iBB

Ana Rita Silva-Santos will be defending her PhD thesis in Biotechnology and Biosciences at Instituto Superior Técnico, Wednesday the 1st of march 2023 (14:00 H, amphitheater PA-3, Mathematics Building). During the last years, and under the supervision of Miguel Prazeres from iBB, and Pedro Paulo from CQE, Ana Rita investigated methods to bio-manufacture DNA templates for the use in the origami-based assembly of DNA Nanostructures. The title of her thesis is “Biomanufacturing of DNA-origami nanostructures for bio-imaging”.

Sara Barbosa Salazar will be defending her PhD thesis in Biotechnology and Biosciences at Instituto Superior Técnico, Friday the 17th of June 2022, at 14:00 am (https://videoconf-colibri.zoom.us/j/82325109047). During the last years, and under the supervision of Nuno Mira from iBB, Sara investigated the stress resilience and pathogenesis of the fungal pathogen Candida glabrata. The title of her thesis is “Deepening the role of CgHaa1- and CgPdr1- pathways in stress resilience and pathogenesis of Candida glabrata to foster new antifungal treatments".

Cláudia Patrícia Almeida Alves will be defending her PhD thesis in Biotechnology and Biosciences at Instituto Superior Técnico, Friday the 14th of May 2021, at 14:00 am (https://videoconf-colibri.zoom.us/j/82471896554). During the last years, and under the supervision of Gabriel Monteiro and Miguel Prazeres from iBB, Cláudia engineered Escherichia coli strains for the production of minicircle vectors by resolvase-catalyzed in vivo recombination. The title of her thesis is “Escherichia coli Genome Engineering For Improved Minicircle Production". Yo can check more about Cláudia's work here.

Andreia Isabel de Melo Pimenta will be defending her PhD thesis in Biotechnology and Biosciences at Instituto Superior Técnico, Tuesday the 22nd of December 2020, at 10:00 am (https://videoconf-colibri.zoom.us/j/87589426644). During the last years, and under the supervision of Arsénio Fialho from BSRG-iBB, Andreia studied the role of Trimeric autotransporter adhesins in the pathogenesis of Burkholderia cenocepacia. The title of her thesis is “New insights into the interaction of Burkholderia cenocepacia with host cells: Trimeric autotransporter adhesins as pathogenicity factors”.

Eduardo Brás defended his PhD thesis in Biotechnology and Biosciences on Tuesday the 15th september 2020 (14:30 H). During the last years, and under the supervision João Pedro Conde from INESC-MN and Pedro Fernandes from BERG-iBB, Eduardo explored how microfluidic technology and microfabrication could be coupled with enzymes with goal of developing biosensing in different fields of application. The title of the thesis is “Biocatalysis in Microfluidic Systems: Biosensing and Rapid Screening Applications”.

Rui Cruz Pacheco defended his PhD thesis in Biotechnology and Biosciences on the 15th of April, 2020. The thesis, entitled “Production of first-and second-generation bioethanol by yeasts: global warming potential and fermentation productivity issues” was supervised by Carla Silva, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa and Instituto Dom Luiz and co-supervised by Isabel Sá-Correia from BSRG-iBB. Rui prepared part of his PhD thesis in the laboratories of the BSRG examining factors that limit first-and second-generation fermentation productivity and improving industrial yeasts performance through genetic manipulation. Most of his work was dedicated to the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of bio-based ethanol production.

Ahmed Amir Elsayed Hassan will be defending her PhD thesis in Biotechnology and Biosciences on tuesday the 28th january 2020 (14:30 H, amphitheater PA-3, Mathematics Building). During the last years, and under the supervision of Isabel Sá-Correia from BSRG-iBB, Amir studied the role of the lipopolysaccharide O-antigen on the adaptation of the Bhurkolderia cepacia complex to the cystic fibrosis environment. The title of the thesis is “Adaptation of Bhurkolderia cepacia complex bacteria to the cystic fibrosis lung: focus on lipopolysaccharide O-antigen and cel wall physical properties”.

Carlos Júnio Caridade Rodrigues will be defending his PhD thesis in Biotechnology and Biosciences at Instituto Superior Técnico, Friday the 26th of July 2022, at 10:00 am (Amphitheater PA-3, floor -1, Mathematics building, Alameda campus). During the last years, and under the supervision of Carla Carvalho from iBB, Carlos focused on the development of novel integrative bioprocesses by accessing the enzymatic machinery of marine bacteria and improving cultivation techniques of ‘unculturable’ bacteria. The title of his thesis is “Developing bioprocesses with marine bacteria for sustainable industrial applications". Check some of Carlo´s PhD outputs here.

David José Roxo Botequim will be defending his PhD thesis in Biotechnology and Biosciences at Instituto Superior Técnico, Wednesday the 18th of November 2020, at 10:30 am (https://videoconf-colibri.zoom.us/j/89168693131). During the last years, and under the supervision of Pedro Paulo from CQE and Miguel Prazeres from BERG-iBB, David studied fluorescently-labeled DNA probes conjugated onto gold nanoparticles for the improved detection of nucleic acids. The title of his thesis is “Fluorescently-labeled DNA Probes Functionalized onto Gold Nanorods for Signal Enhancement in Nucleic Acids’ Detection”.

Mafalda Banazol de Santa Rita Cavalheiro will be defending her PhD thesis in Biotechnology and Biosciences at Instituto Superior Técnico, Monday the 12th of October 2020, at 2pm (https://videoconf-colibri.zoom.us/j/97930626637). During the last years, and under the supervision of Miguel Cacho Teixeira from BSRG-iBB, Mafalda studied molecular and biophysical properties that enable the fungal pathogen Candida glabrata to cause recalcitrant life threatening infections, based on its ability to evolve towards a drug resistance phenotype or to establish stable biofilms. The title of her thesis is “Deciphering Mechanisms of Pathogenesis in Candida glabrata: in the Crossroad Between Drug Resistance and Virulence”.

Rita Dias Guardão Moreira da Franca will be defending her PhD thesis in Biotechnology and Biosciences on tuesday the 5th November 2019 (14 H, amphitheater PA-3, Mathematics Building). During the last years, and under the supervision of Nídia Lourenço and Helena Pinheiro from BERG-IBB and Mark van Loosdrecht from TUDelft (The Netherlands), Rita studied the application of the novel aerobic granular sludge technology to the biodegradation of recalcitrant pollutants mainly found in textile industry wastewaters. She looked into the influence of wastewater composition and reactor operational regimens on the formation and stability of aerobic granules, microbial population dynamics in them and their performance in the biodegradation of wastewater components, namely an azo dye and its recalcitrant metabolites.

The title of the thesis is “Aerobic granular sludge bioprocesses for textile wastewater treatment”.

Pedro Henrique Magalhães Fernandes Pais will be defending his PhD thesis in Biotechnology and Biosciences at Instituto Superior Técnico, friday the 27th september 2019 (10:00 H, room PA-3). During the last years, and under the supervision of Miguel Teixeira from BSRG-iBB, Pedro studied the intricacies of the regulatory network that controls drug resistance in the fungus Candida glabrata. The title of his thesis is "Unveiling the complex regulatory network governing antifungal drug resistance in Candida glabrata: from new regulators to new effectors".

Joana Serra will be defending her PhD thesis in Bioengineering at Instituto Superior Técnico, friday the 7th June 2019 (10:30 H, room Q4.41). During the last years, and under the supervision of Miguel Prazeres from BERG-iBB and Cláudia Lobato-Silva from SCERG-iBB, Joana focused her efforts on the genetic modification of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells with VEGF-coding minicircles to improve their therapeutic features in the context of ischemia. The title of her thesis is "Ex-vivo gene therapy to improve the regenerative features of human mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSC) in a model of limb ischemia".