Ana Catarina da Silva Franco (8C1A-8A15-0550)

Curriculum Vitae

Ana Catarina da Silva Franco

Ana Catarina Franco earned her BSc in Biology (specializing in Molecular Biology and Genetics) from the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Lisbon in 2016. Following her undergraduate studies, she served as a research volunteer at the Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes for nearly an academic year. In 2019, Ana completed her MSc in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra. Her thesis, "Neuroendocrine Peptide as a Novel Therapeutic Strategy to Delay Skin Aging," was conducted at the Center for Neuroscience and Cellular Biology within the Neuroendocrinology and Aging group. This research demonstrated that Ghrelin improved the overall aging phenotype of the skin in a murine model of Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome. After completing her MSc, Ana secured a research fellowship at the same institution under the project "HealthyAgeing2020 (ref. CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-000012)," focusing on aging research, age-related diseases, and potential anti-aging strategies using cellular and animal models. Presently, Ana is a Ph.D. student with a fellowship supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) (ref. 2020.04478.BD). Her Ph.D. project, titled "The Role of Skin Senescence in Whole-Body Aging," is supervised by Professor Cláudia Cavadas, Dr. Célia Aveleira, and Dr. João Passos, in collaboration with the Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, University of Coimbra, and the Arlene and Kogod Aging Center at Mayo Clinic, Minnesota, USA. Ana was awarded a Fulbright Grant for Research with the support of FCT to conduct part of her Ph.D. project as a visiting graduate student in the USA host institution. ana's Ph.D project focuses on two main sub-topics. Firstly, the characterization of cellular senescence in the skin during aging, using state-of-the-art multi-omic techniques such as iterative indirect immunofluorescence imaging (4i) and Co-detection by indexing (CODEX). These tools allow the simultaneous visualization of multiple biomarkers at single-cell resolution, which allows the differentiation of cell subgroups based on unique senescence-marker spatial signatures. The second project aims to understand the impact of skin senescence on systemic aging, particularly on cognitive aging. To test this, senescent and control cells were intradermally transplanted into murine skin, and the development of frailty, physical dysfunction, and cognitive decline was evaluated. Additionally, this study aims to assess if the administration of senolytics can improve the overall whole-body aging phenotype and contribute to developing novel anti-aging strategies.

Read full resume ↓

Identification

Personal identification

Full name: Ana Catarina da Silva Franco

Citation names

Ana Catarina Franco

Author identifiers

Ciência ID: 8C1A-8A15-0550
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6730-7021

Email addresses

ana.franco@student.ff.uc.pt (Professional)

Telephones

Mobile phone

917686863 (Personal)

Addresses

Rua Larga, Fac. Med. Polo 1, Piso 2, 3004-504, Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal (Professional)

Knowledge fields

Medical and Health Sciences
Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Biology
Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Cell Biology
Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Molecular Biology
Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Biochemistry
Medical and Health Sciences - Clinical Medicine - Dermatology and Venereal Diseases

Languages

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

Education

	Degree	Classification
2021/01/01 - 2024/12/31 Ongoing	PhD program in Pharmaceutical Sciences (Doutoramento) Universidade de Coimbra Faculdade de Farmácia, Portugal "The role of skin senescence to whole body ageing" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
2021/01 - 2024/06 Ongoing	EIT Health Ageing PhD School (Curso de doutoramento (conclusão de unidades curriculares)) Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
2017/10 - 2019/07 Concluded	Biotecnologia Farmacêutica (Mestrado) Universidade de Coimbra Faculdade de Farmácia, Portugal "Neuroendocrine peptide as a novel therapeutic strategy to delay skin aging" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)	18
2017/03/24 - 2017/04/10 Concluded	Course on Laboratory Animal Science - FELASA B Level (Outros) Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Portugal
2013/09 - 2016/07 Concluded	Biologia (Licenciatura) Major in Biologia Molecular e Genética Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências, Portugal	15
2012/09 - 2013/07 Attended	Ortóptica (Licenciatura) Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa, Portugal

Affiliation

Others

	Category Host institution	Employer
2021/01/01 - 2024/12/31	PhD student of Pharmaceutical Sciences with project entitled “The role of skin senescence to whole body ageing”	Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Neurociências e Biologia Celular, Portugal
	Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Neurociências e Biologia Celular, Portugal
2019/11/04 - 2020/12/31	Research fellow in the project HealthyAging2020 (ref. CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-000012) supported by University of Coimbra	Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Neurociências e Biologia Celular, Portugal

2017/10 - 2019/07	MSc student with thesis entitled: 'Neuroendocrine peptide as a novel therapeutic strategy to delay skin aging" (19 out of 20), under the supervision of Célia Aveleira and Cláudia Cavadas.	Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Neurociências e Biologia Celular, Portugal

2016/08 - 2017/04	Voluntary internship - Scientific research focused on antimalarial strategies at Miguel Prudencio Lab	Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Portugal

2016/01 - 2016/06	BSc practical scientific work under the course of "Oriented studies" - Development of a scientific project entitled "Bioconversion of steroids" under the supervision of doctor Manuela Carolino	Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências, Portugal

Projects

Grant

	Designation	Funders
2019/11/04 - 2020/12	HealthyAging2020 (ref. CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-000012) CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-000012 Research Fellow Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Neurociências e Biologia Celular, Portugal	Ongoing

Other

	Designation	Funders
2018/06/01 - 2021/05/31	NiNjA - New Neuroendocrine Strategy for healthy Aging PTDC/MED-FAR/30167/2017 Other Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Neurociências e Biologia Celular, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Ongoing

Outputs

Publications

Conference poster	Ana Catarina Franco; Anthony Lagnado; Dominik Saul; Stella Victorelli; Saranya Wyles; Diana Jurk; Aveleira, Célia; Cavadas, Claudia; Passos, Joao. "Creating a spatial map of cellular senescence in human skin aging". Paper presented in 8th International Cell Senescence Association (ICSA) Conference, 2023. Ana Catarina Franco; Anthony Lagnado; Dominik Saul; Stella Victorelli; Saranya Wyles; Diana Jurk; Celia Aveleira; Cavadas, Claudia; Passos, Joao. "Creating a spatial map of cellular senescence in human skin aging". Paper presented in Annual SenNet Meeting, 2023. Franco, Ana Catarina; Ferreira-Marques, Marisa; Carvalho, Andre; Carmo-Silva, Sara; Botelho, Mariana; Cavadas, Claudia; Aveleira, Célia. "Neuroendocrine peptide as a novel therapeutic strategy to delay skin aging.". Paper presented in Center for Innovative Biomedicine and Biotechnology (CIBB) Meeting, 2019. Ferreira-Marques, Marisa; Carvalho, Andre; Franco, Ana Catarina; Carmo-Silva, Sara; Botelho, Mariana; Cavadas, Claudia; Aveleira, Célia. "Targeting the neuroendocrine system to delay aging phenotype in progeria". Paper presented in Center for Innovative Biomedicine and Biotechnology (CIBB), 2019. Franco, Ana Catarina; Ferreira-Marques, Marisa; Carvalho, André; Carmo-Silva, Sara; Botelho, Mariana; Cavadas, Claudia; Aveleira, Célia. "A neuroendocrine strategy to slow down the clock on skin aging". Paper presented in BEB day 2019, 2019. Franco, Ana Catarina; Ferreira-Marques, Marisa; Carvalho, André; Carmo-Silva, Sara; Botelho, Mariana; Cavadas, Claudia; Aveleira, Célia. "Neuroendocrine peptide as a novel strategy to delay skin aging". Paper presented in "1st meeting in Pharmaceutical Sciences" Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Coimbra, Portugal, 2019. Ferreira-Marques, Marisa; Carvalho, André; Franco, Ana Catarina; Carmo-Silva, Sara; Botelho, Mariana; Cavadas, Claudia; Aveleira, Célia. "Neuroendocrine peptide as a novel strategy to delay aging in HGPS". Paper presented in 1st Annual Meeting in Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2019. Ferreira-Marques, Marisa; Carvalho, Andre; Franco, Ana Catarina; Carmo-Silva, Sara; Botelho, Mariana; Cavadas, Claudia; Aveleira, Célia. "A new neuroendocrine strategy to delay aging in HGPS". Paper presented in "3rd Molecular Biology of Ageing Meeting”, Groningen, the Netherlands, 2019. Franco, Ana Catarina; Ferreira-Marques, Marisa; Carvalho, André; Carmo-Silva, Sara; Botelho, Mariana; Cavadas, Claudia; Aveleira, Célia. "Ghrelin as a potential therapeutic strategy to delay skin aging and hair loss in Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome". Paper presented in “Ageing: Models, Mechanisms and Therapies Conference”, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal., 2019.
Journal article	Ferreira-Marques, M.; André Carvalho; Ana Catarina Silva-Franco; Ana Leal; Mariana Botelho; Sara Carmo-Silva; Rodolfo Águas; et al. "Ghrelin delays premature aging in Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome". Aging Cell (2023): http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/acel.13983. 10.1111/acel.13983 Franco, Ana Catarina; Aveleira, Célia; Cavadas, Cláudia. "Skin senescence: mechanisms and impact on whole-body aging". Trends in Molecular Medicine 28 2 (2022): 97-109. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.molmed.2021.12.003. Published • 10.1016/j.molmed.2021.12.003
Thesis / Dissertation	Silva-Franco, Catarina. "Neuroendocrine peptide as a novel therapeutic strategy to delay skin aging". Master, Universidade de Coimbra Faculdade de Farmácia, 2019.

Activities

Oral presentation

	Presentation title	Event name Host (Event location)
2023/10/26	Speed presentation: Creating a spatial map of cellular senescence in human skin aging	8th International Cell Senescence Association (ICSA) Conference Institute on the Biology of Aging and Metabolism and Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging at Mayo Clinic (Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States)
2023/08/27	Creating a spatial map of cellular senescence in human skin aging	13th Alliance for Healthy Aging Conference Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen (Copenhagen, Denmark)
2021/02/18	A NEUROENDCRINE PEPTIDE AS A SKIN ANTI-AGEING STRATEGY	51th meeting of the Portuguese Pharmacology Society Sociedade Portuguesa de Farmacologia (Coimbra, Portugal)
2020/02/06	Targeting the neuroendocrine system to slow down skin aging	50th meeting of the Portuguese Pharmacology Society Sociedade Portuguesa de Farmacologia (Coimbra, Portugal)

Event participation

	Activity description Type of event	Event name Institution / Organization
2023/04/20 - 2023/04/23	2023 Washington, DC Fulbright Seminar: "The American City: Learning from the Past, Responding to the Present, and Preparing for the Future" Seminar	2023 Washington, DC Fulbright Seminar Fulbright Association, United States
2022/10/13 - 2022/10/15	12th Annual Alliance for Healthy Aging Conference	12th Annual Alliance for Healthy Aging Conference The Institute on the Biology of Aging and Metabolism, University of Minnesota, United States Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging, Mayo Clinic, United States
2021/11/26 - 2021/11/26	IX Training in Dermopharmacy and Cosmetics - "Photoprotection" Workshop	IX Formação em Dermofarmácia e Cosmética - "Fotoproteção" Universidade de Coimbra Faculdade de Farmácia, Portugal
2021/09/29 - 2021/09/30	Interdisciplinar training office: Gender Perspective Integration in Research	Universidade de Coimbra Instituto de Investigação Interdisciplinar, Portugal
2020/11/23 - 2020/12/05	Innovation Days Winners' Event - Sponsored by Imperial College of London and EIT health	Innovation Days Winners' Event Imperial College London, United Kingdom
2020/09 - 2020/12	Writing in the Sciences - Online Course from COURSERA by Stanford University; 95%; September ¿ December 2020 Workshop	Stanford University Department of Health Research and Policy, United States
2020/11/05 - 2020/11/20	Coimbra Innovation days 2020 (winner team) - Sponsored by EIT health. Workshop	Coimbra Innovation days 2020 Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
2019/12/11 - 2019/12/13	Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on “Essencial da Gestão de Dados de Investigação" Workshop
2019/11/29 - 2019/11/29	Laboratory Supervisor at «Semana da Ciência e Tecnologia» Other	Semana da Ciência e Tecnologia Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Neurociências e Biologia Celular, Portugal
2019/11/15 - 2019/11/15	1st meeting in Pharmaceutical Sciences Conference	Universidade de Coimbra Faculdade de Farmácia, Portugal
2019/10/30 - 2019/10/30	Workshop on Photoshop Workshop	Universidade de Coimbra Faculdade de Letras, Portugal
2019/10/10 - 2019/10/12	«3rd Molecular Biology of Ageing Meeting» Groningen, the Netherlands Congress	3rd Molecular Biology of Ageing Meeting European Research Institute for the Biology of Ageing University Medical Center Groningen, Netherlands
2019/10/04 - 2019/10/04	«How to Write a Great Research Paper, and Get it Accepted by a Good Journal» Workshop by Anthony Newman and Sarah Rodrigues (ELSEVIER) Workshop	How to Write a Great Research Paper, and Get it Accepted by a Good Journal Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Neurociências e Biologia Celular, Portugal
2019/10 - 2019/10	BEB day 2019 Conference	Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Neurociências e Biologia Celular, Portugal
2019/09/27 - 2019/09/27	Street activities at the «International Researchers Night» Other	International Researchers Night Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Neurociências e Biologia Celular, Portugal
2019/09/02 - 2019/09/06	Laboratory supervisor of the «Ciência Viva no Laboratório - Ocupação Científica de Jovens nas Férias», at the Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, Neuroendocrinology and Aging Group, University of Coimbra, Portugal. Other	Ciência Viva no Laboratório - Ocupação Científica de Jovens nas Férias Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Neurociências e Biologia Celular, Portugal
2017/11/03 - 2017/11/03	"Biological Therapies in the vanguard of health" Scientific Congress of the Nucleus of Students of Pharmacy/Academic Association of Coimbra (NEFAAC) Conference	Biological Therapies in the vanguard of health Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra EPE, Portugal
2015/12/02 - 2015/12/02	"Reflexions about the Neurobiology of Consciousness” conference by António Damásio Conference	1º Encontro de Alunos Colégio Doutoral Mente-Cérebro da Universidade de Lisboa Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
2014/05/26 - 2014/05/26	"Forensic Microbiology" workshop lectured by Dr. Jeffrey Tomberlin Workshop	Forensic Microbiology Instituto Superior de Ciências da Saúde Egas Moniz, Portugal
2014/03/21 - 2014/03/21	"II Jornadas de Biotecnologia" Meeting	II Jornadas de Biotecnologia Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal

Mentoring / Tutoring

	Topic	Student name
2020/02/03 - 2020/05	Laboratory internship supervision	Ana Claudia Bessa
2020/01/06 - 2020/01/24	Laboratory rotation supervision	Carolina Santos

Distinctions

Award

2023	Certificate of Excellence for outstanding performance at 2023 SenNet Conference Cellular Senescence Network (SENNET), United States
2022	Fulbright Grant for Research with the support of FCT (2022/2023) Fulbright Portugal, Portugal
2019	Scholarship for merit - highest average grade student in MSc program in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology - from DGES (Direção Geral do Ensino Superior) regarding the academic year of 2018/2019 Direção Geral de Ensino Superior, Portugal