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Passionate about bridging the gap between research and industry, I am a biotech professional with a decade of experience in malaria research and product development. My career began in 2011 as a PhD student at ISGlobal (Barcelona), where I focused on creating nanovectors for targeted drug delivery to the asexual blood stages of Plasmodium spp.. This work led me to an internship at Imperial College London in 2014, where I honed my skills in infecting Anopheles mosquitoes and assessing parasite development to test these nanovectors in the sexual stages of the parasite. In 2016, I joined IHMT/NOVA (Lisbon) with a mission to develop an artificial blood-free diet for rearing Anopheles mosquitoes, a project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This culminated in the successful creation of Bloodless, an innovative artificial diet that mirrors the nutritional value of blood meals, promoting optimal mosquito fecundity, fertility, and fitness. I have filed two patents for novel products, demonstrating my commitment to translating research into impactful, commercially viable solutions. My recent endeavors have focused on advancing Bloodless through its implementation in a blood-free insectary, now sustaining the 40th generation of mosquitoes without fitness loss. I’ve optimized its formulation and storage, and tested it on various mosquito species in collaboration with stakeholders from academia and industry in malaria-endemic regions. These efforts have been complemented by a postgraduate specialization in bioentrepreneurship, which has equipped me with the skills to navigate the interface between scientific research and commercial application. I am eager to leverage my background in product development and stakeholder collaboration to drive innovation in the biotech sector. My primary interests include translational research, bio-based product development, and fostering partnerships that accelerate the commercialization of impactful health solutions.
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Identification

Personal identification

Full name
Joana Marques

Citation names

  • Marques, Joana
  • Maria Marques

Author identifiers

Ciência ID
7519-AD57-97F6
ORCID iD
0000-0003-1827-2912

Addresses

  • Rua da Junqueira 100, 1349-008, Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal (Professional)

Knowledge fields

  • Medical and Health Sciences - Health Sciences - Parasitology

Languages

Language Speaking Reading Writing Listening Peer-review
Portuguese (Mother tongue)
English Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1)
Spanish; Castilian Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1)
Education
Degree Classification
2024/04 - 2024/07
Concluded
 Startup Research (Pós-Graduação)
Major in Bio-entrepreneurship
Universidade Nova de Lisboa Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Portugal

Universidade NOVA de Lisboa NOVA School of Business and Economics, Portugal
Approved
2022/06/20 - 2022/06/30
Concluded
 Secure Insectary Experimental Methods Course (Licence)
The Pirbright Institute, United Kingdom
2011 - 2015
Concluded
 International PhD in Biotechnology (Doctorat)
Universitat de Barcelona Facultat de Farmacia, Spain
 Cum Laude
2009 - 2009
Concluded
 Animais de experimentação. Modelos experimentais. (Licence)
Universitat de Barcelona Facultat de Farmacia, Spain
2008 - 2009
Concluded
 Master in Drug Research, Development and Control (Master)
Universitat de Barcelona Facultat de Farmacia, Spain
2004 - 2008
Concluded
 Microbiologia (Licenciatura)
Universidade Católica Portuguesa Escola Superior de Biotecnologia, Portugal
Affiliation

Science

Category
Host institution 		Employer
2019 - Current Contracted Researcher (Research) Universidade Nova de Lisboa Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Portugal
2016 - 2018 Postdoc (Research) Universidade Nova de Lisboa Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Portugal
2011 - 2015 Research Trainee (Research) Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya, Spain
2009 - 2011 Research Assistant (Research) Universitat de Barcelona Facultat de Biologia, Spain
Projects

Contract

Designation Funders
2022/01/01 - Current MosqDiet - Rearing Anopheles mosquitos without blood for malaria research and control.
FCT-AGAKHAN / 541725581 / 2019
Post-doc
Universidade Nova de Lisboa Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Portugal
Ongoing
2014 - Current Amphoteric polyamidoamines as innovative tools to selectively direct antimalarial drugs towards Plasmodium-infected red blood cells
2013-0584
PhD Student Fellow
2011 - Current Desarrollo de nanovectores para la liberación dirigida de antimaláricos
BIO2008-01184
PhD Student Fellow
Instituto de Salud Global Barcelona, Spain
Concluded
2011 - Current Exploración de nuevas moléculas direccionadoras eficientes para la liberación de antimaláricos mediante nanovectores
BIO2011-25039
PhD Student Fellow
Concluded
2023/01 - 2024/06 Explorando a inibição de efluxo para o combate à resistência aos antimicrobianos e a biofilmes em estafilococos
175487PRJ
Provided by PTCRIS: 2022.07931.PTDC
2022.07931.PTDC
10.54499/2022.07931.PTDC
Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal
 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Ongoing
2016/01 - 2018/04 Artificial diet complemented with a human blood factor
1138841
Post-doc Fellow
Universidade Nova de Lisboa Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Portugal
 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Concluded

Other

Designation Funders
2019/01/01 - Current Towards blood-free Anopheles rearing and control.
10.54499/CEECIND/00450/2017/CP1415/CT0001
Post-doc
Universidade Nova de Lisboa Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Portugal
 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Ongoing
Outputs

Publications

Conference abstract
  1. Mariana Andrade; Joana Neves; Maria Bento; Joana Marques; Miguel Viveiros; Liliana Rodrigues; A Armada; et al. "Galleria mellonella". 2024.
  2. M. Andrade; Joana Neves; Maria Bento; Joana Marques; Miguel Viveiros; Liliana Rodrigues; A Armada; et al. "Galleria mellonella as a reliable in vivo model to evaluate repurposed drugs for Staphylococcus infection therapeutics". 2024.
Conference poster
  1. Mariana Andrade; Joana Neves; Joana Marques; A Armada; Liliana Rodrigues; Miguel Viveiros; Henrique Silveira; Isabel Couto; Sofia Santos Costa. "Galleria mellonella research hub". 2024.
  2. Rodrigues, Telma; Andrade, Mariana; Marques, Joana; Rodrigues, Liliana; Viveiros, Miguel; Silveira, Henrique; Couto, Isabel; Costa, Sofia Santos. "Implementation of a Galleria mellonella infection model at GHTM/IHMT-NOVA". Paper presented in National Congress of Microbiology and Biotechnology (MicroBiotec23), Covilhã, Portugal, 2023.
Journal article
  1. Andrade, Mariana; Neves, Joana; Bento, Maria; Marques, Joana; Seabra, Sofia G.; Silveira, Henrique; Rodrigues, Liliana; et al. "Evaluation of Amlodipine and Imipramine Efficacy to Treat Galleria mellonella Infection by Biofilm-Producing and Antimicrobial-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus". Antibiotics 14 2 (2025): 183. https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics14020183.
    10.3390/antibiotics14020183
  2. Marques, Joana; Seabra, Sofia G.; Almeida, Inês; Gomes, Joana; Alves, Ana Catarina; Silveira, Henrique. "Long-term blood-free rearing of Anopheles mosquitoes with no effect on fitness, Plasmodium infectivity nor microbiota composition". Scientific Reports 14 1 (2024): http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-70090-6.
    10.1038/s41598-024-70090-6
  3. Mosi, Faith Allan; Rutha, Isaack; Velez, Rita; Swai, Johnson Kyeba; Mlacha, Yeromin P.; Marques, Joana; Silveira, Henrique; Tarimo, Brian B.. "Effects of a blood-free mosquito diet on fitness and gonotrophic cycle parameters of laboratory reared Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto". Parasites & Vectors 17 1 (2024): http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13071-024-06345-y.
    10.1186/s13071-024-06345-y
  4. Marques, Joana; Cardoso, João C. R.; Félix, Rute C.; Power, Deborah M.; Silveira, Henrique. "A Blood-Free Diet to Rear Anopheline Mosquitoes". Journal of Visualized Experiments 155 (2020): http://dx.doi.org/10.3791/60144.
    Open access • Published • 10.3791/60144
  5. Martí Coma-Cros, Elisabet; Biosca, Arnau; Marques, Joana; Carol, Laura; Urbán, Patricia; Berenguer, Diana; Riera, Maria; et al. "Polyamidoamine Nanoparticles for the Oral Administration of Antimalarial Drugs". Pharmaceutics 10 4 (2018): 225. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics10040225.
    Published • 10.3390/pharmaceutics10040225
  6. Marques, Joana; Cardoso, João; Felix, Rute C.; Santana, Rosa A. G.; Guerra, Maria das Graças Barbosa; Power, Deborah; Silveira, Henrique. "Fresh-blood-free diet for rearing malaria mosquito vectors". (2018): http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/12552.
    10.1038/s41598-018-35886-3
  7. Marques, Joana; Valle-Delgado, Juan José; Urbán, Patricia; Baró, Elisabet; Prohens, Rafel; Mayor, Alfredo; Cisteró, Pau; et al. "Adaptation of targeted nanocarriers to changing requirements in antimalarial drug delivery". (2017): http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85009876187&partnerID=8YFLogxK.
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nano.2016.09.010
  8. Credi, Caterina; De Marco, Carmela; Molena, Elena; Pla Roca, Mateu; Samitier Martí, Josep; Marques, Joana; Fernàndez-Busquets, Xavier; Levi, Marinella; Turri, Stefano. "Heparin micropatterning onto fouling-release perfluoropolyether-based polymers via photobiotin activation". Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces 146 (2016): 250-259. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfb.2016.06.020.
    10.1016/j.colsurfb.2016.06.020
  9. Marques, Joana; Vilanova, Eduardo; Mourão, Paulo A. S.; Fernàndez-Busquets, Xavier. "Marine organism sulfated polysaccharides exhibiting significant antimalarial activity and inhibition of red blood cell invasion by Plasmodium". Scientific Reports 6 1 (2016): http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep24368.
    Published • 10.1038/srep24368
  10. Marques, Joana; Moles, Ernest; Urbán, Patricia; Prohens, Rafel; Busquets, Maria Antònia; Sevrin, Chantal; Grandfils, Christian; Fernàndez-Busquets, Xavier. "Application of heparin as a dual agent with antimalarial and liposome targeting activities toward Plasmodium-infected red blood cells". Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine 10 8 (2014): 1719-1728. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nano.2014.06.002.
    Published • 10.1016/j.nano.2014.06.002
  11. Urbán, Patricia; Valle-Delgado, Juan José; Mauro, Nicolò; Marques, Joana; Manfredi, Amedea; Rottmann, Matthias; Ranucci, Elisabetta; Ferruti, Paolo; Fernàndez-Busquets, Xavier. "Use of poly(amidoamine) drug conjugates for the delivery of antimalarials to Plasmodium". Journal of Controlled Release 177 (2014): 84-95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jconrel.2013.12.032.
    10.1016/j.jconrel.2013.12.032
  12. Urban, Patricia; Jose Valle-Delgado, Juan; Moles, Ernest; Marques, Joana; Diez, Cinta; Fernandez-Busquets, Xavier. "Nanotools for the Delivery of Antimicrobial Peptides". Current Drug Targets 13 9 (2012): 1158-1172. http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/138945012802002302.
    10.2174/138945012802002302
  13. Aquilini, Eleonora; Azevedo, Joana; Merino, Susana; Jimenez, Natalia; Tomás, Juan M.; Regué, Miguel. "Three Enzymatic Steps Required for the Galactosamine Incorporation into Core Lipopolysaccharide". Journal of Biological Chemistry 285 51 (2010): 39739-39749. http://dx.doi.org/10.1074/jbc.m110.168385.
    10.1074/jbc.m110.168385
  14. Aquilini, E.; Azevedo, J.; Jimenez, N.; Bouamama, L.; Tomas, J. M.; Regue, M.. "Functional Identification of the Proteus mirabilis Core Lipopolysaccharide Biosynthesis Genes". Journal of Bacteriology 192 17 (2010): 4413-4424. http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/jb.00494-10.
    10.1128/jb.00494-10

Intellectual property

Patent
  1. Marques, Joana. 2019. "Blood-free diet for rearing malaria mosquito vectors".
  2. Marques, Joana. 2014. "Heparin-lipidic nanoparticle conjugates".
Activities

Oral presentation

Presentation title Event name
Host (Event location)
2024/07/19 BiteWise Startup Research Pitch Session
ITQB (Lisbon, Portugal)
2024/04/24 Innovating on ethical mosquito feeding, an alternative to blood. Seminar
International Atomic Energy Agency (Seibersdorf, Austria)
2022/05/19 O financiamento da ciência até à tecnologia industrial. Gestão do conhecimento científico em projetos de inovação.
(Aveiro, Portugal)
2021/03/12 BLOODless Final Pitch Sciencepreneur | Hands-on
NOVA University Lisbon (Portugal)
2020/06/23 BLOODless Final Pitch Demo Day – Born from Knowledge
Beta-i & Agência Nacional de Inovação (Portugal)
2016/09/26 Dieta artificial complementada por um fator de sangue humano. Workshop UNL/INSA de Doenças Transmitidas por Vetores.
INSA (Lisboa, Portugal)
2016/01/19 Exploration of sulfated polysaccharides as antimalarials and as targeting molecules for nanovector-mediated drug delivery to Plasmodium-infected cells. Seminar at Instituto de Medicina Molecular – Parasitology Series
(Lisboa, Portugal)
2015/07/22 Exploration of sulfated polysaccharides as antimalarials and as targeting molecules for nanovectors- mediated drug delivery to Plasmodium-infected cells. ISGlobal Seminars 2015
ISGlobal (Barcelona, Spain)
2014/11/13 Application of heparin as a dual agent with antimalarial and liposome targeting activity towards Plasmodium-infected red blood cells. 1st PhD Symposium ISGlobal/CREAL.
ISGlobal (Barcelona, Spain)
2013/05/13 Nanovectors for antimalarial targeted drug delivery. 9th Annual BioMalPar I EVIMalaR Conference.
EMBL (Heidelberg, Germany)

Supervision

Thesis Title
Role 		Degree Subject (Type)
Institution / Organization
2022/09/01 - Current Optimizing and testing an artificial diet for Anopheles mosquitoes
Supervisor
 Parasitologia Médica (Master)
Universidade Nova de Lisboa Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Portugal
2021/09/01 - Current Use of blood-free diet to rear mosquitoes.
Co-supervisor
Universidade Nova de Lisboa Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Portugal
2022/09/15 - 2024 Desenvolvimento e otimização de um modelo de infeção em Galleria mellonella para ensaios de patogenicidade e de avaliação de fármacos.
Co-supervisor
 Ciências Biomédicas (Master)
Universidade Nova de Lisboa Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Portugal
2021/09/01 - 2023/03/28 The effect of larvae diet on adult mosquito life history traits and malaria transmission.
Supervisor
 Ciências Biomédicas (Master)
Universidade Nova de Lisboa Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Portugal
2020/09/01 - 2022 Testing the effect of an artificial diet on Anopheles mosquitoes' genome and microbiome.
Co-supervisor
 Ciências Biomédicas (Master)
Universidade Nova de Lisboa Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Portugal
2018/02/01 - 2018/06/30 Towards Anopheles blood-free rearing.
Supervisor
Universidade Nova de Lisboa Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Portugal

Event participation

Activity description
Type of event 		Event name
Institution / Organization
2020/12/01 - 2021/03/12 This course is designed for scientists seeking to broaden the idea of what innovation is and to know how to create value from their research activities. Particularly, this course aims to provide PhD students, young scientists and even more senior researchers with proper tools needed to put their research and ideas into a wider context, namely on the valorisation of research results and their benefits to society. Comprises theoretical lectures, case studies and discussion sessions with successful science-based entrepreneurs, investors and CEOs.
Other
 Sciencepreneur | Hands-on
Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal
2020/03/06 - 2020/06/23 Born from Knowledge - Rise is a Science and Technology Acceleration Program to enhance the results of Research & Development (R&D) and existing technologies in the National Scientific and Technological System with commercialization potential. Over 3 months, BfK offers intensive monitoring and training to teams with scientific and technological projects (aprox. 50 hours). The goal? Facilitate the transfer of this knowledge/technology to the market.
Other
 Born from Knowledge Rise
Agência Nacional de Inovação SA, Portugal

Jury of academic degree

Topic
Role 		Candidate name (Type of degree)
Institution / Organization
2023/03/28 Impact of different larval diets on the life cycle and fitness of Anopheles mosquitoes.
Supervisor
 Cláudia Sofia Alves Palhinhas (Master)
Universidade Nova de Lisboa Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Portugal
Distinctions

Award

2014 Best oral presentation
Instituto de Salud Global Barcelona, Spain
2014 First call for grants to promote mobility within doctoral programs in the framework of the Eurolife network

Other distinction

2019 CEEC Individual - Junior Researcher
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal