JOANA CATARINA SANTOS LEITE (441C-C369-0DBC)

Curriculum Vitae

JOANA CATARINA SANTOS LEITE

Joana Leite completed an Integrated Masters in Bioengineering at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto in 2015. After a short experience in the biotech industry, she came back to research and joined Dr. Ana Carvalho's group at i3S as a PhD student, where she is currently working on the development of biophysical and computational models to study the mechanical properties of actomyosin networks during cytokinesis, the last step of cell division.

Identification

Personal identification

Full name: JOANA CATARINA SANTOS LEITE

Citation names

Leite, Joana

Author identifiers

Ciência ID: 441C-C369-0DBC
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5970-1870

Email addresses

joana.leite@i3s.up.pt (Professional)

Telephones

Telephone

220408800 (Professional)

Addresses

Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3s). R. Alfredo Allen, 4200-135, Porto, Porto, Portugal (Professional)

Knowledge fields

Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Biophysics
Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Cell Biology
Medical and Health Sciences - Medical Biotechnology - Biomaterials
Exact Sciences - Computer and Information Sciences

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)
Spanish; Castilian	Intermediate (B1)	Intermediate (B1)	Intermediate (B1)	Intermediate (B1)

Education

	Degree	Classification
2018 - 2024/10 Concluded	PhD Biophysics (Doutoramento) Universidade do Porto Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar, Portugal Collège de France, France "Global biomechanics of cytokinesis: Unravelling the interplay between the contractile ring and the surrounding cortex" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)	Approved unanimously
2020 - 2023/12 Concluded	Computer Science (Mestrado) Universidade do Porto Faculdade de Ciências, Portugal "A Machine Learning approach to determine Stellar Atmospheric Parameters using Spectral Data" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)	17
2010/09/01 - 2015/10 Concluded	Integrated Masters in Bioengineering (Mestrado) Universidade do Porto Faculdade de Engenharia, Portugal "Effect of immobilized a6ß1 synthetic ligands on the behaviour of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) in 3D fibrin hydrogels" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)	16 out of 20

Affiliation

Science

	Category Host institution	Employer
2017/07/01 - 2021/12/31	Researcher (Research)	Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Portugal
	Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Portugal
2017/07/01 - 2017/10/01	Researcher (Research)	Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Portugal
	Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Portugal
2014/02/24 - 2014/07/25	Visiting Researcher (Research)	Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials (NFB), National University of Galway, Ireland (NUIG), Ireland
	Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials (NFB), National University of Galway, Ireland (NUIG), Ireland

Teaching in Higher Education

	Category Host institution	Employer
2024/10/01 - Current	Invited Assistant Professor (University Teacher)	Universidade do Porto Faculdade de Ciências, Portugal
	Universidade do Porto Faculdade de Ciências, Portugal

Others

	Category Host institution	Employer
2016/09/01 - 2017/03/31	Junior Scientist	Stemmatters, Biotecnologia e Medicina Regenerativa SA, Portugal

2015/02/01 - 2015/10/06	Master Student - Effect of immobilized a6ß1 synthetic ligands on the behaviour of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) in 3D fibrin hydrogels.	IBMC-INEB Associate Laboratory, Portugal
	IBMC-INEB Associate Laboratory, Portugal

Projects

Grant

	Designation	Funders
2025/08/22 - 2026/01/15	OmicBots: High-Throughput Integrative Omic-Robots Platform for a Next Generation Physiology-based Precision Viticulture PTDC/ASP-HOR/1338/2021 Post-doc Fellow INESC Porto, Portugal Universidade do Porto Faculdade de Ciências, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Ongoing
2022/06/01 - 2022/12/31	Safe Cities - Safe Cities - Inovação para Construir Cidades Seguras POCI-01-0247-FEDER-041435 Research Fellow Universidade do Porto, Portugal	Concluded

Other

	Designation	Funders
2017/10/01 - 2022/10/31	ACTOMYO - Mechanisms of actomyosin-based contractility during cytokinesis 640553 PhD Student Fellow Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Portugal	European Research Council Concluded
2015/02/01 - 2015/10/31	NeurON - Molecularly-designed hydrogels for neural stem cell transplantation: a combinatorial approach for successful regeneration and functional recovery in spinal cord injury PTDC/SAU-BMA/118869/2010 Master Student Fellow Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Portugal Karolinska Institutet, Sweden	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Concluded

Outputs

Publications

Conference poster

Leite, Joana; Chan, Fung-Yi; Osório, Daniel S.; Saramago, Joana; Sobral, Ana F.; Silva, Ana M.; Gassmann, Reto; Carvalho, Ana X.. "Equatorial Non-muscle Myosin II and Plastin Cooperate to Align and Compact F-actin Bundles in the Cytokinetic Ring". Paper presented in Cell Bio Virtual 2020 | An Online ASCB|EMBO Meeting, 2020.
Osório, Daniel Sampaio; Chan, Fung-Yi; Saramago, Joana; Leite, Joana; Silva, Ana Marta; Sobral, Ana Filipa; Gassmann, Reto; Carvalho, Ana Xavier. "Flow-independent accumulation of motor-competent non-muscle myosin II in the contractile ring is essential for cytokinesis.". Paper presented in GENiE Cytoskeleton Workshop TAU 2018, February 7-8 2019, Tel-Aviv, Israel, 2019.
Osório, Daniel Sampaio; Chan, Fung-Yi; Saramago, Joana; Leite, Joana; Silva, Ana Marta; Sobral, Ana Filipa; Gassmann, Reto; Carvalho, Ana Xavier. "Flow-independent accumulation of motor-competent non-muscle myosin II in the contractile ring is essential for cytokinesis.". Paper presented in ASCB | EMBO 2018 meeting, December 8-12, San Diego, CA, 2018.
Leite, Joana; Turlier, Hervé; Carvalho, Ana Xavier. "Global biomechanics of cytokinesis: unravelling the interplay between the contractile ring and the surrounding cortex". Paper presented in EMBO Workshop: Physics of integrated biological systems. 11 – 21 September 2018 | Cargèse, France, 2018.
Saramago, Joana; Osório, Daniel Sampaio; Chan, Fung-Yi; Leite, Joana; Silva, Ana Marta; Sobral, Ana Filipa; Gassmann, Reto; Carvalho, Ana Xavier. "Flow-independent accumulation of motor-competent non-muscle myosin II in the contractile ring is essential for cytokinesis.". Paper presented in EMBO Workshop: C. elegans development, cell biology and gene expression, 2018.

Journal article

Leite, Joana; Chan, Fung-Yi; Osório, Daniel S.; Saramago, Joana; Sobral, Ana F.; Silva, Ana M.; Gassmann, Reto; Carvalho, Ana X.. "Equatorial Non-muscle Myosin II and Plastin Cooperate to Align and Compact F-actin Bundles in the Cytokinetic Ring". Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology 8 (2020): http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2020.573393.
Published • 10.3389/fcell.2020.573393
Osório, Daniel S.; Chan, Fung-Yi; Saramago, Joana; Leite, Joana; Silva, Ana M.; Sobral, Ana F.; Gassmann, Reto; Carvalho, Ana Xavier. "Crosslinking activity of non-muscle myosin II is not sufficient for embryonic cytokinesis in C. elegans". Development 146 21 (2019): dev179150. http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/dev.179150.
Open access • Published • 10.1242/dev.179150
Leite, Joana; Osorio, Daniel Sampaio; Sobral, Ana Filipa; Silva, Ana Marta; Carvalho, Ana Xavier. "Network Contractility during Cytokinesis—From Molecular to Global Views". Biomolecules 9 5 (2019): 194. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biom9050194.
Open access • Published • 10.3390/biom9050194

Activities

Oral presentation

	Presentation title	Event name Host (Event location)
2018/09/12	Global biomechanics of cytokinesis: unravelling the interplay between the contractile ring and the surrounding cortex	EMBO Workshop: Physics of integrated biological systems. 11 – 21 September 2018 \| Cargèse, France EMBO (Cargèse, France)
2017/11/09	Cytokinesis: a tale of forces	6th i3s Annual Meeting, Póvoa de Varzim, Porto, Portugal Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal)

Event organisation

	Event name Type of event (Role)	Institution / Organization
2011/11 - 2011/11	Third Symposium on Bioengineering (2011/11) Symposium (Member of the Organising Committee)	Universidade do Porto Faculdade de Engenharia, Portugal

Event participation

	Activity description Type of event	Event name Institution / Organization
2018/09/11 - 2018/09/21	EMBO Workshop: Physics of integrated biological systems. 11 – 21 September 2018 \| Cargèse, France Conference	EMBO Workshop: Physics of integrated biological systems. EMBO Press, Germany
2017/11/09 - 2017/11/10	6th i3s Annual Meeting, Póvoa de Varzim, Porto, Portugal Meeting	6th i3s Annual Meeting Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Portugal
2012/11 - 2012/11	Fourth Symposium on Bioengineering Symposium	Fourth Symposium on Bioengineering Universidade do Porto Faculdade de Engenharia, Portugal
2011/11 - 2011/11	Third Symposium on Bioengineering Symposium	Third Symposium on Bioengineering Universidade do Porto Faculdade de Engenharia, Portugal
2010/11 - 2010/11	Second Symposium on Bioengineering Symposium	Second Symposium on Bioengineering Universidade do Porto Faculdade de Engenharia, Portugal

Association member

	Society Organization name	Role
2014 - 2014	NEB-FEUP/ICBAS – Núcleo de Estudantes de Bioengenharia	Member