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Graduated in B.Sc. Genetics and Biotechnology (2014) and M.Sc. Applied Biochemistry (2016), I have a Ph.D. in Health Sciences (2022). Over the past years, I dedicated my work to the drug discovery, pharmaceutical and health sciences. I focus my work on the assessment of the anticancer potential and drug toxicity properties of newly synthetized compounds both in vitro and in vivo. Due to promising results and innovation, part of my work has been submitted for intellectual property protection. Moreover, I authored 8 scientific publications in high impact factor peer-reviewed journals (6 published and 2 under revision) and a book chapter. I also presented my work, both orally and in poster format, in 18 conferences from 6 different countries and was awarded 6 distinct prizes.
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Identification

Personal identification

Full name
Olívia Alexandra Elias Pontes

Citation names

  • Pontes, Olívia

Author identifiers

Ciência ID
8F17-8967-6059
ORCID iD
0000-0002-6977-8537

Knowledge fields

  • Medical and Health Sciences
  • Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Biochemistry
  • Medical and Health Sciences - Basic Medicine - Medicinal Chemistry
  • Exact Sciences - Chemical Sciences

Languages

Language Speaking Reading Writing Listening Peer-review
English Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2) Proficiency (C2)
French Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1)
Spanish; Castilian Intermediate (B1) Upper intermediate (B2) Intermediate (B1) Upper intermediate (B2)
Portuguese (Mother tongue)
Education
Degree Classification
2017/10/01 - 2022/04/20
Concluded
 Health Sciences (Doutoramento)
Universidade do Minho Escola de Medicina, Portugal
"Characterization of the anticancer efficacy and safety profiles of novel synthetic compounds" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
2021/04/11 - 2021/07/17
Concluded
 HiTech - Inovation from science (Outros)
HiSeedTech, Portugal
2020/10/26 - 2020/10/30
Concluded
 TMex course in Translational Medicine 2020 (Curso de doutoramento (conclusão de unidades curriculares))
EUROPEAN INFRASTRUCTURE FOR TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE, Netherlands
2019/04
Attended
 Portuguese Legislation on the Use of Animals for Scientific Purposes (Curso de doutoramento (conclusão de unidades curriculares))
Centro Champalimaud, Portugal
2019/02
Concluded
 Cell functional and phenotypical analysis (Curso de doutoramento (conclusão de unidades curriculares))
Universidade do Minho Escola de Medicina, Portugal
2019/01
Concluded
 Biostatistics in Health Sciences (Curso de doutoramento (conclusão de unidades curriculares))
Universidade do Minho Escola de Medicina, Portugal
2018/03
Concluded
 Laboratory Animal Science Course (Felasa C) (Curso de doutoramento (conclusão de unidades curriculares))
Universidade do Minho Instituto de Investigação em Ciências da Vida e Saúde, Portugal
2018/01
Concluded
 Bioinformatics in Health Sciences (Curso de doutoramento (conclusão de unidades curriculares))
Universidade do Minho Instituto de Investigação em Ciências da Vida e Saúde, Portugal
2017/11
Concluded
 Fundamentals of Genetics, Development and Neoplasia (Curso de doutoramento (conclusão de unidades curriculares))
Universidade do Minho Instituto de Investigação em Ciências da Vida e Saúde, Portugal
2014/09 - 2016/11
Concluded
 Applied Biochemistry to Biomedicine (Mestrado)
Universidade do Minho Escola de Ciências, Portugal
"New chromene-based drug candidates for cancer treatment" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
2015/06
Concluded
 Cancer therapy: from basic research to clinic (Curso de mestrado (conclusão do curso de especialização))
Universidade do Minho Centro de Biologia Molecular e Ambiental, Portugal
2015/05
Concluded
 Nanoparticles and the immune system: risks and therapeutic opportunities (Curso de mestrado (conclusão do curso de especialização))
Universidade do Minho Escola de Ciências, Portugal
2014/10 - 2015/02
Concluded
 English Course (C1 level) (Outros)
Universidade do Minho Instituto de Letras e Ciências Humanas, Portugal
2011/09 - 2014/07
Concluded
 Genetics and Biotechnology (Licenciatura)
Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro Escola de Ciências da Vida e do Ambiente, Portugal
"Obesity effect on zebrafish (Danio rerio) retina and brain neurogenesis: role of genistein" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
Affiliation

Science

Category
Host institution 		Employer
2017/10 - Current Researcher (Research) Laboratório Associado ICVS 3B's, Portugal
2017/01 - Current Researcher (Research) Universidade do Minho Escola de Medicina, Portugal
2015/04/01 - 2016/11/01 Researcher (Research) Universidade do Minho, Portugal
2013/09/01 - 2014/05/01 Research Trainee (Research) Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal
Projects

Grant

Designation Funders
2022/01/01 - 2022/12/31 Innovative therapy for resistant renal cell carcinoma: molecular target validation
LPCC-NRN 2022
Research Fellow
Universidade do Minho Escola de Medicina, Portugal
 Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancro Núcleo Regional do Norte
Ongoing
2017/10 - 2021/11 Characterization of the anticancer efficacy and safety profiles of novel synthetic compounds
SFRH/BD/128850/2017
PhD Student Fellow
Universidade do Minho Instituto de Investigação em Ciências da Vida e Saúde, Portugal
 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Ongoing

Other

Designation Funders
2020/05 - Current SynCroTher - New chromene derivatives for cancer therapy
NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-046826
Researcher
Universidade do Minho, Portugal
 European Regional Development Fund
Ongoing
Outputs

Publications

Book chapter
  1. Pontes, Olívia; Ana Raquel-Cunha; Sofia Oliveira-Pinto; Fátima Baltazar; Olga Martinho; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa. "Angiogenesis and chromene-based antiangiogenic therapeutic agents". In Anti-Angiogenesis Drug Discovery and Development, 1-37. Bentham Science Publishers, 2019.
    10.2174/97898114328731200501
Conference poster
  1. Pontes, Olívia; Oliveira-Pinto, Sofia; Sampaio-Marques, Belém; Ludovico, Paula; Proenca, Fernanda; Baltazar, Fátima; Costa, Marta. "New chromene derivatives: overcoming renal cell carcinoma drug resistance". Paper presented in EFMC-ISMC2021, 2021.
  2. Costa, Marta; Pontes, Olívia; Duarte-Silva, S; Gonçalves, Céline S.; Bessa, Carlos; Sampaio-Marques, Belém; Bruno M. Costa; et al. "A new lead compound for triple negative breast cancer therapy". Paper presented in EFMC-ISMC2021, 2021.
  3. Pontes, Olívia; Oliveira-Pinto, Sofia; Proença, Fernanda; Baltazar, Fátima; Costa, Marta. "Novel therapy for renal cell carcinoma: overcoming drug resistance". Paper presented in EACR2021, 2021.
  4. Pontes, Olívia; Costa, Marta; Sara Duarte-Silva; Gonçalves, Céline S.; Bessa, Carlos; Ludovico, Paula; Maciel, Patrícia; Proenca, Fernanda; Baltazar, Fátima. "A new therapeutic option for triple negative breast cancer". Paper presented in EACR2021, 2021.
  5. Ana Freitas; Pontes, Olívia; Costa, Marta; Veronique Seidel; Proença, Fernanda; Baltazar, Fátima; Oliveira, Rui; Almeida-Aguiar, Cristina. "Renal anticancer activity of Portuguese propolis fractions and isolated compounds". Paper presented in 27th Porto Cancer Meeting, 2021.
  6. Luísa Carvalho; Pontes, Olívia; Sofia Oliveira-Pinto; Fábio Pedroso de Lima; Professor Doctor Maria Fernanda de Jesus Rego Paiva Proença; Fátima Baltazar; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa. "New substituted 3,5-dihydro-4H-chromeno [2,3-d] pyrimidin4-one: a promising strategy for breast cancer treatment". Paper presented in LPCC Webinar Cancer Biology: From Basic to Translational Research, 2020.
  7. Pontes, Olívia; Sofia Oliveira-Pinto; Diogo Lopes; Belém Sampaio-Marques; Luísa Carvalho; Gonçalves, Céline S.; Bruno M. Costa; et al. "Characterization of the biological activity of functionalized chromeno[2,3b]pyridines for breast cancer treatment". Paper presented in LPCC Webinar Cancer Biology: From Basic to Translational Research, 2020.
  8. Pontes, Olívia; Sara Duarte-Silva; Belém Sampaio-Marques; Carlos Bessa; Paula Ludovico; Patrícia Maciel; Professor Doctor Maria Fernanda de Jesus Rego Paiva Proença; Fátima Baltazar; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa. "New chromene derivatives: unravelling the molecular mechanisms for breast cancer treatment". Paper presented in 13th Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Postgraduate Symposium, 2019.
  9. Ana Sousa; Pontes, Olívia; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa; Professor Doctor Maria Fernanda de Jesus Rego Paiva Proença. "Synthesis of imidazole derivatives and evaluation of the anticancer potential on renal cell carcinoma". Paper presented in XXV Galician-Portuguese Chemistry Meeting, 2019.
  10. Pontes, Olívia; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa; Sofia Oliveira-Pinto; Professor Doctor Maria Fernanda de Jesus Rego Paiva Proença; Fátima Baltazar. "Chromene derivatives: a new strategy to overcome renal cancer resistance". Paper presented in 9th Annual ISCaM Meeting 2019 – Cancer Metabolic Rewiring: Mapping the Road to Clinical Translation, 2019.
  11. Pontes, Olívia; Belém Sampaio-Marques; Sara Duarte-Silva; Paula Ludovico; Patrícia Maciel; Professor Doctor Maria Fernanda de Jesus Rego Paiva Proença; Fátima Baltazar; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa. "Exploitation of novel chromene derivatives for breast cancer treatment". Paper presented in 1st National Meeting of Young Oncology Researchers, 2019.
  12. Luísa Carvalho; Sofia Oliveira-Pinto; Pontes, Olívia; Diogo Lopes; Beatriz Ferreira; Professor Doctor Maria Fernanda de Jesus Rego Paiva Proença; Fátima Baltazar; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa. "Synthesis and biological activity of new anticancer agents for breast cancer treatment". Paper presented in 1st National Meeting of Young Oncology Researchers, 2019.
  13. Sofia Oliveira-Pinto; Pontes, Olívia; Belém Sampaio-Marques; Paula Ludovico; Professor Doctor Maria Fernanda de Jesus Rego Paiva Proença; Fátima Baltazar; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa. "New chromene-based molecules for renal cell cancer therapy". Paper presented in 1st National Meeting of Young Oncology Researchers, 2019.
  14. Pontes, Olívia; Belém Sampaio-Marques; Sara Duarte-Silva; Carlos Bessa; Paula Ludovico; Patrícia Maciel; Professor Doctor Maria Fernanda de Jesus Rego Paiva Proença; Fátima Baltazar; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa. "New chromene derivatives: Unraveling the molecular mechanisms for breast cancer therapy". Paper presented in RICT2019: 55th International Conference on Medicinal Chemistry, 2019.
  15. Sofia Oliveira-Pinto; Pontes, Olívia; Belém Sampaio-Marques; Paula Ludovico; Professor Doctor Maria Fernanda de Jesus Rego Paiva Proença; Fátima Baltazar; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa. "Chromene-based compounds as candidates for renal cell cancer treatment". Paper presented in RICT2019: 55th International Conference on Medicinal Chemistry, 2019.
  16. Pontes, Olívia; Belém Sampaio-Marques; Sara Duarte-Silva; Carlos Bessa; Paula Ludovico; Patrícia Maciel; Professor Doctor Maria Fernanda de Jesus Rego Paiva Proença; Fátima Baltazar; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa. "In vitro and in vivo evaluation of new chromene derivatives as potent anticancer agents". Paper presented in 26th Porto Cancer Meeting and 5th Joint Meeting Porto-Bordeaux, 2019.
  17. Sofia Oliveira-Pinto; Pontes, Olívia; Belém Sampaio-Marques; Paula Ludovico; Professor Doctor Maria Fernanda de Jesus Rego Paiva Proença; Fátima Baltazar; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa. "Biological activity of novel targeted inhibitors for renal cell cancer therapy". Paper presented in 26th Porto Cancer Meeting and 5th Joint Meeting Porto-Bordeaux, 2019.
  18. Ana Sousa; Pontes, Olívia; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa; Professor Doctor Maria Fernanda de Jesus Rego Paiva Proença. "Synthesis of imidazo-pyridine derivatives for mTOR inhibition". Paper presented in 4th Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry, 2019.
  19. Sofia Oliveira-Pinto; Pontes, Olívia; Professor Doctor Maria Fernanda de Jesus Rego Paiva Proença; Fátima Baltazar; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa. "Chromene-based molecules as targeted inhibitors for renal cell cancer therapy". Paper presented in ICVS Open Week, 2019.
  20. Pontes, Olívia; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa; Tatiana Dias; Filipa Morais-Santos; Belém Sampaio-Marques; Paula Ludovico; Professor Doctor Maria Fernanda de Jesus Rego Paiva Proença; Fátima Baltazar. "New chromene-based molecules as microtubule destabilizers and pro-apoptotic agents in cancer". Paper presented in Making it Personal: Cancer Precision Medicine, 2018.
  21. Pontes, Olívia; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa; Filipa Morais-Santos; Belém Sampaio-Marques; Paula Ludovico; Fátima Baltazar; Professor Doctor Maria Fernanda de Jesus Rego Paiva Proença. "Chemical and biological characterization of chalcones and 4H-chromenes: exploitation as anticancer agents". Paper presented in 3rd ASPIC International Congress, 2018.
  22. Pontes, Olívia; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa; Filipa Santos; Belém Sampaio-Marques; Paula Ludovico; Professor Doctor Maria Fernanda de Jesus Rego Paiva Proença; Fátima Baltazar. "Discovery of chromene-based molecules as apoptosis-inducers by G2/M cell-arrest". Paper presented in 25th Porto Cancer Meeting, 2018.
  23. Pontes, Olívia; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa; Filipa Morais-Santos; Belém Sampaio-Marques; Paula Ludovico; Professor Doctor Maria Fernanda de Jesus Rego Paiva Proença; Fátima Baltazar. "Unraveling the anticancer molecular mechanisms of new chromene-based drugs". Paper presented in ICVS Open Week, 2018.
  24. Pontes, Olívia; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa; Filipa Santos; Belém Sampaio-Marques; Paula Ludovico; Fátima Baltazar; Professor Doctor Maria Fernanda de Jesus Rego Paiva Proença. "Chromene-based drug candidates for cancer treatment". Paper presented in 12th National Organic Chemistry Meeting and 5th National Medicinal Chemistry Meeting, 2018.
  25. Pontes, Olívia; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa; Filipa Santos; Sara Granja; Fátima Baltazar; Professor Doctor Maria Fernanda de Jesus Rego Paiva Proença. "New chromene-based drug candidates for cancer treatment". Paper presented in 1st Applied Biochemistry Symposium, 2017.
  26. Olívia Pontes; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa; Filipa Santos; Professor Doctor Maria Fernanda de Jesus Rego Paiva Proença; Fátima Baltazar. "Chromene derivatives as anticancer agents: synthesis and biological evaluation". Paper presented in 2nd ASPIC International Congress, 2016.
    10.3390/ecsoc-15-00598
Journal article
  1. Ana Freitas; Pontes, Olívia; Costa, Marta; Veronique Seidel; Professor Doctor Maria Fernanda de Jesus Rego Paiva Proença; Susana M. Cardoso; Baltazar, Fátima; Oliveira, Rui; Almeida-Aguiar, Cristina. "Selective cytotoxicity of Portuguese propolis ethyl acetate and butanol fractions towards renal cancer cells". Molecules 27 13 (2022): 4001. IF 4.412, Q1.
    Published
  2. Ana Sousa; Pontes, Olívia; Juliana Andrade; Fátima Baltazar; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa; Professor Doctor Maria Fernanda de Jesus Rego Paiva Proença. "Imidazolylpyrrolone-based small molecules as anticancer agents for renal cell carcinoma". Chemistry - A European Journal (2022): IF 5.236, Q1.
    Submitted
  3. Pontes, Olívia; Sofia Oliveira-Pinto; Fátima Baltazar; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa. "Renal cell carcinoma therapy: current and new drug candidates". Drug Discovery Today 21 1 (2022): 304-314. IF 7.851, Q1.
    Published • 10.1016/j.drudis.2021.07.009
  4. Carvalho, Luísa; Fábio Pedroso de Lima; Pontes, Olívia; Oliveira-Pinto, Sofia; Granja, Sara; Maciel, Patrícia; Longatto, Adhemar; et al. "New chromene-based compounds as anticancer agents for triple-negative breast cancer therapy". Euroepan Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (2022):
    Submitted
  5. Oliveira-Pinto, Sofia; Pontes, Olívia; Baltazar, Fátima; Costa, Marta. "In vivo efficacy studies of chromene-based compounds in triple-negative breast cancer: A systematic review". European Journal of Pharmacology (2020): 173452. IF 4.432, Q1.
    10.1016/j.ejphar.2020.173452
  6. Oliveira-Pinto, Sofia; Pontes, Olívia; Lopes, Diogo; Sampaio-Marques, Belém; Costa, Marta D.; Carvalho, Luísa; Gonçalves, Céline S.; et al. "Unravelling the anticancer potential of functionalized chromeno[2,3-b]pyridines for breast cancer treatment". Bioorganic Chemistry 100 (2020): 103942. IF 5.275, Q1.
    10.1016/j.bioorg.2020.103942
  7. Pontes, Olívia. "Exploitation of new chalcones and 4H-chromenes as agents for cancer treatment". European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (2018): IF 4.833, Q1.
    10.1016/j.ejmech.2018.07.058
  8. Pedro Figueiredo; Marta Costa; Olívia Pontes; Fátima Baltazar; Fernanda Proença. "Adenine Derivatives: Promising Candidates for Breast Cancer Treatment". European Journal of Organic Chemistry 2018 29 (2018): 3943-3956. IF 3.029, Q1.
    10.1002/ejoc.201800629
Thesis / Dissertation
  1. "Characterization of the anticancer efficacy and safety profiles of novel synthetic compounds". PhD, Universidade do Minho Escola de Medicina, 2022.
  2. Pontes, Olívia. "New chromene-based drug candidates for cancer treatment". Master, Universidade do Minho, 2016.
  3. Pontes, Olívia. "Obesity effect on zebrafish (Danio rerio) retina and brain neurogenesis: role of genistein". Degree, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 2014.

Intellectual property

Patent
  1. Pontes, Olívia; Doctor Marta Sílvia Freitas da Costa; Fátima Baltazar; Professor Doctor Maria Fernanda de Jesus Rego Paiva Proença; Patrícia Maciel. 2020. "Chromene-Based Compounds, Method and Uses Thereof (WO/2020/261242)".
    Pending
Activities

Oral presentation

Presentation title Event name
Host (Event location)
2021/09 Characterization of the anticancer efficacy and safety profiles of novel synthetic compounds Ciência Falada
ICVS, Universidade do Minho (Braga, Portugal)
2021/01 Characterization of the activity of novel chromene derivatives for cancer therapy II Symposium on Biochemistry
Universidade do Minho (Braga, Portugal)
2020/10 A new strategy to overcome renal cancer resistance Translational Medicine Explained Course
EATRIS
2020/09 Characterization of the biological activity of functionalized chromeno[2,3b]pyridines for breast cancer treatment 2nd National Meeting of Young Investigators in Oncology
Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancro (Porto, Portugal)
2019/12 New chromene derivatives: unravelling the molecular mechanisms for breast cancer treatment 13th Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Postgraduate Symposium
University of Cambridge (Cambridge, United Kingdom)
2019/11 Synthesis of imidazole derivatives and evaluation of the anticancer potential on renal cell carcinoma XXV Calician-Portuguese Chemistry Meeting
Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (Santiago de Compostela, Spain)
2019/05 Synthesis of imidazo-pyridine derivatives for mTOR inhibition 4th Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry
Universidade do Minho (Braga, Portugal)
2018/04 Discovery of chromene-based molecules as apoptosis-inducers by G2/M cell-arrest 25th Porto Cancer Meeting
i3S - Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (Porto, Portugal)
2016/04 Chromene derivatives as anticancer agents: synthesis and biological evaluation 2nd ASPIC International Congress
Instituto Português de Oncologia (Porto, Portugal)

Association member

Society Organization name Role
2019/06 - Current Société de Chimie Thérapeutique (SCT)
2017/02 - Current European Association for Cancer Research (EACR)
2016/04 - Current Portuguese Association for Cancer Research (ASPIC)

Mentoring / Tutoring

Topic Student name
2021/04 - 2021/07 Estudo da atividade anticancerígena de novos compostos heterocíclicos para o tratamento do carcinoma de células renais Rita Fernandes Alves
2021/04 - 2021/07 Caracterização da atividade anticancerígena de novos compostos para o tratamento do carcinoma de células renais Ana Catarina Machado Pereira
2018/05 - 2019/12 Characterization of the activity of novel chromene derivatives for cancer therapy Sofia Isabel de Oliveira Pinto
Distinctions

Award

2021 V Research Pitches Contest: 1st prize
Compostela Group of Universities, Spain
2020 FLAD Grant R&D@PhD 2020
Fundação Luso-Americana, Portugal
2019 EACR Poster Prize: 1st prize
European Association For Cancer Research, United Kingdom
2018 Best Poster Communication Award
Universidade do Minho Escola de Medicina, Portugal
2018 EACR-Worldwide Cancer Research Meeting Bursary
European Association For Cancer Research, United Kingdom
2017 Poster Communication Award: 2nd prize
Universidade do Minho, Portugal

Other distinction

2021 Galardão "A Nossa Terra" Juventude - 24th Edition
DIRENOR, Portugal