Paulo Ricardo Portella
Ongoing Co-advised PhD Student at UFPR (Universidade Federal do Paraná). Advisor: Patricia Soffiatti, in collaboration also with Yuri Gouvêa (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais) and Leandro Giacomin (Universidade Federal da Paraíba)

Paulo is a PhD student interested in the anatomy and biomechanics of lianas and their self-supporting counterparts. For his doctoral research, he is focusing on the megagenus Solanum (Solanaceae) to unravel patterns of stem diversification across different growth habits and to understand how evolutionary transitions between habits have shaped their anatomical and biomechanical structure.