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Bárbara Beatriz Costa Botelho Sousa holds a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Lisbon and the University of Cambridge, where her research focused on designing covalent molecules and protein degraders targeting blood cancer-related proteins, specifically TEC kinases and serine hydrolases. She completed an MSc in Biochemistry at Nova University of Lisbon, where she studied the crystal structure of BMX linked to covalent ligands, and earned a Bachelor's degree in Biology from the University of Azores, characterising the enzymatic activity of thermophilic bacteria for industrial applications. Currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Melbourne, Bárbara specializes in drug discovery, leveraging her expertise to advance therapeutic strategies for both cancer and infectious diseases. She has contributed to 10 peer-reviewed publications, four of which as first-author, and has presented her work at multiple international conferences. Bárbara has also supervised students, secured competitive grants, and participated in interdisciplinary research collaborations, particularly in cancer and drug discovery.
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Identification

Personal identification

Full name
Bárbara Beatriz Sousa

Citation names

  • Bárbara B. Sousa

Author identifiers

Ciência ID
3819-2E52-DFE0
ORCID iD
0000-0002-2567-1826

Email addresses

  • bbs580@outlook.com (Professional)

Addresses

  • 1G Royal Parade, 3052, Parkville, VIC, Australia (Professional)

Knowledge fields

  • Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Biochemistry
  • Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Microbiology
  • Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Molecular Biology
  • Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Biophysics
  • Engineering and Technology - Industrial Biotechnology
  • Medical and Health Sciences - Basic Medicine - Medicinal Chemistry

Languages

Language Speaking Reading Writing Listening Peer-review
English Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2)
French Intermediate (B1) Intermediate (B1) Intermediate (B1) Intermediate (B1) Intermediate (B1)
Education
Degree Classification
2019/09/01 - 2023/12/07
Concluded
 CAML - PhD (Doutoramento)
Major in Medicinal Biochemistry
Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Portugal
2020/02 - 2020/02
Concluded
 CONGENTO Rodent Necropsy Workshop (Diploma de especialização)
Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Portugal
2019/11 - 2020/01
Concluded
 CONGENTO Course on Laboratory Animal Science (Function A) (Diploma de especialização)
Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Portugal
 18
2019/11 - 2019/12
Concluded
 SPCAL 20h Theoretical Course on Laboratory Animal Sciences (Category B) (Diploma de especialização)
Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Portugal
 18
2016 - 2018
Concluded
 Biochemistry for Health (Mestrado)
Major in Biochemistry
Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal
"Crystal structure of Bone Marrow Tyrosine Kinase from Chromosome X with covalent ligands" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
 17
2013 - 2016
Concluded
 Biologia (Licenciatura)
Major in Biotecnologia
Universidade dos Açores Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Portugal
"Characterization of the enzymatic activity of thermophilic bacteria" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
 16
Affiliation

Science

Category
Host institution 		Employer
2024/01/15 - 2025/01/15 Postdoc (Research) The University of Melbourne Faculty of Medicine Dentistry and Health Sciences, Australia
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Australia
2019/01/01 - 2019/08/31 Researcher (Research) Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Portugal
Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Medicina, Portugal

Others

Category
Host institution 		Employer
2019/09/01 - 2023/12/07 PhD student at GBernardes Lab Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Medicina, Portugal
Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Medicina, Portugal
2022/01 - 2023/03 Visiting student University of Cambridge Department of Chemistry, United Kingdom
University of Cambridge Department of Chemistry, United Kingdom
Projects

Grant

Designation Funders
2017 - Current BMX-targeted ligand-drug conjugates for prostate cancer therapy
702428
Master Student Fellow
Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Portugal
 European Commission
Concluded
2022/05 - 2025/04 Mapeamento de glicoARN utilizando estratégias de “click chemistry” e sequenciação
Provided by PTCRIS: PTDC/MED-QUI/4160/2021
 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
2021/10 - 2024/09 PROTACS de ligação covalente reversível para a degradação de proteínas para terapia de cancro
Provided by PTCRIS: PTDC/MED-QUI/1947/2020
 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
2019/09 - 2023/02 Combinatorial Antibody Synthesis for the discovery of Targeted Immunomodulators
Provided by PTCRIS: SFRH/BD/143583/2019
 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
2019/01/01 - 2023/01/01 Site-selective protein-modification chemistries for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs)
852985
Researcher
European Commission
Concluded
Outputs

Publications

Journal article
  1. Bárbara B. Sousa; Matthew W. A. Dixon. "Cellular insights into the transmission pathways of Plasmodium falciparum". (2025):
  2. Bárbara B. Sousa; Rebelo, Maria. "Advanced solutions to address the therapeutic gap in Malaria". (2025):
  3. Hannah Kiely-Collins; Tang, Cong; Bárbara B. Sousa; Gonçalo J L Bernardes. Corresponding author: Gonçalo J L Bernardes. "Chemoproteomics-enabled Discovery of a Selective TRPV2 Antagonist based on the Natural Product Piperlongumine". (2025):
  4. Luís A. R. Carvalho; Bárbara B. Sousa; Daniel Zaidman; Hannah Kiely-Collins; Gonçalo J. L. Bernardes. "Design and Evaluation of PROTACs Targeting Acyl Protein Thioesterase 1". ChemBioChem (2024): https://doi.org/10.1002/cbic.202300736.
    10.1002/cbic.202300736
  5. Méndez, Yanira; Vasco, Aldrin V.; Ivey, Galway; Dias, Ana Laura; Gierth, Peter; Sousa, Bárbara B.; Navo, Claudio D.; et al. "Merging the Isonitrile-Tetrazine (4+1) Cycloaddition and the Ugi Four-Component Reaction into a Single Multicomponent Process". Angewandte Chemie International Edition 62 44 (2023): http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.202311186.
    10.1002/anie.202311186
  6. Gomes, Rafael F. A.; Gonçalves, Bruno M. F.; Andrade, Késsia H. S.; Sousa, Bárbara B.; Maulide, Nuno; Bernardes, Gonçalo J. L.; Afonso, Carlos A. M.. "Unlocking the Potential of Bio-Based Nitrogen-Rich Furanic Platforms as Biomass Synthons". Angewandte Chemie International Edition (2023): http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.202304449.
    Published • 10.1002/anie.202304449
  7. Sousa, Bárbara B.; de Almeida, Cátia Rebelo; Barahona, Ana F.; Lopes, Raquel; Martins-Logrado, Ana; Cavaco, Marco; Neves, Vera; et al. "Selective Inhibition of Bruton’s Tyrosine Kinase by a Designed Covalent Ligand Leads to Potent Therapeutic Efficacy in Blood Cancers Relative to Clinically Used Inhibitors". ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science 5 11 (2022): 1156-1168. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsptsci.2c00163.
    10.1021/acsptsci.2c00163
  8. Istrate, Alena; Geeson, Michael B.; Navo, Claudio D.; Sousa, Barbara B.; Marques, Marta C.; Taylor, Ross J.; Journeaux, Toby; et al. "Platform for Orthogonal N-Cysteine-Specific Protein Modification Enabled by Cyclopropenone Reagents". Journal of the American Chemical Society 144 23 (2022): 10396-10406. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.2c02185.
    10.1021/jacs.2c02185
  9. Pumroy, Ruth A.; Protopopova, Anna D.; Fricke, Tabea C.; Lange, Iris U.; Haug, Ferdinand M.; Nguyen, Phuong T.; Gallo, Pamela N.; et al. "Structural insights into TRPV2 activation by small molecules". Nature Communications 13 1 (2022): http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30083-3.
    10.1038/s41467-022-30083-3
  10. Kohs, Tia C. L.; Olson, Sven R.; Pang, Jiaqing; Jordan, Kelley R.; Zheng, Tony J.; Xie, Aris; Hodovan, James; et al. "Ibrutinib Inhibits BMX-Dependent Endothelial VCAM-1 Expression In Vitro and Pro-Atherosclerotic Endothelial Activation and Platelet Adhesion In Vivo". Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering 15 3 (2022): 231-243. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12195-022-00723-1.
    10.1007/s12195-022-00723-1
  11. Conde, João; Pumroy, Ruth A.; Baker, Charlotte; Rodrigues, Tiago; Guerreiro, Ana; Sousa, Bárbara B.; Marques, Marta C.; et al. "Allosteric Antagonist Modulation of TRPV2 by Piperlongumine Impairs Glioblastoma Progression". ACS Central Science 7 5 (2021): 868-881. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acscentsci.1c00070.
    10.1021/acscentsci.1c00070
  12. Sousa, Bárbara B.; Sousa, Marcos F. Q.; Marques, Marta C.; Seixas, João D.; Brito, José A.; Matias, Pedro M.; Bernardes, Gonçalo J. L.; Roldão, António. "A scalable insect cell-based production process of the human recombinant BMX for in-vitro covalent ligand high-throughput screening". Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering 44 1 (2020): 209-215. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00449-020-02421-6.
    Open access • 10.1007/s00449-020-02421-6
  13. Seixas, João D.; Sousa, Bárbara B.; Marques, Marta C.; Guerreiro, Ana; Traquete, Rui; Rodrigues, Tiago; Albuquerque, Inês S.; et al. "Structural and biophysical insights into the mode of covalent binding of rationally designed potent BMX inhibitors". RSC Chemical Biology 1 4 (2020): 251-262. http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/d0cb00033g.
    Open access • 10.1039/d0cb00033g
Thesis / Dissertation
  1. "Targeting blood cancer-related proteins: Rational design of covalent molecules and degraders for TEC kinases and serine hydrolases". PhD, Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Medicina, 2024.
  2. "Crystal structure of bone marrow tyrosine kinase from chromosome X with covalent ligands". Master, Universidade Nova de Lisboa Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, 2018.
Activities

Oral presentation

Presentation title Event name
Host (Event location)
2019/09 Biochemical and Biophysical Characterization of the Human Recombinant BMX with Covalent Inhibitors Nova Biophysica
Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Lisbon, Portugal)
2018/06/06 Biochemical and Biophysical characterization of human BMX, a therapeutic target for prostate cancer Biophysics Party
Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica (Lisbon, Portugal)

Event participation

Activity description
Type of event 		Event name
Institution / Organization
2024/02/18 - 2024/02/22 Molecular Approaches to Malaria (MAM) 2024 Conference, Victoria Australia.
Conference
 Molecular Approaches to Malaria (MAM) 2024 Conference
The University of Melbourne Faculty of Medicine Dentistry and Health Sciences, Australia
2023/01/12 - 2023/01/13 3rd PSL Chemical Biology Symposium, Paris, France
Conference
 3rd PSL Chemical Biology Symposium, Paris, France
Institut Curie, France
2022/04 - 2022/04 (Poster) Targeting disease-related proteins: The design of serine hydrolases degraders.
Conference
 Ubiquitin and Friends, Vienna, Austria
Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria
2021 - 2021 (Poster) The importance of selectively target a cysteine in B-cell cancers.
Conference
 Bringing Chemical Biology to Cancer Research
Royal Society of Chemistry, United Kingdom
2021 - 2021 (Poster) From prostate to B-cell cancers: the importance of cysteine modification Interfacing Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery, RICT
Société de Chimie Thérapeutique, France
2020/09/03 - 2020/09/05 (Poster) Rationally designed potent BMX inhibitors reveals mode of covalent binding at the atomic level.
Conference
 EMBO Workshop: Chemical Biology 2020
Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Lebenswissenschaften Heidelberg GmbH, Germany

Ad Hoc journal article review

Journal title (ISSN) Publisher
2023 - Current Journal Drug Discovery Today (1878-5832)
Distinctions

Award

2022 Poster prize at Ubiquitin and Friends conference, Austria
2020 EMBO Travel Grant
Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Lebenswissenschaften Heidelberg GmbH, Germany
2020 ACORN Travel Grant for international conferences
European Commission, Belgium
2019 EMBO Travel Grant
Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Lebenswissenschaften Heidelberg GmbH, Germany
2017 Medal of honour in Biology
Universidade dos Açores, Portugal

Title

2019 FCT PhD Scholarship (SFRH/BD/143583/2019)
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal