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Luciana Meneses completed the integrated master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering in October 2019 at the University of Minho (Portugal). Her master’s thesis, focused on patient safety in the operating room and surveillance of surgical site infections, was developed during a one-year internship at the Department of Infection Prevention and Control of a Portuguese Hospital. Luciana joined the Azeredo Lab (Portugal) as research fellow in November 2019, where she worked on the construction of Pseudomonas aeruginosa synthetic (bacterio)phages to control bacterial infections. Between October 2020 and June 2025, Luciana was a joint PhD student in Biomedical Engineering and Pharmaceutical Sciences, resulting from a collaboration between the Azeredo Lab in Portugal and the Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Microbiology of Ghent University in Belgium. Her PhD work focused on the improvement of phage efficacy against biofilm-related infections, caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, by phage adaptation and genetic manipulation. Phage modifications were conducted in Portugal and tested in Belgium making use of in vitro and in vivo-like models of biofilm-related infections. Luciana has been also part of the Phage Therapy team at the Azeredo Lab, being involved in processing phage requests and following up patients with biofilm-related infections caused by P. aeruginosa. Since February 2025, Luciana has been working as Researcher in the project ASCLEPIUS, with a focus on characterization of therapeutic phages and phage-biofilm interactions. Luciana is author of 3 journal articles, 1 book chapter, 3 posters and 4 oral presentations at international conferences (with 2 awards), and team member of 2 projects (2022-2023). She is also member of the Ethics Council of the University of Minho and has been involved in several science dissemination activities, including Pint of Science.
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Identification

Personal identification

Full name
Luciana Amorim Perestrelo de Meneses

Citation names

  • Meneses, Luciana

Author identifiers

Ciência ID
0510-84F1-D20D
ORCID iD
0000-0001-9497-1200

Email addresses

  • luciana.meneses@ceb.uminho.pt (Professional)

Addresses

  • CEB - Centro de Engenharia Biológica, Universidade do Minho, 4710-057, Gualtar, Braga, Portugal (Professional)

Websites

Knowledge fields

  • Medical and Health Sciences - Medical Biotechnology - Health-Related Biotechnology
  • Medical and Health Sciences - Health Sciences - Epidemiology
  • Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Microbiology
  • Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Molecular Biology

Languages

Language Speaking Reading Writing Listening Peer-review
Portuguese (Mother tongue)
English Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1)
Spanish; Castilian Elementary (A2) Elementary (A2) Elementary (A2) Elementary (A2) Elementary (A2)
Education
Degree Classification
2020/10/23 - 2025/06/13
Concluded
 Doctoral Program in Biomedical Engineering/Pharmaceutical Sciences (Doutoramento)
Universidade do Minho Centro de Engenharia Biológica, Portugal

Universiteit Gent Faculteit Farmaceutische Wetenschappen, Belgium
"Genetically engineered phages to tackle polymicrobial biofilm-related infections" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
2014/09 - 2019/10/02
Concluded
 Integrated Master's in Biomedical Engineering (Mestrado integrado)
Major in Clinical Engineering
Universidade do Minho, Portugal
""Patient safety assessment and improvement in the operating room of a health-care facility"" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
Affiliation

Others

Category
Host institution 		Employer
2025/02/01 - Current Research Fellow of ASCLEPIUS project: Isolation, characterization and deposition of therapeutic phages and interaction studies between bacteriophages and bacterial biofilms. Universidade do Minho Centro de Engenharia Biológica, Portugal
Universidade do Minho Centro de Engenharia Biológica, Portugal
2021/01/01 - 2025/06/13 PhD Student Universidade do Minho Centro de Engenharia Biológica, Portugal
Universidade do Minho Centro de Engenharia Biológica, Portugal
2021/01/01 - 2025/06/13 PhD Student Universiteit Gent Faculteit Farmaceutische Wetenschappen, Belgium
Universiteit Gent Faculteit Farmaceutische Wetenschappen, Belgium
2019/11/05 - 2020/03/31 Research fellow of Synphage project - Construction of synthetic phages to combat infectious bacterial diseases Universidade do Minho Centro de Engenharia Biológica, Portugal
Universidade do Minho Centro de Engenharia Biológica, Portugal
2018/09/13 - 2019/06/30 Curricular Internship - Infection Prevention and Control Department Hospital da Misericórdia de Vila Verde, Portugal
Hospital da Misericórdia de Vila Verde, Portugal
Projects

Grant

Designation Funders
2022/04/01 - 2023/04/01 Chimeric phages as a new approach to target P. aeruginosa biofilm-related lung infections
No reference
PhD Student Fellow
Universidade do Minho Centro de Engenharia Biológica, Portugal
 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
Ongoing

Contract

Designation Funders
2022 - 2023 PhageShaper: a high-throughput platform to engineer P. aeruginosa phages for infectious disease control
EXPL/EMD- EMD/1142/2021
PhD Student Fellow
Universidade do Minho Centro de Engenharia Biológica, Portugal
 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Ongoing
2019/11/05 - 2020/03/31 Synphage - Construction of synthetic phages to combat infectious bacterial diseases
POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016643 (PTDC/BBB-BSS/6471/2014)
Research Fellow
Universidade do Minho Centro de Engenharia Biológica, Portugal
 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Concluded
Outputs

Publications

Book chapter
  1. Meneses, Luciana; Sillankorva, Sanna; Azeredo, Joana. "Bacteriophage Control of Infectious Biofilms". In Methods in Molecular Biology, 141-150. Springer US, 2023.
    10.1007/978-1-0716-3523-0_9
Conference paper
  1. Meneses, Luciana; Diana Priscila Penso Pires; Jelena Erdmann; Susanne Häussler; Gábor Apjok; Bálint Kintses ; Adelina Amorim; et al. "Phage therapy for multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa in a Portuguese cystic fibrosis patient with persistent lung infection". Paper presented in 1st International Symposium on Advances in Phage Therapeutics, Braga, 2025.
  2. Meneses, Luciana; Pires, Diana P.; Sílvio B Santos; Lucie Valentová; Pavel Plevka; Aurélie Crabbé; Tom Coenye; Joana Cecília Valente Rodrigues Azeredo. "Overcoming lipopolysaccharide modification as the key for increased biofilm-control of a Pbunavirus after adaptive evolution on P. aeruginosa biofilms". Paper presented in Viruses of Microbes 2024 (VoM2024), Cairns, 2024.
  3. Costa, Maria João; Meneses, Luciana; Azeredo, Joana; Santos, Sílvio; Pires, Diana P.. "Fast and sensitive detection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in clinical settings using engineered reporter phages". Paper presented in Microbiotec23 - Congress of Microbiology and Biotechnology 2023, 2023.
  4. Meneses, Luciana; Diana Priscila Penso Pires; Silvio Roberto Branco dos Santos; Aurélie Crabbé; Azeredo, Joana; Coenye, Tom. "In vitro evolution of phages improves their anti-biofilm activity in in vivo-like conditions". Paper presented in 10th Congress of European Microbiologists - FEMS 2023, Hamburg, 2023.
    Published
  5. Diana Priscila Penso Pires; Meneses, Luciana; Monteiro, Rodrigo. Corresponding author: Diana Priscila Penso Pires. "Engineering P. aeruginosa phages with reduced genomes and improved functionalities towards bacterial detection and control". Paper presented in 10th Congress of European Microbiologists - FEMS 2023, Hamburg, 2023.
    Published
  6. Meneses, Luciana; Costa, Maria João; Mariana Ferreira; Sílvio B Santos; Joana Cecília Valente Rodrigues Azeredo; Pires, Diana P.. "Engineering P. aeruginosa phage genomes with enhanced functionalities". Paper presented in 33rd ECCMID, Copenhagen, 2023.
    Published
  7. Meneses, Luciana; Diana Priscila Penso Pires; Silvio Roberto Branco dos Santos; Azeredo, Joana. "Adaptação evolutiva de bacteriófagos em biofilmes de Pseudomonas aeruginosa para o combate de infeções pulmonares em Fibrose Quística". Paper presented in Microbiologia 2022 - Congresso internacional de microbiologia em língua Portuguesa, Online, 2022.
    Published
  8. Meneses, Luciana; Pires, Diana P.; Sílvio B Santos; Coenye, Tom; Azeredo, Joana. Corresponding author: Azeredo, Joana. "Use of phages adapted to Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms to tackle respiratory tract infections in Cystic Fibrosis (CF)". Paper presented in EuroBioFilms 2022, Mallorca, 2022.
    Published
  9. Meneses, Luciana; Pires, Diana P.; Sílvio B Santos; Coenye, Tom; Azeredo, Joana. Corresponding author: Azeredo, Joana. "Adaptive evolution of phages towards Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm control". Paper presented in Viruses of Microbes 2022, Guimarães, 2022.
  10. Costa, Maria João; Meneses, Luciana; Sílvio B Santos; Azeredo, Joana; Pires, Diana P.. Corresponding author: Pires, Diana P.. "Phage engineering for the detection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa". Paper presented in Viruses of Microbes 2022, Guimarães, 2022.
    Published
Journal article
  1. Meneses, Luciana; Ana Catarina Brandão; Tom Coenye; Ana Cristina Braga; Diana Priscila Pires; Joana Azeredo. Corresponding author: Joana Azeredo. "A systematic review of the use of bacteriophages for in vitro biofilm control". European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (2023): https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-023-04638-1.
    Published • 10.1007/s10096-023-04638-1
  2. Pires, Diana P; Meneses, Luciana; Brandão, Ana C; Azeredo, Joana. "An overview of the current state of phage therapy for the treatment of biofilm-related infections". Current Opinion in Virology 53 (2022): 101209. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coviro.2022.101209.
    Published • 10.1016/j.coviro.2022.101209
  3. Pires, Diana P; Costa, Ana Rita; Pinto, Graça; Meneses, Luciana; Azeredo, Joana. "Current challenges and future opportunities of phage therapy". FEMS Microbiology Reviews 44 6 (2020): 684-700. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/femsre/fuaa017.
    10.1093/femsre/fuaa017
Thesis / Dissertation
  1. "Genetically engineered phages to tackle polymicrobial biofilm-related infections". PhD, Universidade do Minho Escola de Engenharia, 2025. https://hdl.handle.net/1822/96586.
  2. Meneses, Luciana. "Patient safety assessment and improvement in the operating room of a health-care facility". Master, Universidade do Minho, 2019.
Activities

Oral presentation

Presentation title Event name
Host (Event location)
2024/07/18 Overcoming lipopolysaccharide modification as the key for increased biofilm-control of a Pbunavirus after adaptive evolution on P. aeruginosa biofilms Viruses of Microbes 2024 Meeting
International Society for Viruses of Microorganisms (Cairns, Australia)
2023/07/11 In vitro evolution of phages improves their anti-biofilm activity in in vivo-like conditions 10th Congress of European Microbiologists - FEMS 2023
FEMS (Hamburg, Germany)
2022/10/17 Adaptação evolutiva de bacteriófagos em biofilmes de Pseudomonas aeruginosa para o combate de infeções pulmonares em Fibrose Quística Microbiologia 2022 - Congresso internacional de microbiologia em língua Portuguesa
Sociedade Portuguesa de Microbiologia (Online)
2022/09/03 Use of phages adapted to Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms to tackle respiratory tract infections in Cystic Fibrosis (CF) EuroBioFilms 2022
(Mallorca, Spain)

Supervision

Thesis Title
Role 		Degree Subject (Type)
Institution / Organization
2024/04/22 - 2024/06/21 Isolamento e caraterização de bacteriófagos para o controlo de infeções causadas por Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Co-supervisor of Alexandra Ferreira
 Licenciatura em Biologia Aplicada (Degree)
Universidade do Minho, Portugal

Event organisation

Event name
Type of event (Role) 		Institution / Organization
2023/10/12 - Current Co-organisor and presenter of the 1st Science Week of Ponte de Lima (Portugal) - I Semana da Ciência de Ponte de Lima. This week was dedicated to the dissemination of science from varied fields, to local students and to the general public of the municipality of Ponte de Lima (Portugal). The event included 27 invited speakers, 19 different activities (talks, workshops, round tables, demonstrations and visits) and more than 1000 attendees. (2024/10/07 - 2024/10/12)
Congress (Co-organisor)
 Câmara Municipal de Ponte de Lima, Portugal
2025/06/16 - 2025/06/20 Member of the staff team of the "6th International hands-on Phage Biotechnology course". 5-days course on phage techniques, consisting on both theoretical and practical sessions, and covering basic topics such as phage isolation, production and characterization to more advanced techniques focusing on genome annotation, phage display, flow cytometry and RT-PCR. (2025/06/16 - 2025/06/20)
Workshop (Other)
 Universidade do Minho, Portugal
2025/06/16 - 2025/06/17 Member of the staff team of the "1st International Symposium on Advances in Phage Therapeutics". This symposium connected international experts, researchers, and healthcare professionals to discuss the use of therapy for human medicine, including phages and phage-based solutions, with insights from genomics, bioinformatics, and genetic engineering. (2025/06/16 - 2025/06/17)
Symposium (Other)
 Universidade do Minho, Portugal
2024/01/08 - 2024/06/01 Coordinator of the events team of Pint of Science Braga. Pint of Science is a non-profit organization that organizes a science communication festival annually in the month of May and simultaneously in many cities around the world, including the city of Braga in Portugal. The main goal is to bring the science made in each city to the public in an accessible and attractive way! (2024/05/13 - 2024/05/15)
Festival (Member of the Organising Committee)
2022/11/04 - 2024/01/07 Member of the events team of Pint of Science Braga. Pint of Science is a non-profit organization that organizes a science communication festival annually in the month of May and simultaneously in many cities around the world, including the city of Braga in Portugal. The main goal is to bring the science made in each city to the public in an accessible and attractive way! (2023/05/22 - 2023/05/24)
Festival (Member of the Organising Committee)
2023/06/19 - 2023/06/23 Member of the staff team of the "5th International hands-on Phage Biotechnology course". 5-days course on phage techniques, consisting on both theoretical and practical sessions, and covering basic topics such as phage isolation, production and characterization to more advanced techniques focusing on genome annotation, phage display, flow cytometry and RT-PCR. (2023/06/19 - 2023/06/23)
Workshop (Other)
 Universidade do Minho, Portugal
2022/07/18 - 2022/07/22 Member of the staff team of the conference "Viruses of Microbes 2022". The meeting intended to spotlight the most recent advances in ecology and evolution of microbial viruses, virus structures and function, virus-host interaction, agro-food, veterinary and environmental biotechnology applications and phage therapy. (2022/07/18 - 2022/07/22)
Conference (Other)
 Universidade do Minho, Portugal

Event participation

Activity description
Type of event 		Event name
Institution / Organization
2025/03/07 - 2025/03/07 Lecture for high school students, part of the initiative "Conversas com Ciência" (Science Talks), with the theme "Biotecnologia e Bioética - caminhos do futuro" (Biotechnology and Bioethics - pathways to the future).
Seminar
 Conversas com Ciência / Science Talks
Agrupamento de Escolas de Arcozelo, Portugal
2024/10/08 - 2024/10/08 Microbiology demonstration for high school students: presentation about bacteria and their presence in our daily lives; bacteria that cause disease and the problem of antibiotic resistance; bacteriophages, and their use in the treatment of bacterial infections. Demonstration, with laboratory samples, of the process of isolation and characterization of bacteriophages for a target bacterium.
Workshop
 I Semana da Ciência de Ponte de Lima (1st Science Week of Ponte de Lima - Portugal)
Câmara Municipal de Ponte de Lima, Portugal
2024/09/13 - 2024/09/13 Participation in the 3rd Symposium of the Belgian Society for Viruses of Microbes
Symposium
 3rd BSVoM Symposium
BSVoM - Belgian Society for Viruses of Microbes, Belgium

Committee member

Activity description
Role 		Institution / Organization
2023/03/03 - 2025/06/13 Member of the Ethics Council of the University of Minho. The Ethics Council is an advisory body of the University and supports the design and monitoring of policies and actions designed to safeguard ethical and deontological principles in scientific research, teaching, interaction with society and the general functioning of the University. Two of the member of this Council are students of study cycles leading to a master's or doctoral degree.
Member
 Universidade do Minho, Portugal

Mentoring / Tutoring

Topic Student name
2024/02/01 - Current Optimizing the treatment of Staphylococcus aureus biofilms with bacteriophages and antibiotics Oona Deman (Ghent University)
2023/09/04 - 2024/12/17 Master's dissertation - Phage therapy applied to chronic lung infections: development and monitoring of therapeutic protocols Ana Catarina Gomes (University of Minho)
2023/09/04 - 2024/11/29 Master's dissertation - Strategies to improve the antibacterial efficacy of phages against Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms Ana Francisca Correia (University of Minho)
2023/07/03 - 2023/07/31 Summer internship - Introduction to bacteriophages and biofilms Mariana Gonçalves and Joana Borges (University of Minho)
2023/04/03 - 2023/06/02 Master's internship: Bacteriophages to control infectious biofilms Fares Douis (Lorraine University)
2022/07/03 - 2022/09/29 Master's dissertation - Supporting the Implementation of Phage Therapy in Portugal Ana Pereira (University of Minho)
2022/07/01 - 2022/07/18 Summer internship - Introduction to protein expression and purification Pedro Castro (University of Minho)

Scientific expedition

Activity description Institution / Organization
2023/09/18 - 2023/09/29 Short-term Erasmus + at CEITEC (Structural Virology research group): evaluation of bacteriophage and bacteria interactions using cryo-EM. Masarykova univerzita Stredoevropský technologický institut, Czech Republic
Distinctions

Award

2024 First place winner - Photo Contest BioTecFoto at EXPOBIOTEC 2024 (Braga, Portugal)
Universidade do Minho Centro de Engenharia Biológica, Portugal

Câmara Municipal de Braga, Portugal
2024 Student Travel Scholarship - Conference Viruses of Microbes 2024 (Cairns, Australia)
2024 Travel grant - Conference Viruses of Microbes 2024 (FWO Research Foundation – Flanders, Belgium)
Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Vlaanderen, Belgium
2023 Erasmus+ Scholarship - Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC) (Brno, Czech Republic)
Universidade do Minho, Portugal
2022 Award for the best work presented at EuroBioFilms 2022 (Mallorca, Spain)
EuroBioFilms 2022 Organization, Spain
2022 Honorable mention for the ability to communicate science at Microbiologia 2022 (Online)
Sociedade Portuguesa de Microbiologia, Portugal
2020 Excellence Grant of the University of Minho (Braga, Portugal)
Universidade do Minho, Portugal
2020 PhD Studentship - 2020.07494.BD (FCT, Portugal)
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal