I currently work as a Senior Researcher in the ESB/AMYRIS joint-collaboration project at Universidade Católica Portuguesa, involved in the development of pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and biomedical innovative products and concepts. Additionally, I lead UCP’s Biomolecules Innovation lab, which is centred on understanding and unfolding the biological and functional potential of different sustainable biomolecules.

I received my Ph.D. in Biotechnology from UCP before completing a sandwich FCT Postdoc Research Fellowship at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra and at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Porto. More recently I have worked on drug development for top-pharma companies, being involved in all aspects of the early discovery phase for the generation of antibody-based therapeutics and small molecules for cancer and autoimmune disease indications. I have (co)-authored over 100 scientific publications in refereed international journals (h-index: 43; over 25k citations), 5 book chapters and over 100 communications in national and international conferences.

Publications

Mapping local patterns of childhood overweight and wasting in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2017. Nature Medicine, 2020; 26: 750-759.

Health effects of dietary risks in 195 countries, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. The Lancet, 2019; 393: 1958-1972.

Therapeutic application of antibody fragments in autoimmune diseases: current state and prospects. Drug Discovery Today, 2018; 23: 1996-2002. 

Obesity and overweight and their health impact 1990-2015 in 195 countries. The New England Journal of Medicine 2017; 377: 13-27.

Recent patents on heat shock proteins-targeting antibodies. Journal of Recent Patents on Anti-Cancer Drug Discovery, 2016; 12: 48-54.

Role

Research fellow

Academic CV