Neuroscience
Neuroimaging, neuroinflammation, neuroplasticity and neuroprotection: how the brain responds to the body and how it may be involved in obesity.
Interdisciplinary Research Group
Neuroscience · Nutrition · Artificial Intelligence
Decoding the body–brain connection
Ponto Cego Lab conducts original research and scientific reviews that integrate neuroscience, nutrition and artificial intelligence. We bring these three fields together to deepen our understanding of the human being, identify unanswered scientific gaps and produce new knowledge that contributes to brain health, physical health and human longevity and, building on that knowledge, to create new neurotechnology tools.
Where disciplines meet, science advances.
Advised by researchers with international careers · USA · Sweden · UK · Belgium
01 — Our approach
From gaps to knowledge. From knowledge to tools.
Beyond the individual research of each member and of our advisors, the group jointly produces original research and scientific reviews that integrate neuroscience, nutrition and artificial intelligence. Every project follows three stages.
01
Investigate
Identifying scientific gaps at the intersection of the three fields and studying, with advanced neuroimaging and biomarkers, how metabolism, inflammation and diet may be associated with changes in the human brain.
02
Review
Scientific reviews that gather and critically analyze what is already known in neuroscience, nutrition and artificial intelligence, revealing what science has not yet answered.
03
Build
New knowledge, in articles produced jointly by the group, and, building on it, neurotechnology tools for brain health, physical health and human longevity.
02 — Research area
Three fields, one meeting point
Our research is not divided into separate lines: it emerges from the intersection of neuroscience, nutrition and artificial intelligence. Each field, seen on its own, leaves blind spots. Ponto Cego Lab works at the center, where the three meet, integrating them to understand the two-way pathway between body and brain, identify scientific gaps and produce new knowledge for brain health, physical health and human longevity.
Nutrition
Obesity, systemic inflammation, nutritional status, eating behavior and functionality in aging, and their possible association with brain and mental health.
Artificial Intelligence
Scientific reviews on neuroscience and artificial intelligence and perspectives for new neurotechnology tools.
At the center: the blind spot
What no single field can see alone. This is where we look for the gaps in science and for new knowledge for brain health, physical health and human longevity.
03 — Members
Research Team
International research network
The group is advised by internationally recognized researchers, trained at and working with leading research centers in the United States and Europe.
University of California, San Diego · USAWallenberg Neuroscience Center, Lund University · SwedenUniversity of Southampton · UKUniversity of Mons · BelgiumUniversité Libre de Bruxelles · Belgium
Faculty Advisors
Neuroscientist · Faculty Advisor
PhD Wallace Gomes Leal
PhD · Neuroprotection · Postdocs in the USA and Sweden
- Neuroscientist; head of the Laboratory of Experimental Neuroprotection and Neuroregeneration
- Postdoctoral fellow, University of California, San Diego (USA)
- Postdoctoral fellow, Wallenberg Neuroscience Center, Lund University (Sweden)
- Doctoral research period in Experimental Neuropathology, University of Southampton (UK)
- MSc in Biological Sciences (Neuroscience) and biomedical scientist, UFPA
- Reviewer for the Journal of Neuroinflammation and Brain Research; review editor, Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience
- Consultant to CNPq, the Brazilian Ministry of Health and FINEP
- Professor at UFOPA and in the Graduate Program in Neuroscience and Cell Biology, UFPA
Faculty Advisor · Artificial Intelligence
PhD Leonardo Bertolucci Coelho
PhD · Data Science & Machine Learning
- Researcher, Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium)
- PhD in Science, Engineering and Technology, University of Mons (Belgium), with a CNPq scholarship (2014–2018)
- Postdoctoral researcher, University of Mons (Belgium)
- Degree in Materials Engineering, UFSC, with a study period at EPF École d'Ingénieurs (France)
- Author of more than 40 international publications
- Machine learning and data science applied to scientific data
- Master's thesis co-supervisor at the University of Mons and co-organizer of an international symposium (EMNT 2016)
Researchers
Neuroscientist · Founder and coordinator
Cleiton Mendes Lopes
PhD Degree in Neuroscience (UFPA)
Neuroimaging & Obesity
- Founder and coordinator of Ponto Cego Lab
- PhD candidate, Graduate Program in Neuroscience and Cell Biology, UFPA
- PhD research: neurobiological profile of body weight underestimation in adults with obesity, integrating immunometabolic biomarkers and multimodal neuroimaging
- MSc in Neuroscience and Cell Biology, UFPA: genetic alterations of TP53, IDH1, IDH2 and PTEN in non-glial tumors of the human nervous system
- Specialist in Clinical and Intensive Care Neurology, Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein (São Paulo)
- Member of the Brazilian Society for Neuroscience and Behavior (SBNeC)
Neuroscientist · Nutritionist
Willames Silva
MSc candidate in Neuroscience (UFPA) · Nutrition & Neuroscience
- Master's student, Graduate Program in Neuroscience and Cell Biology, UFPA
- Master's research: functional capacity of older adults assessed by the four-meter walk test with smartphone sensors, related to nutritional status and symptoms of anxiety and depression
- Nutritionist, graduated from Centro Universitário CESMAC (Maceió, Brazil)
- Specialist in Clinical, Aesthetic and Sports Nutrition and Phytotherapy Prescription (IPOG), with a thesis on nutritional strategies and phytotherapy for weight loss in women with polycystic ovary syndrome and insulin resistance
- Took part in research projects on eating habits, academic stress and quality of life among medical students
- Co-author of the book Gestão, qualidade e segurança em alimentação (2nd ed., 2020) and of articles in the journal Nutrição em Pauta
- Paper presented at the Brazilian Nutrition Congress (CONBRAN 2018)
04 — Scientific Output
Projects and Publications
Ongoing research projects
Ongoing research led by members of our group.
OngoingCleiton Mendes Lopes · PhD · UFPA
Neurobiological profile of body weight underestimation in adults with obesity: integrating immunometabolic biomarkers and multimodal neuroimaging
The study investigates the neurobiological profile of body weight underestimation (body image error) in adults with obesity. It compares three groups (people with obesity with and without weight underestimation, and people without obesity), integrating clinical assessment, body composition by DEXA, immunometabolic biomarkers (CRP, IL-6, TNF-α, insulin and HOMA-IR), genomic ancestry and multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (structural, spectroscopy, diffusion and resting-state functional). The results may contribute to the development of diagnostic biomarkers and future strategies for the prevention and treatment of obesity.
OngoingWillames Silva · MSc · UFPA
Functional capacity of older adults assessed by the four-meter walk test and anthropometric data compared with symptoms of anxiety and depression
The study assesses the functional capacity of older adults through the four-meter walk test, using smartphone sensors. It then compares these data with anthropometric measures to investigate how nutritional status may relate to functional capacity, and finally examines the relationship between nutritional status, functional capacity and symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Published scientific articles
Explore the latest articles published by members of our group.
Potential effects of induced focal ischemia in the motor cortex of rats undergoing experimental periodontitis
Chemelo VS, Freire MAM, Bittencourt LO, Frazão DR, Souza-Monteiro D, Cartagenes SC, Gomes-Leal W, Maia CSF, Rocha GS, Falcao D, Lima RR. Heliyon (Elsevier), 2025; 11(3): e42158. Original article. DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2025.e42158
Read articleToward a world model for corrosion science
Coelho LB, Shkirskiy V, Birbilis N. npj Materials Degradation (Nature Portfolio), 2026; 10: 114. Perspective article on artificial intelligence world models.
Read articleDiabetes mellitus and Alzheimer's disease
Lopes CM, Monteiro Junior JCS, Pessoa IA. Arquivos Catarinenses de Medicina, 2018; 47(1): 159–168. Review article (in Portuguese). DOI: 10.63845/t6dy5649
Read article05 — Contact
Collaboration and Partnerships
The group is open to scientific collaboration with researchers, laboratories and institutions, as well as to graduate students interested in research at the intersection of neuroscience, nutrition and artificial intelligence.
Email: cleitonml@ufpa.br · WhatsApp: +55 (45) 99838-8800