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Home
About
- Project Team
Research
- ERA Chair Holder
- Research Team
Outputs
News & Events
- News
- Events
  - I ImmunoHUB Annual Meeting – Infection & Immunity
Jobs
Contact

Team

ERA Chair

Pedro Moura-Alves

ERA Chair Holder

Pedro Moura-Alves

ERA Chair Holder

Dr. Moura-Alves studied Biochemistry (1999-2004) at the University of Beira Interior (Covilhã, Portugal). In 2004, joined the GABBA PhD program (University of Porto, Portugal). During his PhD, joined the Partners AIDS Research Center/Harvard Medical School (Boston, USA) and Instituto de Medicina Molecular (Lisboa, Portugal). In 2010, as a postdoc, joined the lab of Prof. Stefan Kaufmann at Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology (Berlin, Germany). In March 2019, started his independent research group at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research/University of Oxford (Oxford, UK). In February 2022, moved to the IBMC/i3S (Porto, Portugal) as a group leader and ImmunoHub ERA Chair Holder.

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Email:pmouraalves@i3s.up.pt

Research Team

Beatriz Moreira

Research Fellow

Beatriz Moreira

Research Fellow

In 2021, Beatriz Moreira graduated in Biochemistry by the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto (FCUP) and the Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar (ICBAS). During her undergraduate project, she studied the effect of flavonoids on cell viability and on the formation of reactive oxygen species in two osteosarcoma cell lines. Currently, she is pursuing a Master's degree in Oncology at ICBAS. For her master's thesis, she joined i3S where she is currently studying the role of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor in melanoma.

Email:beatrizm@i3s.up.pt

Cátia Santos

MSc Student

Cátia Santos

MSc Student

Cátia Santos has a degree in Medicinal Biotechnology from Escola Superior de Saúde do Porto (ESS), since 2023, where she had an opportunity to do an internship in the field of pathology research in the Erasmus+ program at Odisee in Belgium. In the same year, she joined the “Immune Sensing and Signaling Dynamics” research team led by Pedro Moura-Alves to do her undergraduate project, where she aimed to reveal if and how different interactions between AHR and other intracellular signaling pathways could impact AHR functions. Currently, she is a master´s student in Molecular Medicine and Oncology at Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto (FMUP). She remains in the same laboratory, however, with a particular interest in the study of AHR in the context of melanoma.

Email:catia.santos@i3s.up.pt

Inês Castro Almeida

Research Fellow

Inês Castro Almeida

Research Fellow

Inês has a degree in Biochemistry from the University of Beira Interior, since 2021, where she had the opportunity to do an internship in the ERASMUS + program, at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University of Oxford in the same year. Here, she participated as a lab assistant in projects that aimed to study the modeling of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) in different pathological contexts. She recently got her master's thesis at I3S, in the Clinical Biochemistry master's program from the University of Aveiro. Currently, Inês stands as a Research Fellow in the Immune Sensing & Signaling Dynamics group at the same institute. Her current focus revolves around unraveling the intricacies of AHR in drug sensing, aiming to comprehend the impact of this interaction on treatment efficacy.

Email:ialmeida@i3s.up.pt

Katarina Soža

Trainee

Katarina Soža

Trainee

Katarina Soža finished her first level study program at the Faculty of Science in Split, Croatia and got a bachelor’s degree in Biology and Chemistry. In 2023, she graduated in Experimental Biology, module Physiology and Immunobiology at the University of Zagreb, Croatia. During her master’s project at Ruđer Bošković Institute (Zagreb, Croatia), she studied the effect of mycotoxins on cellular redox homeostasis and metabolic changes in human breast cancer cell lines. Currently, she is pursuing an internship at i3S as a part of Erasmus + program where she is studying the role of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor and its intracellular network during infection.

Email:ksoza@i3s.up.pt

Natalija Jonic

Visiting Scientists

Natalija Jonic

Visiting Scientists

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Palmira Barreira-Silva

Junior Researcher

Palmira Barreira-Silva

Junior Researcher

Palmira Barreira-Silva has a BSc and a MSc in Biology from U. Porto (Portugal), and a PhD in Health Sciences from U. Minho (Portugal) since 2016. She developed her PhD project on the immune response to mycobacterial infections, with Margarida Correia-Neves (ICVS, Portugal), Rui Appelberg (IBMC, Portugal) and Sam M. Behar (U.Mass Medical School, USA). Since 2022, Palmira is working as Junior Researcher at IBMC/i3S (Portugal) with Pedro Moura-Alves. Palmira focused her studies in host-pathogen interactions and worked with pre-clinical models of mycobacterial infections, and with samples from individuals infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, HIV or SARS-CoV-2 under BSL2 and BSL3 lab conditions.

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Email:pbarreirasilva@i3s.up.pt

Pedro Curto

Junior Researcher

Pedro Curto

Junior Researcher

Pedro Curto graduated in Biochemistry in 2009 by the University of Coimbra. In 2018, Pedro completed the PhD Programme in Experimental Biology and Biomedicine (PDBEB), having developed his research project in the Microbial and Molecular Biotechnology Group at the Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology at University of Coimbra and the Vector-Borne Diseases laboratories at Louisiana State University. He is currently a Junior Researcher in the Immune Sensing & Signaling Dynamics Research Group at i3S. Since his doctoral studies, he has focused his research interests in understanding the molecular determinants involved in the pathogenicity of rickettsial species. He has developed a deep understanding in host-pathogen interactions and the strategies employed by pathogenic bacteria to subvert the immune system.

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Email:pcurto@i3s.up.pt

Rafael Custodio

Visiting Scientists

Rafael Custodio

Visiting Scientists

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Sérgio Marinho

Technician

Sérgio Marinho

Technician

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Email:smarinho@i3s.up.pt

Tânia Pimenta Lima

Project Manager

Tânia Pimenta Lima

Project Manager

Tânia Lima has a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biotechnology Applied to Health Sciences (ICBAS) awarded by the University of Porto in 2020 and funded by FCT. During her PhD, she studied the modulation of the host immune response to Candida albicans using functionalized nanoparticles at IBMC-i3S. In 2021, she was awarded with a Postdoctoral Fellowship by the Sven and Lawski Foundation. At that time, she joined Tommy Cerdervall's research group at Lund University in Sweden. In 2022, was awarded with a NanoLund Junior Scientist Idea Award funding her project to study molecular interaction between NP-protein to optimize immunomodulatory therapeutic strategies. Since 2019, is adjunct invited professor at Escola Superior de Saúde - Instituto Politécnico do Porto. Currently, she works as a project manager being involved in communication, dissemination, and exploitation activities.

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Email:tania.lima@i3s.up.pt

Thales Costa

PhD Student

Xuwen Zeng

PhD student

Xuwen Zeng

PhD student

In 2019, Xuwen Zeng graduated in stomatology by Tongji University. From 2018 to 2019, Xuwen’s first hands-on research experience was at Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health. Supervised by Dr. Qiurong Ding, she explored the relationship between Porphyromonas gingivalis (an important and evident periodontitis pathogen) and the occurrence and development of diabetes. After developing several laboratory skills, she started pursuing her master's degree. From 2019 to 2022, she evaluated the role of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor in macrophage polarization and its importance in the pathogenesis of periodontitis, under Dr. Lijun Luo’s supervision. In 2022, She was awarded the Master’s Degree of Medicine in the discipline of Clinical Science of Stomatology by Tongji University and the title of 2022 Excellent Graduate of Shanghai Regular Institution of Higher Education by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission. Afterwards, she joined i3S, where she is currently studying the intracellular network of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor in the context of infection.

Alumni

Luís Cardia (Biology Student (BSc)- University of Porto)
Kornelija Bekezaite (Lithuanian University of Health Sciences)

The project ImmunoHUB received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement no. 951921.

Phone: +351 226 074 900
Email: pmouraalves@i3s.up.pt
Address: Rua Alfredo Allen, 208. 4200-135 Porto, Portugal