Dr. Helena G. Silva holds a strong academic background in the field of Biology, mainly in Molecular Biology. She earned, from the Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, a degree in Biotechnology (2011), and achieved a Master's Degree in Plant Molecular Biology, Biotechnology, and Bioentrepreneurship (2014) from the School of Sciences of the University of Minho. Additionally, she pursued further education by obtaining a PhD in Sciences with a specialization in Biology (2019). Helena has dedicated her efforts towards uncovering genes and gene interactions pivotal in influencing and distinguishing various developmental stages through transcriptomic approaches. During her tenure at the Health and Life Sciences Research Institute—ICVS (2023), she directed her focus towards enhancing the understanding of Fabry Disease. Her contributions have aimed at identifying novel biomarkers capable of reflecting disease progression, thereby striving towards improved diagnostic strategies.
Belém Sampaio-Marques graduated in Biology from the University of the Azores in 2003 and obtained a PhD in Health Sciences from the University of Minho in 2012. Between 2013 and 2019, she developed postdoctoral studies on the study and elucidation of mechanisms related to aging and age-related diseases, using the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model for neurodegenerative disease, namely Parkinson’s disease. Since 2019, she has been working as a Junior Researcher at the ICVS and also serves as an Assistant Professor at the School of Medicine, University of Minho. Her research focuses on elucidating the molecular mechanisms and cellular processes of aging and age-related diseases. As of June 2023, she has shifted her research focus towards developing models to study Parkinson’s disease and exploring the role of the secretome of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in neuroprotection and repair. Her track record is currently reflected in forty-eight publications in international peer-reviewed journals (>2200 citations and h-index=20) and two book chapters. She has supervised one PhD and five MSc students. She has served as an ad hoc reviewer for more than 20 journals and some funding agencies.
Alexandra G. Fraga graduated in 2003 in Applied Biology, and in 2010, she received a PhD in Health Sciences from the University of Minho (UM). Between 2011 and 2019, she developed her postdoctoral studies at the Microbiology and Infection Research Domain at the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS). From 2019 to 2021, she was a junior researcher, and her research focused on the identification of the regulatory effects of interindividual genetic variations on molecular and cellular processes of mycobacterial immunity, as well as on the modulation of the host immune response/bacterial activity by using new systems of antimicrobial drug delivery. She is currently continuing this line of research as an Assistant Researcher at the InflammaSignal team at the ICVS. She is recently an Assistant Professor at the School of Medicine, UM. Her track record includes forty peer-reviewed research articles and two book chapters, with an h-index of 19, an accumulated IF of ~200, and over 1500 citations. She has been supported by several funding agencies (e.g., InfectERA, la Caixa Foundation, FCT, ESCMID) and contracts with the industry (e.g., Amicus Therapeutics). She is the Biosafety Coordinator at the ICVS and is the ICVS representative in the Portuguese Biosafety Laboratory Network, Lab-PTBioNet. She has FELASA Category C accreditation for animal experimentation, granted by the Portuguese National Authority for Animal Health (DGAV).
Prof. Dr. Olga Azevedo is a cardiologist and the Director of the Reference Centre on Lysosomal Storage Disorders (LSDs) in Hospital Senhora da Oliveira – Guimarães, Portugal; Member of the National Committee for the Treatment of LSD; and Lecturer of Cardiology at the Medicine School of Minho University, Portugal. She graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of Porto University. She specialized in cardiology, with a sub-specialization in advanced cardiac imaging, at Unidad de Imagen Cardiovascular in the Hospital Clinico San Carlos in Madrid. She is the Head of the Echocardiography Lab and is responsible for Myocardial and Pericardial Disease Consultation at Hospital Senhora da Oliveira—Guimarães. She was the Director of the Working Group of Myocardial and Pericardial Diseases of the Portuguese Society of Cardiology. She is actively involved in several research projects on LSDs and has published several scientific papers in this field. She is the investigator of the Fabry Outcome Survey. She has also participated as a guest lecturer or chair in several scientific meetings.
Dr. Jorge Pedrosa is a Full Professor at the School of
Medicine (EM)—University of Minho (UM) and a Principal Investigator at the
Microbiology and Infection Research Domain at the Life and Health Sciences
Research Institute (ICVS)—UM. He holds a degree in Biochemistry and a PhD in
Biomedical Sciences. He is using animal models in Biosafety Level 3
laboratories and collaborating with a network of health care institutions in
Portugal and in Benin to both evaluate new strategies aiming at the modulation
of the host immune response (e.g., design of new vaccines) and to develop new
systems of specific delivery of antimicrobial agents to infected cells. His
main research contributions include the following: the first demonstration of a protective role
played by neutrophils in the early phase of experimental tuberculosis; the first
isolation from the environment of a pure culture of M. ulcerans, the causative
agent of the emergent infectious disease Buruli ulcer, implicating the
involvement of aquatic insects in the transmission of this neglected disease; the characterization
of the host inflammatory response to M. ulcerans; and the first description of an
intracellular growth phase for M. ulcerans, as well as of the mechanisms of
macrophage-mediated immune control for this pathogen.
Prof. Dr. Paula Ludovico is an Associate Professor at the School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal. She received her BSc in 1994 from the University of Porto, Porto, Portugal. She earned, from the University of Minho, a Master’s Degree in Molecular Genetics (1999) and a PhD in Biological Sciences (2002). Since 2011, she has been an Associate Professor with habilitation at the School of Medicine and a Principal Investigator at the Health and Life Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), University of Minho. Prof. Paula was a visiting scientist at the Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, USA; at the Department of Neurology, Miami University, Florida, USA; and at Institut de Biochimie et Génétique Cellulaires/Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Bordeaux, France. In 2013, Prof. Paula Ludovico was a Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Sciences, Department of Biology at KULeuven, Belgium. Paula has been mainly devoted to the study of autophagy in the context of aging. Particularly, she has been exploiting the yeast chronological aging model to address proteostasis control during cellular aging. Prof. Paula Ludovico is also interested in the role of autophagy in lysosomal storage diseases and in the age-related disease acute myeloid leukemia (AML).