Mafalda dos Santos Marques Nunes (0B19-B2D3-3D08)

Curriculum Vitae

Mafalda dos Santos Marques Nunes

I finished my BSc in Biology in 2018 and my MSc in Evolutionary and Developmental Biology in 2022 at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon. My thesis focused on the function of DAND5 in the molecular control of human cardiomyogenesis using hiPSCs (Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells), under the supervision of Dr José Inácio. After my master's I continued working as a Junior Researcher at NOVA Medical School in Dr José Belo's Laboratory of Stem Cell and Development (funded by "Ato Único"). Throughout my academic journey, I participated in the production of 1 chapter of a book and 3 scientific article, I also participated in several events, where I had the opportunity to present my master's work and where I was awarded. In addition, I participated in three internships, one at the University of Lisbon at the Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c) and the other at NOVA Medical School, and Internationally at the University of Utrecht, in the Department of Farm Animal Health. I was also awarded research fellowships as part of the FCT-funded project NervousHeart: Engineering an innervated heart organoid – the initial step for in vitro modulation of neuro-cardiac cross-talk, and I am currently undertaking my PhD in the Stem Cell Engineering Research Group (SCERG) in the group of Professor Margarida Diogo.

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Identification

Personal identification

Full name: Mafalda dos Santos Marques Nunes

Citation names

Nunes, Mafalda Marques
Nunes. Mafalda
Nunes, M. Mafalda

Author identifiers

Ciência ID: 0B19-B2D3-3D08
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-8961-3097

Email addresses

mafalda.marques.nunes@tecnico.ulisboa.pt (Professional)
mafalda.marques.nunes@gmail.com (Personal)

Telephones

Mobile phone

938206565 (Personal)

Addresses

Av. Prof. Doutor Cavaco Silva, 2744-016, Oeiras, Lisboa, Portugal (Professional)

Knowledge fields

Medical and Health Sciences - Medical Biotechnology - Technologies Involving the Manipulation of Cells, Tissues, Organs or the Whole Organism
Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Cell Biology
Medical and Health Sciences - Clinical Medicine - Cardiac and Cardiovascular Systems
Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Developmental Biology
Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Reproductive Biology

Languages

Language	Speaking	Reading	Writing	Listening	Peer-review
Portuguese (Mother tongue)
English	Upper intermediate (B2)	Advanced (C1)	Upper intermediate (B2)	Advanced (C1)	Upper intermediate (B2)

Education

	Degree	Classification
2019/09/03 - 2022/02/18 Concluded	Evolutionary and Developmental Biology (Mestrado) Major in Sem especialização Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências, Portugal "The role of DAND5 in the coordination of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocyte environmental cues: their impact on cardiomyocyte electrophysiology" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)	18
2015/09/05 - 2018/07/19 Concluded	Biology (Licenciatura) Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências, Portugal	14

Affiliation

Science

	Category Host institution	Employer
2023/06/15 - 2023/12/15	Research Assistant (Research)	Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Bioengenharia e Biociências, Portugal
	Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico Campus Taguspark, Portugal
2019/01/14 - 2019/05/31	Research Trainee (Research)	Universiteit Utrecht, Netherlands
	Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

Others

	Category Host institution	Employer
2022/01/01 - 2022/12/31	Junior Researcher	Universidade Nova de Lisboa Comprehensive Health Research Centre, Portugal
	Universidade Nova de Lisboa Comprehensive Health Research Centre, Portugal
2018/03 - 2018/05	Bachelor Internship	Universidade de Lisboa Centro de Ecologia Evolução e Alterações Ambientais, Portugal
	Universidade de Lisboa Centro de Ecologia Evolução e Alterações Ambientais, Portugal

Projects

Grant

	Designation	Funders
2024/01/01 - 2027/12/31	Modelling Rett Syndrome cardiac dysfunction with novel 3D heart models: towards a high-throughput screening platform for drug testing. 2023.01137.BDANA Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Ongoing
2023/06/15 - 2023/12/15	NervousHeart: Engineering an innervated heart organoid – the initial step for in vitro modulation of neuro-cardiac cross-talk 2022.02251.PTDC Researcher Associação do Instituto Superior Técnico para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Concluded
2019/01/14 - 2019/05/31	Generation of Bovine Chimeras 2018-1-PT01-KA103-046899 Scientific Initiation Fellow Universiteit Utrecht, Netherlands	Agência Nacional Erasmus+ Educação e Formação european comission Concluded

Other

	Designation	Funders
2022/02/01 - 2022/06/30	Role of CCBE1 during coronary vasculature development and neo-angiogenesis upon myocardial infarction, through stimulation of VEGF-C signaling. PTDC/MEC-CAR/29590/2017 Research Technician Fellow Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Concluded

Outputs

Publications

Book chapter	Nunes, Mafalda Marques; Navarro-Costa, Paulo. "Filhos de um calor maior: O impacto do aquecimento global na saúde reprodutiva". In Saúde Ambiental - Caderno de notas soltas, edited by Ricardo R. Santos; Osvaldo Santos; António Vaz Carneiro, 107-111. Lisboa, Portugal: Associação de Estudantes da Faculdade de Medicina de Lisboa, 2020. Published
Conference poster	Branco, Mariana A.; Nunes, Mafalda Marques; Rayagra, Ana Luísa; Diogo, Maria Margarida. "Recreation of Human Heart Organogenesis: An In Vitro Platform to Perform Developmental Toxicity Screening". Paper presented in 2025 SOT Annual Meeting and ToxExpo, 2025. Nunes, Mafalda Marques; Branco, Mariana A.; Ana Luísa Rayagra; Joaquim M.S. Cabral; Diogo, Maria Margarida. "Modeling Rett Syndrome cardiac dysfunction with novel 3D heart models: towards a high- throughput screening platform for drug testing". Paper presented in BioManufacturing Without Borders 2024, 2024. Nunes, Mafalda Marques; Branco, Mariana A.; Ana Luísa Rayagra; Joaquim M.S. Cabral; Diogo, Maria Margarida. "Modelling Rett Syndrome cardiac dysfunction with novel 3D heart models: towards a high-through put screening platform for drug testing". Paper presented in Inovação em Medicina e Engenharia Biomédica: Sinergias e Desafios, 2024. Nunes, Mafalda Marques; Branco, Mariana A.; Ana Luísa Rayagra; Joaquim M.S. Cabral; Diogo, Maria Margarida. "Modeling Rett Syndrome cardiac dysfunction with novel 3D heart models: towards a high- throughput screening platform for drug testing". Paper presented in EpiC2024, 2024. Branco, Mariana A.; Nunes, M. Mafalda; Ana Luísa Rayagra; Miguel F. Tenreiro; Joaquim M.S. Cabral; Diogo, Maria Margarida. Corresponding author: Branco, Mariana A.. "Modelling Cardiac Defects In Rett Syndrome Patients Using A Patient-specific Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-derived Heart Organoid Model". Paper presented in ETRS-SPCE annual meeting, 2023. Assistant staff Nunes, Mafalda Marques; Inacio, Jose M; Almeida, Micael; Belo, José A.. Corresponding author: Belo, José A.. "The role of DAND5 in the coordination of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocyte environmental cues: their impact on cardiomyocyte electrophysiology". Paper presented in 12th international meeting of the portuguese society for stem cells and cell therapies, 2022.
Journal article	José M. Inácio; Fernando Cristo; Miguel Pinheiro; Francisco Vasques-Nóvoa; Francisca Saraiva; Mafalda M. Nunes; Graça Rosas; et al. "Myocardial RNA Sequencing Reveals New Potential Therapeutic Targets in Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction". Biomedicines (2023): https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines11082131. 10.3390/biomedicines11082131 Inácio, José M.; Nunes, Mafalda Marques; Almeida, Micael; Cristo, Fernando; Anjos, Rui; Belo, José A.. Corresponding author: Belo, José A.. "Gene-Edited Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Lines to Elucidate DAND5 Function throughout Cardiac Differentiation". Cells 12 4 (2023): 520. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cells12040520. Published • 10.3390/cells12040520
Preprint	Branco, Mariana A.; Nunes, Mafalda Marques; Rayagra, Ana Luísa; Tenreiro, Miguel F.; Cabral, Joaquim M.S.; Diogo, Maria Margarida. "Recreating coronary vascularization and sympathetic innervation of myocardium on a human pluripotent stem cell-derived heart organoid". 2025. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.10.632325. 10.1101/2025.01.10.632325
Thesis / Dissertation	Nunes, Mafalda dos Santos Marques. "The role of DAND5 in the coordination of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocyte environmental cues: their impact on cardiomyocyte electrophysiology". Master, Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências, 2022. http://hdl.handle.net/10451/53813.

Activities

Oral presentation

	Presentation title	Event name Host (Event location)
2021/11/12	The impact of DAND5 in the electrophysiological maturation of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes.	Casual Friday with Science Universidade Nova de Lisboa Comprehensive Health Research Centre (Lisboa, Portugal)
2021/10/11	The role of DAND5 in the coordination of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocyte environmental cues: Their impact on cardiomyocyte electrophysiology.	3rd NMS Symposium on Chronic Diseases and Translational Science Universidade Nova de Lisboa Comprehensive Health Research Centre (Lisboa, Portugal)
2021/10/08	The role of DAND5 in the coordination of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocyte environmental cues: Their impact on cardiomyocyte electrophysiology.	5th Cardiovascular development meeting Universidad de Extremadura (Mérida, Spain)

Event participation

	Activity description Type of event	Event name Institution / Organization
2024/11/28 - 2024/11/29	Conference, part of the “Without Borders” series, supported by the Portuguese Society for Stem Cells and Cell Therapies (SPCE-TC). Conference	BioManufacturing Without Borders 2024 Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Bioengenharia e Biociências, Portugal
2024/06/05 - 2024/06/07	Participation in the Epilepsy Conference 2024. Conference	EpiC2024 Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Portugal
2023/09/29 - 2023/09/29	I represented the collaborative laboratory, AccelBio and presented the laboratory work done with organoids and their applications and advantages. Conference	European Researchers’ night Fundação Champalimaud, Portugal
2023/09/29 - 2023/09/29	From animal models to organoids: the future of drug discovery Exhibition	European Night of Researcher 2023 Fundação Champalimaud, Portugal
2022/04/05 - 2022/04/06	"Feira da Saúde" occurred at the Nova Medical School, where we presented the work developed in the Stem Cells and Development laboratory and had the chance to explain and interact with kids from elementary school and the elderly population from the local community. Exhibition	Health fair open day Universidade Nova de Lisboa Comprehensive Health Research Centre, Portugal
2022/02/25 - 2022/03/23	I participated in an Emotional Intelligence Course held by Instituto do Emprego e Formação Profissional in Portugal, with a total workload of 25 hours. Seminar	Emotional Intelligence Course Instituto do Emprego e Formação Profissional, Portugal
2018 - 2018	Presentation of several research projects in the area of Evolutionary and Developmental Biology. Seminar	A Decade integrating Biology (in) research and training Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências, Portugal

Course / Discipline taught

	Academic session	Degree Subject (Type)	Institution / Organization
2025/03 - 2025/06	Stem Cell Bioengineering	Stem Cell Bioengineering (Mestrado)	Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Bioengenharia e Biociências, Portugal

Distinctions

Award

2022	Best Poster Communication Sociedade Portuguesa de Células Estaminais e Terapia Celular, Portugal