ACHIEVEMENTS

With W.O. Cruz, J.R. Magalhães & C.P. Von Dietrich developed isolated rabbit ear method for hemostasis in vivo (1962) 

Showed the role that spermine and spermidine play in muscle relaxation (1967-8)

First found a Ca²⁺ pump in tissues others than skeletal muscle and showed acetyl phosphate as substrate by sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca²⁺-ATPases

Discovered the formation of low energy phosphoenzyme (1973) independently of  P.D. Boyer

With H. Masuda demonstrated the occurrence of phosphorylation (ATP production) without a gradient (1973)

Demonstrated that the same chemical species can be of high and low energy depending on environment that around it (1970s), today a basic concept in cellular thermodynamics

With A.L. Vianna proposed the basic catalytic cycle of the Ca²⁺-ATPase (1979)

Proposed that the change in energy of hydrolysis that occurs during the process of energy transduction was indeed relative to a change in solvent structure around reactants and products at the catalytic site of enzymes (1989-93)

Proposed that catalytic site of mitochondrial ATP synthase undergoes a hydrophobic-hydrophilic transition during oxidative phosphorylation

Indicated that Ca²⁺-ATPase is able to handle the energy derived from ATP hydrolysis in such a way as to determine the amount used for Ca²⁺ transport and the amount that is dissipated as heat

With L.A. Ketzer, R.M. da Costa, I. R. de Andrade & M. Benchimol found sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca²⁺-ATPases inside mitochondria and that mitochondrial thermogenesis is activated by physiological Ca²⁺ concentrations (in rats brown adipose tissue) in 2010