Vanderlan da Silva Bolzani

Bolzani was born in Santa Rita and raised in João Pessoa, Paraíba.[1] Her grandmother was indigenous, and Bolzani recalls playing with natural pigments from saffron in her grandmother's farm.[2] Her parents were of Portuguese and Tabajara heritage.[3] As a child she studied the fishing colony on Formosa beach, and became interested in the natural world.[1] In high school she specialised in science.[1] She earned her undergraduate degree in pharmacy at the Federal University of Paraíba.[4] During her undergraduate studies she became interested in organic and analytical chemistry.[2] She moved to the São Paulo State University in 1975, where she specialised in organic chemistry.[1][5] She had originally planned to work with Paulo de Carvalho, but he died suddenly of a heart attack.[1] Her supervisor, was Otto Gottlieb. She worked on Mikania hirsutissima and earned her master's degree in 1977 and PhD in 1982.[4] Her master's dissertation considered the Euphorbiaceae of the Amazon rainforest.[1] For her doctoral dissertation she concentrated on the theoretical aspects of botany, taxonomy and biology of the Rubiaceae.[1] She was awarded a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarship to work at Leibniz University Hannover. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute.[4]

Bolzani was appointed to the faculty at the São Paulo State University.[4] In 1998 she established the Centre for Natural Product Bioassays, Biosynthesis and Eco-physiology (NuBBE).[1] NuBBE is a green laboratory that does not use chlorinated products or toxic solvents.[1] Her research considers plant science, in particular, the isolation and study of secondary metabolites and peptides in plants.[6] She has studied the biosynthesis of piperidine alkaloids.[4] She has studied the biodiversity of Brazil, and called for new technologies and scientific policy to support preservation of the Brazilian rainforest.[7] She has since studied phytochemistry and endophytic fungi.

Bolzani was married to the sociologist Jorge Bolzani, who she met during graduate school in 1977. Together they had two children. Jorge Bolzani died in 2011.[1]