Dr. Leandro Godoy

B.Sc. in Animal Science, Maringa State University (Brazil), 2006
M.Sc. in Aquaculture, Federal University of Rio Grande (Brazil), 2008
Ph.D. in Animal Science, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), 2012
Associate Professor at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) & the leader of the ReefBank Project, 2019

Leandro said of winning the inaugural Dayong Gao Young Investigator Award: "One of those unique days in life. Never to be forgotten. It feels like I am doing something right. I do what I love, and I love what I do. The Young Investigator Award means a great incentive to continue my engagement with the Society [for Cryobiology] and to disseminate the importance of cryobiology to both human and to the planet's health. My research is focused on the application of biotechnologies to the reproduction of aquatic organisms, the development of protocols for gamete and embryo cryopreservation and the effects of cryopreservation on reproductive cells metabolism. My research has applications in both aquaculture and conservation of endangered aquatic species through the establishment of germplasm banks. I am going to use the funding on my ReefBank Project. It will help us a lot to achieve the goal of creating the first frozen bank of coral gametes in the South Atlantic Ocean." - Leandro Godoy, 2019

(Left to Right) Dr. Dayong Gao, Dr. Leandro Godoy, Mr. Lingxi LiDr. Estefania Paredes
at the presentation of the inaugural DGYI Award at CRYO2019m, held in San Diego. 

During his PhD, Dr. Godoy was the first person to use vitrification to cryopreserve fish ovarian fragments containing stage III follicles - a protocol that has since been improved and used in many other studies on fish gonad cryopreservation. Although he initially began research on freshwater fish with potential application in Aquaculture like Tambaqui or Amazonian endangered species for conservation purposes, he has recently leapt from freshwater the marine world and to coral conservation. His recent “ReefBank” project is receiving considerable media attention while rooting for the protection of coral reefs located in Brazilian coastal waters where he leads a team of 12 researchers.


Project Reefbank researchers
(Dr. Leandro Godoy 5th from the right)


Dr. Godoy in his lab at the University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Project Reefbank is the first initiative of its kind in the region of Brazil, combining cryopreservation biotechnology with coral reef conservation to generate sperm and egg banks that will allow future artificial reproduction of key species in the South Atlantic.

Dr. Godoy has been a member of the Society for Cryobiology for over 10 years and he was granted a travel award from the Society for Cryobiology during his student years to present his work at the annual meeting.  He is the Associate Editor of the Brazilian Journal of Animal Science. He serves as a member of the advisory committee of the Foundation for Research Support of the State of Amazon and a fellow of the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development.


Dr. Zhang´s lab (UK) in 2011 where Dr. Godoy completed a research stay


Dr. Mazur and Dr. Godoy at the 2012 meeting in Rosario, Argentina



(Left to right) Dr. Danilo Streit, Dr. Luciana Cavalcante, Dr. Estefania Paredes, Dr. Magda Teixeira, and Dr Leandro Godoy
at the 2016 meeting in Ottawa, Canada

Although 2019 was the Award’s inaugural year, the Awards Committee was pleased to note that the applications received were very competitive. The number of highly qualified applications received is a good measure of the health and future of the Society for Cryobiology.

Dr. Godoy’s studies have been developed under the Coral Vivo Research Network, in partnership with the Coral Vivo Institute and are funded by Boticário Group Foundation for Nature Protection, the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund (Funbio) and by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). Coral Vivo is sponsored by Petrobras through the Socio-Environmental Program, and co-sponsored by Arraial d'Ajuda Eco Parque.

If you want to read more about Dr. Godoy´s research:
Caldas J and Godoy LC (2019) Animal Reproduction Science 204, 117-124
Godoy LC, Streit D, Zampolla T, Bos-Mikich A and Zhang T (2013) Cryobiology 67, 347-354
Pastrana YM, Streit D, Freitas Garcia RR, Silveira Becker B, Rodrigues KL, Godoy L. (2019) Aquaculture Research 50, 521-528.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Leandro_Godoy