04. Notas Curriculares / Biosketch

Ana Isabel Oliveira
Is a life science post-doctoral researcher working at the Center for Cancer Biology (CCB), VIB, KU-Leuven (Belgium). She graduated in Biology and completed her Master degree in Biology at the University of Porto. Afterwards, she worked as a research fellow in the field of cancer research at IPO-Porto and at Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), University of Minho (Portugal). In 2014, she enrolled in the Inter-University Doctoral Programme in Ageing and Chronic Disease, supervised by Bruno M. Costa and Bruno Manadas, that she concluded in 2019 by the School of Medicine at the University of Minho, the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Coimbra and the Nova Medical School of Lisbon (Portugal).  During her PhD studies, she also worked for 3 years at CCB-VIB (KU-Leuven) under the supervision of Prof. Massimiliano Mazzone, where she currently works as a post-doctoral fellow. Her main scientific interest is the tumor microenvironment, particularly the immune compartment. 

Ana Magalhães
Graduated in Biology at Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa and did her PhD in basic cell biology at the Alan Hall´s laboratory, first in London, at the   MRC-LMCB at UCL and later at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Her PhD work contributed for two publications showing that the Rho GTPase effector PKN/PRK2 regulates the G2 to M transition and cytokinesis of Human epithelial cells (Embo J. 2007), and the formation of epithelial cell-to-cell junctions and as such, tissue morphogenesis (Mol cell Biol. 2011). Since then, Ana Magalhães has been working as a postdoctoral fellow at the Sérgio Dias located first at the IPO-Lisboa and Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC) and now at the iMM – João Lobo Antunes, in Portugal. Ana current research focuses on metastasis and on the molecular and cellular events that happen at the frontier between the blood and the tumor, and on how circulating factors affect vascular function and tumor progression. Focusing on systemic cholesterol, Ana Magalhães has been able to show that LDL promotes transcytosis on endothelial cells (PLoS One, 2016) and is now finishing a study that suggests that high systemic LDL promotes the intravasation of cancer cells through a vascular-mimicry like mechanism.
During her postdoctoral residency, Ana Magalhães also contributed to the writing of a book chapter on tumor angiogenesis (Springer, 2019), co-supervised several Master Students and has served as a reviewer for several scientific journals. 

Branca Cavaco
 
Obtained her PhD in Biochemistry (Genetics) at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, in 2002. She is the Principal Investigator of the Molecular Endocrinology Group, at the Molecular Pathobiology Research Unit (UIPM), from the Portuguese Institute of Oncology - Lisbon (IPOLFG). Her research interests focus on the molecular mechanisms involved in the aetiology and progression of sporadic and familial forms of thyroid tumours. Her research activities are also focused in the familial predisposition to parathyroid-related endocrine diseases, that principally affect calcium homeostasis.

Bruno Costa Silva
PhD in Oncology/Antônio Prudente Foundation & Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research/São Paulo – BRA; MSc in Neurosciences / Federal University of Santa Catarina / Florianopolis – BRA; BS in Pharmacy and Biochemistry / Federal University of Santa Catarina / Florianopolis – BRA; Principal Investigator, Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, Lisbon, PT; Teacher at the International Neuroscience and Physiology Doctoral Programme – Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon, PT; Faculty member, Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, Lisbon, PT

Carmen Jerónimo
Is Group Leader of the Cancer Biology & Epigenetics Group and the Scientific Coordinator of the Biobank at the Portuguese Oncology Institute of Porto (IPO Porto), as well as, Invited Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Genetics and the Director of the Master Course in Oncology at the University of Porto, teaching Pathology and Cancer Epigenetics, both undergraduate and Pos-graduation Courses. She obtained her BSc in Biology (1994), MSc in Oncology (1998), PhD in Biomedical Sciences (2001) and Habilitation in Pathology and Molecular Genetics (2011) at the University of Porto. She performed her PhD project at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), USA under the GABBA Program, working on prostate cancer genetic and epigenetic alterations. From 2002 until 2007, she was a Post-doctoral Fellow and Invited Researcher at IPO Porto, in collaboration with JHU, working on detection of neoplastic cells by DNA-based technology in clinical samples obtained from non-invasive or minimal invasive methods. In 2008 she established her independent group at IPO Porto, working on Cancer Biology and Epigenetics (FCT-2008 Science Program). As an independent Researcher, she served as Principal Investigator of 20 grants, and participated in other 14 projects granted from different National and International agencies under competitive concurrence.

Célia Gomes 
Holds a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the Faculty of Medicine of Coimbra University, and is currently senior researcher at the Coimbra Institute for Clinical and Biomedical Research (iCBR) - Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra. She has been particularly interested in understanding the biology cancer stem-like cells and on their contribution to cancer progression and response to therapy and in developing new therapeutic approaches targeting this cell subset. She is also interested in deciphering the mechanisms of metastasis organotropism with focus on osteosarcoma.

Eunice Paisana
Has graduated in Biologia Celular e Molecular at Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa and concluded her master degree in Cancer Immunology and Biotechnology at University of Nottingham. Currently, she is a fourth-year PhD student at Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes and Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa. 
She has been working under the supervision of Doctor Cláudia Faria and Professor João Barata, developing her research on understanding the molecular mechanisms behind the development of brain metastases, based on a patient-driven approach.​

Fátima Baltazar
Current positions: Associate Professor of Pharmacology at the Medical School of University of Minho (Portugal), Senior Researcher at ICVS (Life and Health Sciences Research Institute) and Coordinator of the Surgical Sciences Research Domain (SSRD). 
Education: First degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences by the University of Coimbra (Portugal), PhD in Biological Sciences by the University of Hull (U.K.). 
Main research interests: Cancer glycolytic metabolism, focusing on the discovery of new prognostic metabolic biomarkers and cancer therapeutic targets (especially monocarboxylate transporters - MCTs), using human samples and pre-clinical models. 
Publication track record: 109 international peer-reviewed research articles; 10 book chapters; (co-)inventor on 2 European patent applications (ongoing); H Factor 29 (ISI Web of Science). 
She is member of the Editorial Board of several international journals, and member of different national and international organizations, including ASPIC (Portuguese Association for Cancer Research), EACR (European Association for Cancer Research). She was recently appointed as board member of the International Society of Cancer Metabolism (ISCaM).

Jacinta Serpa
Has a PhD in Human Biology by Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto (2005) and Graduated in Applied Biology by Universidade dos Açores (1997).
She is an expert in cancer biology with more than 20 years of experience and 32 peer-reviewed published research papers. Her main field of interest is cancer metabolism, including metabolic adaptations allowing cancer cells survival in a certain microenvironment and also the way endogenous cancer metabolism interferes with cell response to drugs.
Since, 2015 she is the head of Cancer Metabolism and Microenvironment Lab in Centro de estudos de Doenças Crónicas from NOVA Medical School (CEDOC|NMS) (http://cedoc.unl.pt/cancer-metabolism-and-microenvironment/) and Instituto Português de Oncologia de Lisboa Francisco Gentil (IPOLFG). She participated in more than 15 research projects and she has supervised 17 Master theses and 8 PhD Theses.

Joana Paredes
Is Principal Investigator at the Epithelial Interactions in Cancer group at i3S, Porto, Portugal. Her research is mainly focused on understanding how cell-cell adhesion between cancer cells regulate stemness, metabolic behavior, cell invasion and dissemination, as well as their metastatic capacity and crosstalk with the tumor microenvironment. Is graduated in Biology at Coimbra University and holds a PhD in Human Biology from the Medical Faculty of Porto University. For 4yrs, she worked at the Cancer Research Lab of Gent University (in Belgium) and at Ipatimup (Porto, Portugal), both reference labs in cell adhesion molecules and cancer. She then performed a postdoc in oncobiology and started her research career as an independent scientist in 2010 at Ipatimup, with the support of Ciência 2007 and FCT Investigator positions. She got a tenure position in 2018. Joana Paredes is co-author of 76 publications in international peer-review journals, with more than 3000 citations and a h-index of 32, being the first author of 9 manuscripts, and senior author of other 9. Her results were published in top cancer-related journals, such as Cancer Research, Oncogene, Clinical Cancer Research, Breast Cancer Research, BBA Reviews on Cancer, Stem Cells, Journal of Pathology, Oncotarget, BMC Cancer, Gastroenterology, Gut, and Human Molecular Genetics, all of them reflecting her scientific expertise in adhesion molecules, stemness and cancer. Since 2016, Joana Paredes is member of the Direction of ASPIC (Portuguese Association for Cancer Research); in March 2020, she was elected the President of ASPIC for the next biennium (2020-2022).

Johan Swinnen
Obtained his PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Antwerp (Belgium) in 1992 after a 4-year research stay at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (USA). In the early 1990s, he established his own research group at the University of Leuven (Belgium), where he is full professor. He was chair of the Department of Oncology from 2012-2020, vice-chair of the LKI - Leuven Cancer Institute, and coordinator of the KU Leuven International Doctoral School Programme on Cancer. His research focuses on altered lipid metabolism in cancer. In this context, the team has established a state-of-the-art mass spectrometry-based lipidomics platform ‘LipoMetrix’, which has been instrumental in several small- and large-scale collaborations, including the EURLIPIDS consortium and has led to several seminal findings published in high impact journals. Prof Swinnen has (co)authored more than 120 peer reviewed papers and has an h-index of 57 (GS). He shows a strong social engagement and ran from Leuven to Santiago de Compostela (2300 km) and from Leuven to Rome (2000 km) to raise awareness and funds for cancer research.

José Carlos Machado
Professor Associado da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, vice-presidente do Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular da Universidade do Porto (Ipatimup), e membro da Comissão Diretiva do i3S, onde também ocupa a posição de Coordenador do Programa Cancro. Estudou Biologia na Universidade do Porto e obteve o seu Doutoramento sob supervisão do Prof. Nikolaus Blin e da Prof. Fátima Carneiro nas Universidades de Tubingen, Alemanha e Porto, Portugal. A principal questão científica subjacente à investigação do grupo de que é coordenador é perceber como é que a informação genética que caracteriza as células do cancro é partilhada com os diversos constituintes celulares do cancro, e que impacto tem este processo sobre a heterogeneidade, a diversidade e plasticidade das células do cancro. JCM recebeu suporte financeiro competitivo de agências como a Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), Agência de Inovação (ADI), Ministério da Saúde, Worldwide Cancer Research e Comunidade Europeia (EC). JCM é também responsável pela área de I&D da unidade de prestação de serviços de diagnóstico do Ipatimup. Esta unidade tem acreditação CAP (Colégio Americano de Patologistas), ISO15189:2014 e ISO17025:2005 e é um laboratório de referência em Portugal para a deteção de biomarcadores em cancro, diagnóstico genético e anatomia patológica. À data de Março de 2020, JCM (Scopus Author ID 7102792651) é co-autor de 159 publicações científicas em revistas internacionais com arbitragem científica, com um número total de 10450 citações e um h-index de 41.

Klaus Pantel 
Is Chairman of the Institute of Tumour Biology at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. The institute is part of the Centre of Experimental Medicine and the University Cancer Center Hamburg (UCCH). Prof Pantel graduated in 1986 from Cologne University in Germany and completed his thesis on mathematical modelling of haematopoiesis in 1987. After his postdoctoral period in the USA on hematopoietic stem cell regulation (Wayne State University, Detroit), he performed research at the Institute of Immunology, University of Munich for 10 years. The pioneer work of Prof Pantel in the field of cancer micrometastasis, circulating tumor cells and circulating nucleic acids (ctDNA, microRNAs) is reflected by more than 400 publications in excellent high ranking biomedical and scientific journals (incl. NEJM, Lancet, Nature Journals, Cancer Cell, Science Translational Medicine, Cancer Discovery, PNAS, JCO, JNCI, Cancer Res.) and has been awarded the AACR Outstanding Investigator Award 2010, German Cancer Award 2010, and two ERC Advanced Investigator Grants 2011 and 2019. Moreover, Prof Pantel coordinates the European IMI consortium CANCER-ID (www.cancer-id.eu) on blood-based “Liquid Biopsies” in lung and breast cancer comprising 37 partner institutions from academia, non-profit organizations and industry.

Luís Costa 
Is the Director of Oncology Department of Hospital de Santa Maria and Clinical Research Center of Lisbon Academic Medical Center (CAML), Associate Professor of Medicine, Oncology & Oncobiology at Faculdade de Medicina de Lisboa and Principal Investigator of the Translational Oncobiology Lab of Instituto de Medicina Molecular – João Lobo Antunes (iMM-JLA). Prof. Luis Costa has devoted most of his clinical and research career to the study of bone metastases, and has published over 350 works. Currently, the main goal of his research unit at iMM-JLA is to improve understanding of the molecular mechanisms implicated in tumor progression at metastatic site (using bone metastases as paradigm) and to unravel molecular signatures of organotropism through identification of “leader gene signatures” common to the primary tumor and corresponding metastases (using colorectal cancer as a model). He is also focused on the identification of therapy resistance mechanisms in metastatic setting, as well as in finding new therapeutic strategies to overcome such resistance; and to interpret the dynamics of metastatic cancer progression, through a comprehensive analysis of clonal evolution and host immune and humoral responses. Between 2016 and 2020 Prof. Luis Costa was the President of ASPIC – Associação Portuguesa de Investigação em Cancro.

Marta Pojo
Is an Investigator at Instituto Português de Oncologia de Lisboa Francisco Gentil, where she develops and coordinates research in the cutaneous melanoma field. Currently she is mainly interested in molecular and cellular alterations that could be relevant in the clinic decisions, in prognosis and diagnosis, as well as, in developing of new druggable targets. Since 2016, her scientific activity has been developed with the support of the Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancro – Núcleo Regional do Sul, and with whom she has been developing activities related to research and scientific training.
Marta Pojo has graduated in Applied Biology, master in Biotechnology and completed her PhD in Life Sciences in 2016 from University of Minho. During her PhD, she had focused in the study of molecular biomarkers of aggressiveness and resistance to therapy in brain tumors. After this time, she started a familial cancer risk in the study of new susceptibility genes at the Instituto Português de Oncologia de Lisboa Francisco Gentil.

Massimiliano Mazzone
Graduated in Medical Biotechnology at the Medical School - University Torino, Italy; PhD in Cell Science and Technologies at the Institute for Cancer Research of Torino, under the supervision of Prof. Comoglio; Since October 2009, is heading the Lab of Tumor Inflammation and Angiogenesis - Center for Cancer Biology, part of VIB in Leuven; Since 2017 Full Professor at the University of Leuven; Contributed to the field of oncology understanding the mechanisms of cancer metastasis and to vascular biology identifying a new endothelial cell phenotype, the "phalanx" cell, which takes part in the formation of aligned blood vessels in perfused tissues,  work (published in Cell), and awarded by the Lorini Foundation; Since 2009, is independent group leader and his team is focusing in studying the response of inflammatory cells to hypoxic and metabolic conditions in order to restore blood flow and regulate favorably the immune response in conditions such as cancer and ischemic pathologies; Got other important national and international awards (the Belgian Royal Academy Prize, Giulia Colletta Award, EMBO awards, Chiara D’Onofrio Award, AstraZeneca Award, Burgen Award and others) and international recognitions (3 ERC grants, EMBO, FEBS, EMBO Young Investigator; Author of 120 papers, with an average impact factor in first or senior corresponding author research papers of 21; more than 11000 citations; An H-index of 47. He is member of the boards of several peer-reviewed journals (such as Cancer Research); Reviewer for almost 20 journals and has been so far invited to speak in more than 100 national and international conferences (including GRC, Keystone, AACR, FEBS meetings).

Noel de Miranda
Is a cancer biologist at the Leiden University Medical Center (The Netherlands). He is the Principal Investigator of the Immunogenomics research group at the department of Pathology of the LUMC. The Immunogenomics group works on tumour immunology with a particular focus on colorectal and pancreatic cancers. The group’s translational aims are to: 1) identify cancer-specific antigens that can be targeted by immunotherapy and 2) elucidate the potential of immune cell subsets other than T cells for immunotherapeutic exploitation. These aims are accompanied by a strong curiosity in understanding and mapping out the complex and multicellular nature of anti-cancer immune responses. Noel de Miranda was recently awarded an ERC Starting Grant as holds a Young Investigator award by the Dutch Cancer Society and a VENI award by the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research.

Pedro Castelo Branco
Has completed his doctorate in molecular biology at Oxford University in 2005, followed by post-doctoral fellowships at Harvard University and the University of Toronto. Since 2014 he is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Medicine and head of the Epigenetics in Human Disease laboratory, at the University of the Algarve. His scientific interests include the identification of specific epigenetic signatures throughout carcinogenesis and targeted methylation/demethylation as a therapeutic approach

Pedro G. Ferreira
Is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Sciences of University of Porto and an affiliated researcher at i3s/ipatimup and at LIAAD-INESC-TEC, the Artificial Intelligence and Decision Support Lab of the University of Porto. He has a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from University of Minho (2007). In his research, he is interested in unraveling the role of genomics on the human health and disease. He applies and develops data-analytical models to analyse and interpret diverse, complex and large-scale genomic datasets. 

Sandra Casimiro
Completed her PhD in Molecular Biology at the Universidade de Lisboa in 2007, during which she developed innovative tools for the identification of resistance and virulence genes in eukaryotes and pathogens. As a FCT Post-Doctoral Fellow between 2007 and 2013, she joined Luis Costa Lab at the Instituto de Medicina Molecular (iMM), and embraced the exciting field of translational Oncobiology, focusing on breast cancer and bone metastases. Staff Scientist at Luis Costa Lab since 2013, Sandra Casimiro is particularly interested in the RANKL-RANK pathway, and determined to exploit as a unique target to improve the efficacy or revert resistance of drugs. In parallel, she participates in numerous national and international research projects (21 projects, over 2.3M euros) focusing in cancer metastases. Sandra Casimiro received the Oncology Research Award from Terry Fox Foundation/Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancro in 2008 and 2014, a Short Term EMBO Fellowship in 2009,  the Fundo iMM-Laço Clinical Research Grant in 2016, the Pfizer/LPCC Grant for Breast Cancer Research in 2017 (awarded to I.Gomes under her supervision), and a FCT project in 2018. She has published 30 papers, with over 450 citations; and supervised numerous students at all levels. Sandra Casimiro became an Invited Assistant Professor of Oncobiology at Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa in 2016, and is the Executive Coordinator of the Masters in Oncobiology.

Sílvia Socorro
Is a Full Professor of Biomedicine at the Faculty of Health Sciences of University of Beira Interior (UBI) and the Coordinator of the Health Sciences Research Centre (CICS-UBI). She is also the Director of the PhD Programme in Biomedicine at UBI. Silvia Socorro has a PhD in Biological Sciences (2001) and obtained the Habilitation degree in Biomedicine in 2013. Her research interests are focused on the hormone and metabolic alterations associated with male infertility and cancer. The development of steroid- and metabolism-based biomarkers and therapeutic options also is a main target of interest. Sílvia Socorro has supervised 3 post-doctoral projects and 7 PhD theses, and co-authored more than 70 articles in specialized journals in the fields of cell and molecular biology, reproduction and cancer. She is member of the Editorial Board of international journals, and a member of national and international scientific organizations, namely, the ASPIC (Portuguese Association for Cancer Research) and the EACR (European Association for Cancer Research).

Tânia Lima
Is a biochemist who is currently in the second year of her PhD in biomedicine at Institute of Biomedicine (iBiMED) - University of Aveiro. She is interested in developing a new method of non-invasive screening of prostate cancer, allowing its earlier detection and follow-up, and thus positively affecting the quality of life of cancer patients. Her main goal is to identify new urinary biomarkers and multiplex panels for a sensitive and specific screening of prostate cancer.


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