Maria Cristina Nonato is a Full Professor at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto-USP, President of the Research Committee at the same Institution, President of the Brazilian Crystallography Association and Co-founder and Coordinator of the Structural Biology and Screening of Bioactive Compounds division at CRAFT (Center for the Research and Advancement in Fragments and Molecular Targets). She has 25 years of experience in Structural Biology, and screening of ligands by in vitro and in silico, as prototypes for drug development for the treatment of infectious diseases.