reading and learning about economy.