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My research activities have focused on designing innovative immunomodulatory technologies to regulate inflammation and promote tissue repair. In 2016, I graduated in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Beira Interior, and in 2018, I completed a Master's in Oncology from the University of Porto. I conducted doctoral research to study the immunomodulatory and regenerative potential of cell-derived products as translational therapies. In 2024, I defended my PhD in Biotechnology, supervised by Prof. João Mano and Dr. Mariana Oliveira, at CICECO – University of Aveiro, in collaboration with Prof. Kara Spiller at Drexel University (USA). The main outcomes of my PhD research include: 1) centimetric living cell fibers as a biomaterial-free cell-delivery platform for tissue repair; 2) a cell encapsulation system to retrieve conditioned media with different immunomodulatory activities over time; and 3) methanol-fixed cell aggregates that modulate innate and adaptive immune cells in vitro, guiding immunomodulation in a wound healing mouse model. During my PhD path, I performed a 5-month research period in Prof. Kara Spiller’s laboratory (USA), exploring the immunomodulatory potential of methanol-fixed cell aggregates in primary human macrophages, leading to a first co-author publication in Advanced Materials (2024). In my current postdoctoral fellowship at iMED – University of Lisbon, I have been developing next-generation CAR cell therapies for breast cancer. These advanced immunotherapeutic products are designed for localized delivery and will be evaluated in in vivo models. As a PhD student, I published 5 articles (4 as first author/co-author) in journals such as Advanced Materials, Biomaterials, Advanced Healthcare Materials, and Trends in Molecular Medicine. My PhD work on methanol-fixed cell aggregates for immunomodulation also resulted in an international patent application (WO2024/013677A1) of which I am an inventor, and led to my recognition as an independent researcher through a FLAD Grant (€ 4K, 2023). As part of a team, I received a Dr. Bragança Parreira/Roche 2022 Grant from the Portuguese Society of Diabetology (€ 5K), an award from the University of Aveiro (€ 2K, 2023), and an honourable mention from the University of Coimbra (2023) for being among the Top 5 best projects of National Innovation. I also performed oral/poster communications at 8 national/international conferences (e.g., WBC 2020, Virtual; TERMIS EU 2023, UK). During my PhD journey, I informally mentored 3 Biotechnology master’s students (2021-2022), was involved in the ad hoc review for 1 article (Med, Cell Press, 2022), and participated in outreach activities and on social media platforms to disseminate my work to the general public.
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Identification

Personal identification

Full name
Ana Rita Fortunato Sousa

Citation names

  • Sousa, Ana
  • AR Sousa

Author identifiers

Ciência ID
A81B-E6BE-5113
ORCID iD
0000-0002-4869-1272
Google Scholar ID
27ne3REAAAAJ&hl

Websites

Knowledge fields

  • Medical and Health Sciences - Medical Biotechnology - Technologies Involving the Manipulation of Cells, Tissues, Organs or the Whole Organism
  • Medical and Health Sciences - Medical Biotechnology - Gene-based Diagnostics and Therapeutic Interventions
  • Medical and Health Sciences - Clinical Medicine - Oncology

Languages

Language Speaking Reading Writing Listening Peer-review
English Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1)
Portuguese (Mother tongue)
Education
Degree Classification
2019/11/01 - 2024/03/22
Concluded
 Biotecnologia (Doutoramento)
Major in Biotecnologia Médica
Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal
"Exploring Cells and their Abiotic Products as Materials for Immunomodulation and Biomedical Applications" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
2016/10/10 - 2018/11/06
Concluded
 Oncologia (Mestrado)
Universidade do Porto Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar, Portugal
"Targeting metastatic colorectal cancer with PLGA nanoparticles carrying MACC1 siRNA" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
 18/20
2013/09/30 - 2016/07/11
Concluded
 Ciências Biomédicas (Licenciatura)
Universidade da Beira Interior Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde, Portugal
"Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Fields: A New Approach in Breast Cancer Treatment" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
 14.47/20
Affiliation

Science

Category
Host institution 		Employer
2024/12/09 - Current Postdoc (Research) Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Farmácia, Portugal
2019/11/01 - 2024/03/22 Researcher (Research) Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal
Universidade de Aveiro CICECO, Portugal
2023/07/30 - 2023/12/31 Visiting Researcher (Research) Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal
Drexel University School of Biomedical Engineering Science and Health Systems, United States
2019/01/15 - 2019/10/31 Researcher (Research) Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal
Universidade de Aveiro CICECO, Portugal
Projects

Grant

Designation Funders
2024/12/09 - Current Bio-Hub – Plataforma Nacional de I&D, Produção, Comercialização e Distribuição de Biofarmacêuticos Inovadores
BIPD/10/FF/2024
Post-doc Fellow
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Investigação do Medicamento, Portugal
2019/11/01 - 2024/03/22 Pancreatic islet transplantation using biomaterial-mediated secretome of stem cells as long-lasting microenvironment modulator
SFRH/BD/145765/2019
PhD Student Fellow
Universidade de Aveiro CICECO, Portugal

Drexel University School of Biomedical Engineering Science and Health Systems, United States
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Concluded
2023/07/30 - 2023/12/31 Modulation of immune cells phenotype by cell-based materials for regenerative medicine applications
project 2023/0222
PhD Student Fellow
Drexel University School of Biomedical Engineering Science and Health Systems, United States
 Luso American Development Foundation
Concluded
2019/01/15 - 2019/10/31 TranSphera - Cápsulas esféricas multicompartimentalizadas de alto rendimento para a transplantação de co-culturas multimodais de células estaminais derivadas de tecido adiposo e de ilhotas pancreáticas
POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030770
Research Fellow
Universidade de Aveiro CICECO, Portugal
 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Concluded
Outputs

Publications

Conference poster
  1. AR Sousa; D. Gonçalves; B. Neves; Mariana Braga de Oliveira; Joao Filipe Colardelle da Luz Mano. "Simple strategy to maximize the therapeutic potential of cells". Paper presented in Ciência 2023, Aveiro, 2023.
  2. Sousa, Ana; C. Martins-Cruz; Mariana Braga de Oliveira; Joao Filipe Colardelle da Luz Mano. "Fabrication of Scaffold-free All-Cellular Living Fibers". Paper presented in European Chapter of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS EU), Manchester, UK, 2023.
  3. D. Gonçalves; Sousa, Ana; Mariana Braga de Oliveira; Joao Filipe Colardelle da Luz Mano. "The role of different stimuli on the immunomodulatory potential of mesenchymal stem cells". Paper presented in XLVIII Annual Meeting of the Portuguese Society for Immunology, (SPI), Aveiro, Portugal, 2023.
  4. Sousa, Ana; Mariana Braga de Oliveira; Joao Filipe Colardelle da Luz Mano. "Development of cell-based immunomodulatory materials". Paper presented in Jornadas CICECO , University of Aveiro, Portugal, 2022.
  5. Sousa, Ana; Maria José Cardoso Oliveira; Bruno Filipe Carmelino Cardoso Sarmento. "Targeting metastatic colorectal cancer with PLGA nanoparticles carrying MACC1 siRNA". Paper presented in I3S Annual Meeting 2018, 2018.
Journal article
  1. Sousa AR; Ana F. Cunha; Ana Santos-Coquillat; Estrada BH; Spiller KL; Barão M; Artur Filipe Rodrigues; et al. "Shape-Versatile Fixed Cellular Materials for Multiple Target Immunomodulation.". Advanced Materials (2024): https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202405367.
    Published • 10.1002/adma.202405367
  2. Sousa AR; Gonçalves DC; Neves BG; Ana Santos-Coquillat; Oliveira MB; João F. Mano. "Encapsulated Mesenchymal Stromal Cells as Cyclic Providers of Immunomodulatory Secretomes: A Living on-Demand Delivery System.". Advanced Healthcare Materials (2024): https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.202304012.
    Published • 10.1002/adhm.202304012
  3. Sousa, Ana; Mano, Joao F.; Oliveira, Mariana B.. Corresponding author: Oliveira, Mariana B.. "Engineering Strategies for Allogeneic Solid Tissue Acceptance". Trends in Molecular Medicine (2021): https://www.cell.com/trends/molecular-medicine/fulltext/S1471-4914(21)00089-7.
    10.1016/j.molmed.2021.03.005
  4. M. Birgul Akolpoglu; Yasemin Inceoglu; Ugur Bozuyuk; Sousa, Ana; Oliveira, Mariana B.; Mano, Joao F.; Seda Kizilel. Corresponding author: Oliveira, Mariana B.. "Recent advances in the design of implantable insulin secreting heterocellular islet organoids". Biomaterials 269 (2021): 120627-120627. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2020.120627.
    10.1016/j.biomaterials.2020.120627
  5. Sousa, Ana Rita; Martins-Cruz, Cláudia; Oliveira, Mariana B.; Mano, João F.. "One-Step Rapid Fabrication of Cell-Only Living Fibers". Advanced Materials (2019): 1906305. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201906305.
    Published • 10.1002/adma.201906305
  6. Sousa, Ana Rita; Oliveira, Ana Vanessa; Oliveira, Maria José; Sarmento, Bruno. "Nanotechnology-based siRNA Delivery Strategies for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Therapy". International Journal of Pharmaceutics (2019): 118530. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpharm.2019.118530.
    10.1016/j.ijpharm.2019.118530
  7. Sousa, Ana Rita; Oliveira, Maria Jose; Sarmento, Bruno. "Impact of CEA-targeting Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery in Colorectal Cancer". Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (2019): http://dx.doi.org/10.1124/jpet.118.254441.
    10.1124/jpet.118.254441
Thesis / Dissertation
  1. "Exploring Cells and their Abiotic Products as Materials for Immunomodulation and Biomedical Applications". PhD, Universidade de Aveiro, 2024.
  2. Sousa, Ana. "Targeting metastatic colorectal cancer with PLGA nanoparticles carrying MACC1 siRNA". Master, Universidade do Porto Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar, 2018.

Intellectual property

Patent
  1. Joao Filipe Colardelle da Luz Mano; Mariana Braga de Oliveira; AR Sousa. 2024. "Biomaterial for Immunomodulation, Process for its Production and uses Thereof".
    Pending

Other

Other output
  1. Figure in Social Media, Trends in Molecular Medicine 2021, "Transplantation: Keeping alloreactivity in check", COMPASS Research Group Instagram Web Page. 2021. AR Sousa; Mariana Braga de Oliveira; Joao Filipe Colardelle da Luz Mano. https://www.instagram.com/p/CP5HH-Tsknp/.
Activities

Oral presentation

Presentation title Event name
Host (Event location)
2022/10/11 Cell-based materials for biomedical applications Jornadas de Engenharia Biomédica
Universidade de Aveiro (Aveiro, Portugal)
2022/07/13 Development of cell-based immunomodulatory materials Research Summit 2022
Universidade de Aveiro (Aveiro, Portugal)
2021/07/07 Pancreatic islet transplantation using mesenchymal stem cells as a long-lasting microenvironment modulator Research Summit 2021
Universidade de Aveiro (Aveiro, Portugal)
2020/12/11 Fabrication of Scaffold-free Cell-Only Versatile Fibers 11th World Biomaterials Congress
WBC (Virtual, United Kingdom)
2018/05/07 Targeting metastatic colorectal cancer with PLGA nanoparticles carrying MACC1 siRNA 2nd Symposium of the MSc in Oncology
Instituto Português de Oncologia-Porto IPO-PORTO (Porto, Portugal)

Supervision

Thesis Title
Role 		Degree Subject (Type)
Institution / Organization
2022/10/01 - 2022/12/15 Introduction to the Bachelor Project focused on the use of cell-derived materials for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine
Co-supervisor
 Licenciatura em Biotecnologia (Scientific initiation)
Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal

Event participation

Activity description
Type of event 		Event name
Institution / Organization
2023/11/29 - 2023/12/01 Immune Modulation and Engineering Symposium (IMES, Philadelphia, PA, USA)
Congress
 Immune Modulation and Engineering Symposium (IMES)
Drexel University, United States
2023/02/28 - 2023/02/28 11th Edition of the Arrisca C Entrepreneurship Contest, University of Coimbra, Portugal.
Call
 Arrisca C Entrepreneurship Contest
Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
2021/11/15 - 2021/11/19 6th World Congress Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS 2021)
Congress
 World Congress TERMIS, Maastricht, NL (Virtual)
2021/02/12 - 2021/02/12 EASD e-Learning Course
Other
 Adjunct therapies, Module 2: Different adjunct therapies
European Association for the Study of Diabetes, Germany
2021/02/11 - 2021/02/11 EASD e-Learning Course
Other
 Adjunct therapies, Module 1: Rationale for adjunct therapies
European Association for the Study of Diabetes, Germany
2021/02/11 - 2021/02/11 EASD e-Learning Course
Other
 Diagnosis of type 1 diabetes: Incidence and diagnosis of type 1 diabetes
European Association for the Study of Diabetes, Germany
2021/02/10 - 2021/02/10 EASD e-Learning Course
Other
 Islet transplantation Module 1: An introduction to islet transplantation
European Association for the Study of Diabetes, Germany
2021/02/10 - 2021/02/10 EASD e-Learning Course
Other
 The pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes Module 1 - Introduction to the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes
European Association for the Study of Diabetes, Germany
2021/02/10 - 2021/02/10 EASD e-Learning Course
Other
 The pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes Module 2 - Arresting type 1 diabetes
European Association for the Study of Diabetes, Germany
2021/01/02 - 2021/01/03 Online Course Clinical Kidney, Pancreas and Islet Transplantation
Other
 Module 4: Late challenges in transplantation
Universiteit Leiden, Netherlands
2020/12/27 - 2021/01/02 Online Course Clinical Kidney, Pancreas and Islet Transplantation
Other
 Module 3: Early challenges in transplantation
Universiteit Leiden, Netherlands
2020/12/24 - 2020/12/27 Online Course Clinical Kidney, Pancreas and Islet Transplantation
Other
 Module 2: The procedure and the challenged patient
Universiteit Leiden, Netherlands
2020/12/04 - 2020/12/24 Online Course Clinical Kidney, Pancreas and Islet Transplantation
Other
 Module 1: Before the transplant
Universiteit Leiden, Netherlands
2020/04/01 - 2020/04/20 Mentored by PhD supervisor in the process of grant writing: CellFi - Advancing The Regenerative and Translational Potential Of Cellular Fibers (FCT – PTDC/BTM-ORG/3215/2020)
Other
Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal
2019/10/10 - 2019/10/12 Disseminate the scientific work related to biomaterials engineering and their applications in tissue repair, performed in the research group of Professor João Mano, University of Aveiro, to the general society
Exhibition
 Techdays 2019, Aveiro
Câmara Municipal de Aveiro, Portugal
2017/05/08 - 2017/05/20 Cell Culture Basic Course
Other
 Cell Culture Basic Course
Instituto Português de Oncologia do Porto Francisco Gentil Centro de Investigação, Portugal
2016/10/13 - 2016/10/13 7th Edition of the Angelini University Award, Entrepreneurship Contest, Portugal.
Call
 Angelini University Award
Angelini Farmacêutica Lda, Portugal

Association member

Society Organization name Role
2024/06/12 - Current Portuguese Association for Cancer Research, ASPIC Member of the Society
2024/06/11 - Current European Association for Cancer Research, EACR Member of the Society
2023/02/06 - Current Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society, TERMIS Member of the Society
2023/02/01 - Current Portuguese Society for Immunology, SPI Member of the Society

Interview (newspaper / magazine)

Activity description Newspaper / Forum
2022/12/16 Research highlight "New biomaterial created at UA is capable of modulating the immunological environment" University of Aveiro, Research News Journal

Mentoring / Tutoring

Topic Student name
2022/06/01 - 2022/12/15 Intelligent hydrogels for cartilage regeneration Diogo António Prudente Marques de Castilho
2021/09/01 - 2022/12/13 Immunomodulatory effect of different stimuli in mesenchymal stem cells Diana Rafaela Costa Gonçalves
2021/01/01 - 2021/10/10 On-slide cell adhesion and cytocompatible (ultra)thin microparticles detachment Manuel Luís da Silva Coelho
2020/01/01 - 2020/07/15 Development of cell encapsulation systems for niche modulation post-transplantation of islets of Langerhans Bárbara Alexandra Rodrigues Costa
2019/10/01 - 2020/01/31 Curricular unit "Biomimetic Advanced Biomaterials", Group of students from the Master in Bioptecnology/Biomedical Materials and Devices

Other jury / evaluation

Activity description Institution / Organization
2022/12/01 - 2022/12/14 Mentored by PhD supervisor in the process of ad hoc review of one article on the following Medical Journal: Med (ISSN: 2666-6340); Publisher: Cell Press. (DOI: 10.1016/j.medj.2023.05.002; https://www.cell.com/med/fulltext/S2666-6340(23)00142-3?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2666634023001423%3Fshowall%3Dtrue) Cell Press, United States

Scientific expedition

Activity description Institution / Organization
2023/07/30 - 2023/12/31 PhD research period performed abroad to evaluate the immunomodulatory activity of cell-derived materials towards primary human macrophages Drexel University School of Biomedical Engineering Science and Health Systems, United States
Distinctions

Award

2023 Participation Prize on the 11th Edition of the Arrisca C Contest 2023
Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal
2022 Dr. Bragança Parreira / Roche 2022 Grant - Technologies for Diabetes
Sociedade Portuguesa de Diabetologia, Portugal

Other distinction

2023 FLAD Scholarship for Internships in the USA
Luso American Development Foundation, Portugal
2023 Honorable Mention - Top 5 Best Projects of National Innovation in the Arrisca C Entrepreneurship Contest
Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
2019 PhD Scholarship - SFRH/BD/145765/2019
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal
2019 Master Scholarship - POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030770
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal
2018 Research Group Contribution 2018 – “Corino de Andrade’s Restlessness”
Nanomedicines & Translational Drug Delivery Research Group, led by Professor Bruno Sarmento at the Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (i3S), University of Porto, Portugal., Portugal