Welcome to the oliveira lab

Yeshiva University • New York City

How do bioluminescent organisms produce light at the molecular level?

Bioluminescence, the emission of light by living organisms, is one of nature’s most fascinating phenomena.

Although decades of research on light emitting enzymes and their substrates have driven major advances in enzymology, calcium signaling, and evolutionary biology, the molecular mechanisms underlying light emission in most bioluminescent species remain poorly understood.

Research

Our goal is to deepen the understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of bioluminescent reactions and generate tailored, next-generation imaging and reporter technologies.

We harness bioluminescent diversity - from South American rainforests to polar regions - to discover, characterize, and engineer novel luciferases and photoproteins.

Our research is supported by the National Science Foundation (MCB-2529875).

Group Members

Anderson G Oliveira, PhD

Principal Investigator

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Yeshiva University, NY

Postdoctoral researcher

  • OPEN POSITION!

Graduate Students

  • Gabriella Galeazzo (USP/Brazil)

  • Drashti Kavad

Undergraduate Students

  • Allison Cohen

  • Eliana Samuels

  • Emma Shields

  • Maya Menashe

  • Elana Kavesh

Former members

Postdoctoral fellows: Daichi Yano • Danilo T. Amaral • Graduate students: Luiza S. Perin • Zaruhi Karapetyan • Chia-Yu Hsu • Vivek Pachava • Ruksaad Raiyaan • Sandra Mendonza • Kashafat Safina • Gabriela V. Moraes • Jeremy D. Mirza • Undergraduate students: Rachel Gelb • Sarah Ofman • Emmanuella Borukh • Rachel Kaplan • Leora Kronenberg • Liora Rahmani • Adiel Arastehmanesh • Esther Miller

Selected Publications

A full list of Oliveira Lab publications is available on PubMed

Soares, D. M. M., Galeazzo, G. A., Sgro, G. G., de Moraes, G. v., Kronenberg, L., Borukh, E., Migotto, A. E., Gruber, D. F., Sparks, J. S., Pieribone, V. A., Stevani, C. V., & Oliveira, A. G. (2025) Velamins: green‐light‐emitting calcium‐regulated photoproteins isolated from the ctenophore Velamen parallelumThe FEBS Journal. https://doi.org/10.1111/febs.70096

Duchatelet, L., Galeazzo, G. A., Coubris, C., Bridoux, L., Rezsohazy, R., Melo, M. R. S., Marek, M., Amaral, D. T., Dupont, S., Garbuglio De Oliveira, A., & Delroisse, J. (2025) Insights into the bioluminescence systems of three sea pens (Cnidaria: Anthozoa): from de novo transcriptome analyses to biochemical assays. Open Biology15(4). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsob.240262

Amaral, D. T., Kaplan, R. A., Takishita, T. K. E., de Souza, D. R., Oliveira, A. G., & Rosa, S. P. (2024) Glowing wonders: exploring the diversity and ecological significance of bioluminescent organisms in Brazil. In Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences (Vol. 23, Issue 7, pp. 1373–1392). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43630-024-00590-x

Stevani, C. v., Zamuner, C. K., Bastos, E. L., de Nóbrega, B. B., Soares, D. M. M., Oliveira, A. G., Bechara, E. J. H., Shakhova, E. S., Sarkisyan, K. S., Yampolsky, I. v., & Kaskova, Z. M. (2024) The living light from fungi. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology C: Photochemistry Reviews58, 100654. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphotochemrev.2024.100654

Zagitova, R. I., Purtov, K. v., Shcheglov, A. S., Mineev, K. S., Dubinnyi, M. A., Myasnyanko, I. N., Belozerova, O. A., Pakhomova, V. G., Petushkov, V. N., Rodionova, N. S., Lushpa, V. A., Guglya, E. B., Kovalchuk, S., Kozhemyako, V. B., Mirza, J. D., Oliveira, A. G., Yampolsky, I. v., Kaskova, Z. M., & Tsarkova, A. S. (2023) Conjugated Dienoic Acid Peroxides as Substrates in Chaetopterus Bioluminescence System. International Journal of Molecular Sciences24(11). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24119466

Perin, L. S., Moraes, G. V., Galeazzo, G. A., & Oliveira, A. G. (2022) Bioluminescent Dinoflagellates as a Bioassay for Toxicity Assessment. International Journal of Molecular Sciences23(21). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms232113012

Oliveira, A. G., Amaral, D. T., Hannon, M. C., & Schulze, A. (2021) First Record of Bioluminescence in a Sipunculan Worm. Frontiers in Marine Science8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.762706

Moraes, G. V., Hannon, M. C., Soares, D. M. M., Stevani, C. V., Schulze, A., & Oliveira, A. G. (2021) Bioluminescence in Polynoid Scale Worms (Annelida: Polynoidae). Frontiers in Marine Science8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.643197

Tessler, M., Gaffney, J. P., Oliveira, A. G., Guarnaccia, A., Dobi, K. C., Gujarati, N. A., Galbraith, M., Mirza, J. D., Sparks, J. S., Pieribone, V. A., Wood, R. J., & Gruber, D. F. (2020) A putative chordate luciferase from a cosmopolitan tunicate indicates convergent bioluminescence evolution across phyla. Scientific Reports10(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-73446-w

Galeazzo, G. A., Mirza, J. D., Dorr, F. A., Pinto, E., Stevani, C. V., Lohrmann, K. B., & Oliveira, A. G. (2019) Characterizing the Bioluminescence of the Humboldt Squid, Dosidicus gigas (d’Orbigny, 1835): One of the Largest Luminescent Animals in the World. Photochemistry and Photobiology95(5). https://doi.org/10.1111/php.13106

Falaschi, R. L., Amaral, D. T., Santos, I., Domingos, A. H. R., Johnson, G. A., Martins, A. G. S., Viroomal, I. B., Pompéia, S. L., Mirza, J. D., Oliveira, A. G., Bechara, E. J. H., Viviani, V. R., & Stevani, C. V. (2019) Neoceroplatus betaryiensis nov. sp. (Diptera: Keroplatidae) is the first record of a bioluminescent fungus-gnat in South America. Scientific Reports9(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-47753-w

Kotlobay, A. A., Sarkisyan, K. S., Mokrushina, Y. A., Marcet-Houben, M., Serebrovskaya, E. O., Markina, N. M., Somermeyer, L. G., Gorokhovatsky, A. Y., Vvedensky, A., Purtov, K. V., Petushkov, V. N., Rodionova, N. S., Chepurnyh, T. V., Fakhranurova, L. I., Guglya, E. B., Ziganshin, R., Tsarkova, A. S., Kaskova, Z. M., Shender, V., Oliveira, A. G.,… Yampolsky, I. V. (2018) Genetically encodable bioluminescent system from fungi. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America115(50). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1803615115

Kaskova, Z. M., Dörr, F. A., Petushkov, V. N., Purtov, K. V., Tsarkova, A. S., Rodionova, N. S., Mineev, K. S., Guglya, E. B., Kotlobay, A., Baleeva, N. S., Baranov, M. S., Arseniev, A. S., Gitelson, J. I., Lukyanov, S., Suzuki, Y., Kanie, S., Pinto, E., Mascio, P. D., Waldenmaier, H. E., Oliveira, A. G.,… Yampolsky, I. V. (2017) Mechanism and color modulation of fungal bioluminescence. Science Advances3(4). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1602847

Oba, Y., Suzuki, Y., Martins, G. N. R., Carvalho, R. P., Pereira, T. A., Waldenmaier, H. E., Kanie, S., Naito, M., Oliveira, A. G., Dörr, F. A., Pinto, E., Yampolsky, I. V., & Stevani, C. V. (2017) Identification of hispidin as a bioluminescent active compound and its recycling biosynthesis in the luminous fungal fruiting body. Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences16(9). https://doi.org/10.1039/c7pp00216e

Oliveira, A. G., Stevani, C. V., Waldenmaier, H. E., Viviani, V., Emerson, J. M., Loros, J. J., & Dunlap, J. C. (2015) Circadian control sheds light on fungal bioluminescence. Current Biology25(7). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.02.021

 

Contact

Oliveira Lab

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Stern College - Yeshiva University

245 Lexington Avenue

New York, 10016

Email: a.oliveira (at) yu (dot) edu