???global.info.a_carregar???
Francisca Arez has been a senior research associate in the Advanced Cell Models Lab of iBET and ITQB NOVA (Portugal), since 2022. She is a junior project manager of collaborative partnerships with academic and industrial partners, aiming to address the liver’s innate immune response to gene therapy vectors through the development and interrogation of immunocompetent 3D hepatic cell models. Her scientific research experience is in (i) the development of advanced cell models and (ii) the establishment of functional readouts for disease modeling and drug discovery applications, combining bioengineering and cell biology approaches. Francisca holds a MSc in Biochemistry for Health (NOVA University of Lisbon) and a PhD in Bioengineering (from Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon and ITQB NOVA, NOVA University of Lisbon). Her MSc project was on the development of a human 3D in vitro neural model employing neural stem cells (NSC) derived from hiPSCs and bioreactor technology, with a strong focus on the phenotypic and functional characterization of cells throughout neural differentiation. Francisca strengthened her expertise in advanced cell models with translational applications in her PhD, on the liver tissue. Her PhD project focused on the development of 3D human liver models targeting the hepatic stage of Malaria. This project was a collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry rendering rewarding translational outputs, available in a total of 6 publications: (i) the integration of spheroid-based hepatic models in the preclinical development of an antimalarial drug (ii) a real case study of how these models contribute to reducing animal experimentation in drug development pipelines (iii) the clinical translation of one antimalarial drug, currently in phase II clinical trials. Her last part of the PhD leveraged a co-culture strategy in miniaturized stirred-tank systems for primary human hepatocytes, which has been the basis for follow-up projects currently ongoing in the host lab with the aim of addressing tropism and liver innate immune response induced by gene therapy products.
Read full resume ↓
Identification

Personal identification

Full name
Francisca Maria de Andrade Terras Arez Durisic

Citation names

  • Arez, Francisca

Author identifiers

Ciência ID
8317-3118-CF4A
ORCID iD
0000-0002-9890-6702

Email addresses

  • farez@ibet.pt (Professional)

Knowledge fields

  • Medical and Health Sciences - Medical Biotechnology - Health-Related Biotechnology
  • Medical and Health Sciences - Health Sciences - Infectious Diseases

Languages

Language Speaking Reading Writing Listening Peer-review
Portuguese Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1)
English Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Intermediate (B1) Advanced (C1)
Education
Degree Classification
2017/02/01 - 2022/07/28
Concluded
 Bioengineering (Doutoramento)
Universidade Nova de Lisboa Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Portugal
"Advancing liver-stage malaria in vitro models for drug discovery" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
2015
Concluded
 Bioquímica para a Saúde (Mestrado)
Universidade Nova de Lisboa Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Portugal
"Novel in vitro human 3D neural model derived from induced pluripotent stem cells" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
 18
2013
Concluded
 Licenciatura em Bioquímica (Licenciatura)
Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências, Portugal
"N/A" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
 14
Affiliation

Science

Category
Host institution 		Employer
2022/10/01 - Current Researcher (Research) Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica, Portugal

Others

Category
Host institution 		Employer
2017/02/01 - 2022/07/28 PhD student at iBET/ITQB-NOVA on the development of a cell-based platform for drug screening targeting Plasmodium hepatic infection. Universidade Nova de Lisboa Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Portugal
2016/04/01 - 2017/01/31 Research fellow at Animal Cell Technology Unit performing work under the scope of iNOVA4Health with research and industry partners, in the development of preclinical models. iNOVA4Health, Portugal
2015/11/01 - 2016/03/31 Research fellow at Animal Cell Technology Unit performing work on the development of a human 3D neural model for disease modeling and drug screening using induced pluripotent stem cells and bioreactor Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica, Portugal
2014/09/01 - 2015/11/26 Master student at Advanced Cell Models Laboratory from Animal Cell Technology Unit. The thesis project focused on the development of a human 3D neural model for disease modeling and drug screening usi Universidade Nova de Lisboa Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Portugal
2012/09/10 - 2013/08/09 Research Internshisp at "Grupo de Radicais Livres Saúde e Nutrição". The work was focused on the assessment of toxicity of infusions and pharmacological compounds in HepG2 cell line by detection of tr Universidade de Lisboa Centro de Química e Bioquímica, Portugal
Outputs

Publications

Book
  1. Simaõ, D.; Arez, F.; Terasso, A.P.; Pinto, C.; Sousa, M.F.Q.; Brito, C.; Alves, P.M.. Perfusion stirred-tank bioreactors for 3D differentiation of human neural stem cells. 2016.
    10.1007/7651_2016_333
Conference poster
  1. Ramella Gal, Isabella; Arez, Francisca; Siofia Fernandes; Domenici, Giacomo; P. Correia, Inês; Duarte, Nádia; Catarina Freitas; et al. "Towards human innate immune-competent 3D hepatic models to address early tissue response to therapeutic AAV vectors". Paper presented in ESGCT - 30th ANNUAL CONGRESS, 2023.
  2. Fontinha, Diana; Arez, Francisca; Rebelo, Sofia; Simão, Daniel; Martins, Tatiana R.; Machado, Marta; Carrondo, Manuel J. T.; et al. "3D hepatic models - an innovative platform for the screening of anti-plasmodial drugs". Paper presented in TwinnToInfect Spring School on Infection and Immunity, 2018.
Journal article
  1. Francisca Arez; Lena Preiss; Isabella Ramella Gal; Sofia P Rebelo; Lassina Badolo; Catarina Brito; thomas spangenberg; Paula M. Alves. "Heterotypic spheroids as a strategy for 3D culture of cryopreserved primary human hepatocytes in stirred-tank systems". SLAS Discovery (2025): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.slasd.2025.100210.
    10.1016/j.slasd.2025.100210
  2. Isabella Ramella Gal; Claudia Demarta-Gatsi; Diana Fontinha; Francisca Arez; Sebastian G. Wicha; Matthias Rottmann; Helena Nunes-Cabaço; et al. "Drug Interaction Studies of Cabamiquine:Ganaplacide Combination against Hepatic Plasmodium berghei". ACS Infectious Diseases (2024): http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsinfecdis.4c00563.
    10.1021/acsinfecdis.4c00563
  3. Khandelwal, Akash; Arez, Francisca; Alves, Paula M.; Badolo, Lassina; Brito, Catarina; Fischli, Christoph; Fontinha, Diana; et al. "Translation of liver stage activity of M5717, a Plasmodium elongation factor 2 inhibitor: from bench to bedside". Malaria Journal 21 1 (2022): http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12936-022-04171-0.
    Published • 10.1186/s12936-022-04171-0
  4. Fontinha, Diana; Arez, Francisca; Gal, Isabella Ramella; Nogueira, Gonçalo; Moita, Diana; Baeurle, Tobias Hyun Ho; Brito, Catarina; et al. "Pre-erythrocytic Activity of M5717 in Monotherapy and Combination in Preclinical Plasmodium Infection Models". ACS Infectious Diseases 8 4 (2022): 721-727. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsinfecdis.1c00640.
    10.1021/acsinfecdis.1c00640
  5. Arez, Francisca; Rodrigues, Ana F.; Brito, Catarina; Alves, Paula M.. "Bioengineered Liver Cell Models of Hepatotropic Infections". Viruses 13 5 (2021): 773. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v13050773.
    10.3390/v13050773
  6. Arez, Francisca; Rebelo, Sofia P.; Fontinha, Diana; Simão, Daniel; Martins, Tatiana R.; Machado, Marta; Fischli, Christoph; et al. "Flexible 3D Cell-Based Platforms for the Discovery and Profiling of Novel Drugs Targeting Plasmodium Hepatic Infection". ACS Infectious Diseases 5 11 (2019): 1831-1842. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsinfecdis.9b00144.
    Published • 10.1021/acsinfecdis.9b00144
  7. Simão D; Silva MM; Terrasso AP; Arez F; Sousa MFQ; Mehrjardi NZ; Šaric T; et al. "Recapitulation of Human Neural Microenvironment Signatures in iPSC-Derived NPC 3D Differentiation.". Stem cell reports (2018): http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/30057262.
    10.1016/j.stemcr.2018.06.020

Intellectual property

Patent
  1. Spangenberg, Thomas; Greco, Beatrice; Alves, Paula M; Carrondo, Manuel JT; Brito, Catarina; Rebelo, Sofia P; Arez, Francisca; et al. 2018. "Infected cell cultures".
Activities

Oral presentation

Presentation title Event name
Host (Event location)
2023/04/18 A cell spheroid-based platform of hepatic Plasmodium infection leverages the clinical translation of anti-plasmodial drug candidates Dechema 3D Cell Culture 2023: Models, Applications & Translation
(Freiburg, Germany)

Event participation

Activity description
Type of event 		Event name
Institution / Organization
2019/06/26 - 2019/06/28 Poster Communication in an international conference - "Arez F." Rebelo, SP. Fontinha D. Simão, D. Machado M. Martins T. Fischli C. Oeuvray C. Badolo, L. Carrondo M. Rottmann M. Spangenberg, T. Brito, C. Greco B. Prudêncio M. Alves PM, "Flexible human 3D cell-based platforms for preclinical assessment of anti-plasmodial drugs targeting Plasmodium hepatic infection", 7th International Conference on Plasmodium vivax Research (ICPvR), June 26-28, 2019. Paris, France
Conference
 7th International Conference on Plasmodium vivax Research (ICPvR)
Institut Pasteur, France
2018/05/23 - 2018/05/25 Poster Communication in an international conference - "Arez, F". Rebelo, SP. Fontinha D. Simão, D. Machado M. Martins T. Fischli C. Oeuvray C. Badolo, L. Carrondo M. Rottmann M. Spangenberg, T. Brito, C. Greco B. Prudêncio M. Alves PM. “A human 3D cell model for drug discovery targeting Plasmodium hepatic infection”. BioMalPar XIV: Biology and Pathology of the Malaria Parasite, 23-25 May 2018, Heidelberg, Germany
Conference
 BioMalPar XIV: Biology and Pathology of the Malaria Parasite
EMBL Heidelberg Genome Biology, Germany
2018/03/02 - 2018/03/09 Course of Animal use for Scientific Experimentation designed according to the FELASA recommendations for Category B
Other
 Champalimaud Practical Course on Laboratory Animal Science
Sociedade Portuguesa de Ciências em Animais de Laboratório, Portugal

Fundação Champalimaud, Portugal
2016/04/19 - 2016/04/21 Poster communication in an international conference: - Simão, D., "Arez, F". , Terrasso, A.P., Silva, M.M., Sousa, M.F., Gomes-Alves, P., Alves, P.M., Brito, C.; “Dynamic remodelling of neural cellular and extracellular signatures depicted in 3D ‘in vitro’ differentiation of human iPSC-derived NSC” 3D Cell Culture 2016 - How close to 'in vivo' can we get? Models, applications & translation, 19-21 April, Freiburg, Germany.
Conference
 3D Cell Culture 2016 - How close to 'in vivo' can we get? Models, applications & translation
DECHEMA - Gesellschaft für Chemische Technik und Biotechnologie e. V., Germany
2015/10/15 - 2015/10/16 Poster Communication in a nacional conference: - Simão, D., Terrasso, A.P., "Arez, F". , Pinto, C., Bastos, A.E.P., Sousa, M., Sousa, M.F., Lima, P.A., Pedroso, P., Filipe, A., Alves, P.M., Brito, C; “Robust three-dimensional culture strategy for neural differentiation of human stem cells”. 9th International Meeting of the Portuguese Society for Stem Cells and Cell Therapies, 15-16 October 2015
Conference
 9th International Meeting of the Portuguese Society for Stem Cells and Cell Therapies
Portuguese Society for Stem Cells and Cell Therapies, Portugal
Distinctions

Award

2020 Applied In Vitro Toxicology travel grant
European Society of Toxicology In Vitro , Spain