Diego Allonso graduated in Biomedical Sciences and holds a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences. He is an Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. His research interests are in Virology, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, and Drug Development, mainly in arboviruses. He is the leader of a scientific group in Biotechnology applied to Infectious Diseases, leading projects on the identification of biomarkers and molecular mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis and severity of Chikungunya infection (CHIKV) and the development of antivirals against CHIKV, DENV, and SARS-CoV-2 (including leading compounds from natural products).