Ana Sofia Grosso (AF10-B359-0A63)

Curriculum Vitae

Ana Sofia Grosso

I finished my BSc degree in Biochemistry in 2015 and my MSc in Bioorganic Chemistry in 2017 at NOVA School of Science and Technology (NOVA-FCT). In 2018, I initiated my PhD in Chemistry – Organic Chemistry, in a collaboration between NOVA School of Science and Technology and Universidad de La Rioja, through a mixed scholarship funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) with reference SFRH/BD/140394/2018. In 2022, I was awarded with an exceptional COVID-19 PhD scholarship by FCT with reference COVID/BD/152986/2023. The joint PhD scholarship allow me to be trained in computational protocols. In 2024, I finished my PhD at NOVA School of Science and Technology, where I was unanimously approved. My research focuses on the Glycosciences field, especially in the biosynthesis of mucin O-glycans and in the molecular recognition of these glycans by different protein receptors by NMR techniques and molecular modelling protocols. Through my PhD journey, I have contributed to a better understanding of the molecular recognition of different glycan-protein complexes in cancer context. In this context, I have contributed to unravel the interactions between natural and unnatural glyco-antigens with lectins and antibodies, as well as to unveil the molecular mechanism of the mucin-1 O-glycosylation process by different enzymes using NMR Spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations. I am co-author of 5 published original research articles and 1 review with a total of 79 citations (h-index 4, Scholar Google). I also presented my research in national and international conferences through a total of 6 oral communications (1 invited, 2 flash and 3 oral) and 7 posters.

Read full resume ↓

Identification

Personal identification

Full name: Ana Sofia Grosso

Citation names

Grosso, Ana Sofia

Author identifiers

Ciência ID: AF10-B359-0A63
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5324-4998
Google Scholar ID: XN1PHnEAAAAJ
Researcher Id: DXQ-7271-2022
Scopus Author Id: 57203886397

Email addresses

a.grosso@campus.fct.unl.pt (Professional)

Knowledge fields

Exact Sciences - Chemical Sciences
Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Biochemistry

Languages

Language	Speaking	Reading	Writing	Listening	Peer-review
Portuguese (Mother tongue)
English	Proficiency (C2)	Proficiency (C2)	Proficiency (C2)	Proficiency (C2)	Proficiency (C2)

Education

	Degree	Classification
2024 Concluded	Química (Doutoramento) Major in Química Orgânica Universidade Nova de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Portugal ""Mechanism of glycosylation orchestrated by C1Gal-T1 and ST6GalNAc-I enzymes unveiled by NMR."" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)	Unanimously Approved
2017 Concluded	Química Bioorgânica (Mestrado) Universidade Nova de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Portugal ""Molecular recognition of tumor-associated antigens by lectins and antibodies"" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)	17/20
2015 Concluded	Bioquímica (Licenciatura) Universidade Nova de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Portugal ""Estudo de Dinâmica Molecular do péptido pHLIP e suas variantes"" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)	16/20

Projects

Grant

	Designation	Funders
2018/10/01 - 2022/09/30	Advances in MUC1 Glycan Cancer Antigens: From structure to function in the fight against cancer PTDC/BIA-MIB/31028/2017 Researcher REQUIMTE Unidade de Ciências Biomoleculares Aplicadas, Portugal Universidade Nova de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Ongoing
2018/11/01 - 2021/11/30	Advances into the Glycome: From a Structural viewpoint to Function in human Health and Disease. IF/00780/2015 Researcher REQUIMTE Unidade de Ciências Biomoleculares Aplicadas, Portugal Universidade Nova de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Ongoing

Contract

	Designation	Funders
2021/01/01 - 2025/12/31	Institute for Health and Bioeconomy LA/P/0140/2020 10.54499/LA/P/0140/2020 Associação do Instituto Superior Técnico para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento, Portugal Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Bioengenharia e Biociências, Portugal Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal INESC Microsistemas e Nanotecnologias, Portugal Rede de Química e Tecnologia Laboratório Associado para a Química Verde, Portugal Universidade Nova de Lisboa Associação para a Inovação e Desenvolvimento da FCT, Portugal Unidade de Ciências Biomoleculares Aplicadas, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Ongoing
2023/04/20 - 2025/02/28	Targeting human macrophage galactose C-type lectin towards the development of innovative and alternative cancer therapies 10.54499/PTDC/QUI-OUT/2586/2020 Research Fellow Universidade Nova de Lisboa Associação para a Inovação e Desenvolvimento da FCT, Portugal Unidade de Ciências Biomoleculares Aplicadas, Portugal Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Ongoing
2020/01/01 - 2023/12/31	Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit UIDB/04378/2020 10.54499/UIDB/04378/2020 Researcher Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal Unidade de Ciências Biomoleculares Aplicadas, Portugal Rede de Química e Tecnologia Laboratório Associado para a Química Verde, Portugal Universidade Nova de Lisboa Associação para a Inovação e Desenvolvimento da FCT, Portugal Universidade do Porto Instituto de Ciências Tecnologias e Agroambiente, Portugal Universidade do Porto, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Concluded
2020/01/01 - 2023/12/31	Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit UIDP/04378/2020 10.54499/UIDP/04378/2020 Researcher Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal Unidade de Ciências Biomoleculares Aplicadas, Portugal Rede de Química e Tecnologia Laboratório Associado para a Química Verde, Portugal Universidade Nova de Lisboa Associação para a Inovação e Desenvolvimento da FCT, Portugal Universidade do Porto Instituto de Ciências Tecnologias e Agroambiente, Portugal Universidade do Porto, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Concluded
2021/03/01 - 2023/03/01	Targeting human macrophage galactose C-type lectin towards the development of innovative and alternative cancer therapies 10.54499/PTDC/QUI-OUT/2586/2020 PhD Student Fellow Universidade Nova de Lisboa Associação para a Inovação e Desenvolvimento da FCT, Portugal Unidade de Ciências Biomoleculares Aplicadas, Portugal Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Ongoing

Outputs

Publications

Conference poster

Grosso, Ana Sofia. "New structural insights of the O-glycosylation mechanism by C1GalT1 and ST6GalNAc-I". Paper presented in GLYCOTwinning Scientific Meeting, 2024.
Grosso, Ana Sofia. "A Deeper Dive into MUC1 O-Glycosylation: the case of C1GalT1 and ST6GalNAc-I". Paper presented in Workshop “How Time-Resolved X-Ray Crystallography is driving Structural Biology Forward”, 2024.
Grosso, Ana Sofia. "New structural insights of C1GalT1 and ST6GalNAc-I O-glycosylation mechanism". Paper presented in 1st GLYCOTwinning Summer School, 2023.
Grosso, Ana Sofia. "New structural insights of mucin-1 O-glycosylation by C1GalT1 and ST6GalNAc-I". Paper presented in Trends in Organic Chemistry 2023 - Chemical Biology in Umeå, 2023.
Grosso, Ana Sofia. "A deeper dive into MUC1 O-Glycosylation: the case of C1GalT1 and ST6GalNAc-I". Paper presented in Biochemistry Global Summit (IUBMB-FEBS-PABMB 2022), 2022.
Grosso, Ana Sofia. "MUC1 glycosylation: The case of C1GalT1 and ST6GalNAc-I". Paper presented in 9th Ibero-American NMR Meeting, 2021.
Grosso, Ana Sofia. "Molecular Recognition of a Thomsen-Friedenreich Antigen Mimetic Targeting Human Galectin-3". Paper presented in 1st Meeting COST ACTION 18132 (GLYCOnanoPROBES), Caparica, Portugal, 2019.

Journal article

Soares, Cátia O.; Laugieri, Maria Elena; Grosso, Ana Sofia; Natale, Mariangela; Coelho, Helena; Behren, Sandra; Yu, Jin; et al. "Decoding the Molecular Basis of the Specificity of an Anti-sTn Antibody". JACS Au (2024): https://doi.org/10.1021/jacsau.4c00921.
10.1021/jacsau.4c00921
Bermejo, Iris A.; Guerreiro, Ana; Eguskiza, Ander; Martínez-Sáez, Nuria; Lazaris, Foivos S.; Asín, Alicia; Somovilla, Víctor J.; et al. "Structure-Guided Approach for the Development of MUC1-Glycopeptide-Based Cancer Vaccines with Predictable Responses". JACS Au 4 1 (2023): 150-163. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacsau.3c00587.
10.1021/jacsau.3c00587
González-Ramírez, Andrés Manuel; Grosso, Ana Sofia; Yang, Zhang; Compañón, Ismael; Coelho, Helena; Narimatsu, Yoshiki; Clausen, Henrik; et al. "Structural basis for the synthesis of the core 1 structure by C1GalT1". Nature Communications 13 1 (2022): http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29833-0.
Published • 10.1038/s41467-022-29833-0
Coelho, Helena; Rivas, Matilde de las; Grosso, Ana S.; Diniz, Ana; Soares, Cátia O.; Francisco, Rodrigo A.; Dias, Jorge S.; et al. Corresponding author: Marcelo, Filipa. "Atomic and Specificity Details of Mucin 1 O-Glycosylation Process by Multiple Polypeptide GalNAc-Transferase Isoforms Unveiled by NMR and Molecular Modeling". JACS Au (2022): http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacsau.1c00529.
10.1021/jacsau.1c00529
Soares, Cátia Oliveira; Grosso, Ana Sofia; Ereño-Orbea, June; Coelho, Helena; Marcelo, Filipa. Corresponding author: Marcelo, Filipa. "Molecular Recognition Insights of Sialic Acid Glycans by Distinct Receptors Unveiled by NMR and Molecular Modeling". Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences 8 (2021): http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmolb.2021.727847.
10.3389/fmolb.2021.727847
Santarsia, Sabrina; Grosso, Ana Sofia; Trovão, Filipa; Jiménez-Barbero, Jesús; Carvalho, Ana Luísa; Nativi, Cristina; Marcelo, Filipa. Corresponding author: Marcelo, Filipa. "Molecular Recognition of a Thomsen-Friedenreich Antigen Mimetic Targeting Human Galectin-3". ChemMedChem 13 19 (2018): 2030-2036. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cmdc.201800525.
Published • 10.1002/cmdc.201800525

Activities

Oral presentation

	Presentation title	Event name Host (Event location)
2024/12/06	Mechanism of MUC1 O-glycosylation orchestrated by C1GalT1 and ST6GalNAc-I unveiled by NMR	BioSeminars@UCIBIO UCIBIO (Portugal)
2024/11/07	Mucin-1 O-glycosylation by C1GalT1 and ST6GalNAc-I	GlycoBasque7 (Bilbao, Spain)
2024/09/03	New structural insights of the O-glycosylation mechanism by C1GalT1 and ST6GalNAc-I	GLYCOTwinning Scientific Meeting NOVA FCT (Caparica, Portugal)
2023/12/11	New structural insights of mucin-1 O-glycosylation by C1GalT1 and ST6GalNAc-I	GLYCOTwinning Online Seminar
2022/11/19	New structural insights of mucin-1 O-glycosylation by C1GalT1 and ST6GalNAc-I	Glycobasque5 (San Sebastian, Spain)
2019/09/03	Molecular Recognition of a Thomsen-Friedenreich Antigen Mimetic Targeting Human Galectin-3	13th International Meeting of the Portuguese Carbohydrate Group - GLUPOR 13 Sociedade Portuguesa da Química (SPQ) (Porto, Portugal)

Event organisation

	Event name Type of event (Role)	Institution / Organization
2023/11 - 2023/12/11	Member of the student organizing committee for the GLYCOTwinning Online Seminar at NOVA-UCIBIO (2023/12/11) Seminar

Event participation

	Activity description Type of event	Event name Institution / Organization
2024/09/04 - Current	2nd GLYCOTwinning Summer School	Universidade Nova de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Portugal
2024/09/03 - Current	GLYCOTwinning Scientific Meeting Meeting	Universidade Nova de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Portugal
2024/02/22 - Current	Workshop “How Time-Resolved X-Ray Crystallography is driving Structural Biology Forward” Workshop	How Time-Resolved X-Ray Crystallography is driving Structural Biology Forward Universidade Nova de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Portugal
2024 - Current	Course entitled "Healthy Writing Retreat 9th edition" NOVA Doctoral School
2024 - Current	Course entitled "Cromatografia Líquida"	Universidade Nova de Lisboa Departamento de Química, Portugal
2024 - Current	Online workshop entitled “Gromacs and Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Biomembranes” Workshop	Universidade de Évora, Portugal
2024 - Current	GLYCOTwinning workshop on Innovation, Technology Transfer and Entrepreneurship Workshop	Universidade Nova de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Portugal
2023 - Current	Course entitled "Gestão de Projetos II 3ª edição" NOVA Doctoral School
2022 - Current	Course entitled "3D-BioInfo-PT Introductory Workshop 2022"
2022 - Current	Workshop entitled "3D-BioInfo-PT Intermediate Workshop 2022"
2021 - Current	Course entitled "Design Thinking 24ª edição" NOVA Doctoral School
2021 - Current	Course entitled "Ligand-based NMR to study biomolecular interactions: a course focused on STD-NMR" AUREMN, Escola Brasileira de RMN
2021 - Current	Course entitled "Scientific Text Processing with LaTeX 12ª edição" NOVA Doctoral School
2021 - Current	MOOC entitled "Advanced NMR Spectroscopy" Online, University of Lille
2021 - Current	Specialized module in Glycan Microarrays Supervisors: Dr. Benedita Pinheiro and Prof. Dr. Angelina Palma GlycoLab, NOVA School of Science and Technology	Universidade Nova de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Portugal
2020 - Current	Course entitled "Project Management 21th On-line edition" NOVA Doctoral School
2019 - Current	Course in "Information Literacy 18th Edition" NOVA Doctoral School
2019 - Current	Course entitled "Data Processing Automation (Python) 10th edition" NOVA Doctoral School
2019 - Current	Course entitled "Paper Writing Course" LAQV and UCIBIO, NOVA School of Science and Technology	Unidade de Ciências Biomoleculares Aplicadas, Portugal Rede de Química e Tecnologia Laboratório Associado para a Química Verde, Portugal Universidade Nova de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Portugal
2017 - Current	MOOC entitled "Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), a compass to Nanoworld" Online, University of Lille
2023/09/25 - 2023/09/29	Summer School & Workshop on Transferable Skills GLYCOTwinning
2021/10/03 - 2021/10/04	Course entitled "Fundamental of Glycobiology" Congress	6th Latin American Glycobiology Congress

Mentoring / Tutoring

	Topic	Student name
2022/10/01 - 2022/10/31	Molecular recognition mechanism of cyclic peptides with a protein by NMR spectroscopy techniques	Mikael Ilomäki
2020/02 - 2020/03	Molecular recognition mechanism of MUC1-based mimetics glycopeptides by antibodies and MGL by NMR	Pablo Adrian Guillen Poza
2019/01 - 2019/06	Chemoenzymatic synthesis and structural analysis of MUC1 glycosylated fragments aberrantly expressed in cancer	Cátia Alexandra Oliveira Soares
2017/10 - 2017/12	NMR molecular recognition of tumor-associated TF antigen and corresponding mimetics by the tissue lectin Galectin-3	Sabrina Santarsia

Scientific expedition

	Activity description	Institution / Organization
2023/08/23 - 2023/09/12	Synthesis of mucin-derived tumour-associated glycopeptides for molecular recognition studies Supervisor: Dr. Ulrika Westerlind	Umeå Universitet, Sweden
2023/01/01 - 2023/02/28	Molecular Dynamics advanced course for lectin/glycosyltransferases and glycopeptides Supervisor: Full Professor Francisco Corzana	Universidad de la Rioja Departamento de Química, Spain
2022/05/01 - 2022/08/31	Molecular Dynamics intensive course for lectin/glycosyltransferases and glycopeptides Supervisor: Full Professor Francisco Corzana	Universidad de la Rioja Departamento de Química, Spain
2022 - 2022	Glycopeptide solid-phase synthesis and purification using a synthesizer Supervisor: Dr. Fayna García	Universidad de la Rioja Departamento de Química, Spain

Distinctions

Other distinction

2022	COVID/BD/152986/2023 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal
2018	FCT Doctoral Fellowship SFRH/BD/140394/2018 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal