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I have a MSc in Molecular Biology and Genetics from the University of Lisbon, and I am currently enrolled in the ‘Biodiversity, Evolution and Genetics’ PhD programme (BIODIV; https://ce3c.ciencias.ulisboa.pt/training/ver.php?id=19), from the centre cE3c (https://ce3c.ciencias.ulisboa.pt/about/mission.php). I started with the course component of this programme in October 2020 and hope to start the research component by Fall 2021. My project is in the field of eco-evo-devo, which combines concepts and approaches from different disciplines to investigate the molecular mechanisms and evolutionary causes shaping phenotypic variation. It will be supervised by PI Patrícia Beldade (cE3c-FCUL; CIENCIA-ID: B316-D86C-9869) and co-supervised by PI Antónia Monteiro (National University of Singapore; CIENCIA-ID: 7B12-A51F-03C1). My MSc thesis, defended in April 2018, is in the field of Molecular Immunology and focused on Toll-like receptor inhibition and African Swine Fever Virus. It was carried out at the “Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência” (Oeiras), under the supervision of PI Michael Parkhouse. Since my graduation, I sought to gain experience in both scientific research (see below) and outside academia (paid jobs in commerce and services), including living outside of Portugal (half a year in England). I worked as a volunteer in a Molecular Evolution lab at the IBMC/I3S (Porto, PI Cristina Vieira; 2018) and with a fellowship in a Clinical Immunology lab at the “Instituto de Medicina Molecular” (IMM, Lisbon; PI Ana Espada de Sousa; 2019-2020). At the IMM, where I stayed until I started the BIODIV programme, I eventually joined local SARS-Cov-2-related research efforts, which I could contribute to because of my experience with flow cytometry and with handling human samples. I am confident that my experience with work within and outside academia, combined with my long-standing fascination with animal pigmentation variation, make me especially well prepared for developing a PhD project on developmental plasticity in butterfly wing patterns.
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Identification

Personal identification

Full name
Joel Laia

Citation names

  • Joel Laia

Author identifiers

Ciência ID
B710-68B7-8A71
ORCID iD
0000-0003-1116-7300

Email addresses

  • joellaia.professional@gmail.com (Professional)
  • juliojlhenriques@gmail.com (Personal)

Knowledge fields

  • Natural sciences - Biological Sciences

Languages

Language Speaking Reading Writing Listening Peer-review
English Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1)
Education
Degree Classification
2015/09/13 - 2018/04/03
Concluded
 MSc Molecular Biology and Genetics (Mestrado)
Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências, Portugal
"Mechanism of a viral inhibitor of Toll-like receptors activation - supervised by Dr M Parkhouse; defended 04-2018" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
 15
2012/09 - 2015/07
Concluded
 BSc in Molecular Biology and Genetics (Licenciatura)
Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências, Portugal
Affiliation

Science

Category
Host institution 		Employer
2019/10 - 2020/10 Research Assistant (Research) Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes, Portugal
2019/06 - 2019/11 Research Trainee (Research) Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Portugal
Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Portugal
(...)
2016/10 - 2017/11 Research Trainee (Research) Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Portugal

Others

Category
Host institution 		Employer
2020/10/15 - Current PhD student (BIODIV PhD Programme of cE3c) Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências, Portugal
Centro de Ecologia Evolução e Alterações Ambientais, Portugal
Projects

Grant

Designation Funders
2020/10/01 - 2023/11/01 Evolutionary novelty and developmental plasticity: connecting immunity and pigmentation pattern formation
2021.05097.BD
PhD Student Fellow
Centro de Ecologia Evolução e Alterações Ambientais, Portugal

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal

Fundação da Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
Ongoing
2020/03 - 2020/10 COVID-19 study: processing of human samples (worked as researcher on fellowship)
IMM/BI/ 63 2019
Research Technician Fellow
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes, Portugal
 Gilead Sciences
Ongoing
2019/10 - 2020/03 Human thymus repository for Treg development studies (worked as researcher on fellowship)
IMM/BI/ 63 2019
Research Technician Fellow
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes, Portugal
 Gilead Sciences
Ongoing
2019/06 - 2019/11 Identification of a locus involved in self-incompatibility in Angiosperms (worked as volunteer researcher)
UIDB/04293/2020
Researcher
Associação para a Inovação e Desenvolvimento da FCT
Concluded

Contract

Designation Funders
2022/01/01 - 2024/12/31 Phenotypic plasticity in multifactorial environments
PTDC/BIA-EVL/0321/2021
10.54499/PTDC/BIA-EVL/0321/2021
FCiênciasID Associação para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento de Ciências, Portugal

Universidade de Lisboa Centro de Ecologia Evolução e Alterações Ambientais, Portugal
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Ongoing
Outputs

Publications

Conference abstract
  1. Trombetta AC; Guilherme Farias; Ana Godinho-Santos; Gomes, AMC; Rosmaninho, Pedro; Carolina M. Conceição; Joel Laia; et al. "Timely acquisition of myeloid cell immune-regulatory phenotype and COVID-19 outcome". Paper presented in Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections 2021, 2021.
    Submitted
  2. Gomes, AMC; Joel Laia; Guilherme Farias; Ana Godinho-Santos; Diana F Santos; Rosmaninho, Pedro; Carolina M. Conceição; et al. "Role of Innate Lymphoid Cells in COVID-19". Paper presented in Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections 2021, 2021.
  3. Trombetta AC; Guilherme Farias; Ana Godinho-Santos; Gomes, AMC; Rosmaninho, Pedro; Carolina M. Conceição; Joel Laia; et al. "SARS-CoV-2 plasma viral load polarizes the systemic myeloid cell compartment towards an immunosuppressive/regulatory phenotype in severe COVID-19 patients". Paper presented in Virtul Immunology 2021, 2021.
    Accepted
  4. Trombetta AC; Joel Laia. "Severe COVID-19 recovery is associated with timely acquisition of a myeloid cell immune-regulatory phenotype". Paper presented in Sociedade Portuguesa Annual Meeting 2021, 2021.
    Submitted
  5. Joel Laia; Trombetta AC. "Longitudinal deep characterization of systemic myeloid cell response in a chronic HIV-1 infected patient surviving severe COVID-19". Paper presented in Sociedade Portuguesa Annual Meeting 2021, 2021.
    Submitted
Conference poster
  1. André MC Gomes; Guilherme B. Farias; Manuel Dias-Silva; Joel Laia; Amelia C. Trombetta; Ana Godinho-Santos; Pedro Rosmaninho; et al. "SARS-CoV-2 Pneumonia Recovery is Linked to an Expansion of type 2 Innate Lymphoid Cells Expressing CCR10". Paper presented in SPI annual meeting 2021, 2021.
  2. Guilherme B. Farias; André MC Gomes; Ana Godinho-Santos; Pedro Rosmaninho; Diana F. Santos; Carolina M. Conceiçao; Joel Laia; et al. "Distinct profile of the sistemic myeloid cell response in HIV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 acute infections". Paper presented in SPI annual meeting 2021, 2021.
  3. B. Farias, Guilherme; Gomes, AMC; Godinho-Santos, Ana; Rosmaninho, Pedro; Santos, Diana F; Conceição CM; Joel Laia; et al. "Distinct profile of the systemic myeloid cell response in HIV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 acute infections.". Paper presented in XLVI Annual Meeting of the Portuguese Society for Immunology, 2021.
Journal article
  1. Guilherme B. Farias; Robert Badura; Carolina M. Conceição; André M. C. Gomes; Ana Godinho-Santos; Joel Laia; Pedro Rosmaninho; et al. "Acute HIV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 Infections Share Slan+ Monocyte Depletion¿Evidence from an Hyperacute HIV-1 Case Report". Viruses 13 9 (2021): 1805-1805. https://doi.org/10.3390/v13091805.
    10.3390/v13091805
  2. Vieira, J.; Pimenta, J.; Gomes, A.; Laia, J.; Rocha, S.; Heitzler, P.; Vieira, C. P.. "The identification of the Rosa S-locus and implications on the evolution of the Rosaceae gametophytic self-incompatibility systems". Scientific Reports 11 1 (2021): http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-83243-8.
    Open access • Published
Activities

Oral presentation

Presentation title Event name
Host (Event location)
2022/12/06 Butterfly colour pattern development affected by immune challenge Tibe - The Biology of Colour
(Vila do Conde, Portugal)

Event organisation

Event name
Type of event (Role) 		Institution / Organization
2022/09/08 - 2023/04/28 BIODIV PhD Programme - part of the Organization Comittee This is an Annual Meeting with PhD students from the BIODIV Programme, from both FCUL and FCUL. The event occured in FCUL. I helped creating and supervising engaging activities between the students and suggesting and contacting speakers. (2023/04/04 - 2023/04/04)
Meeting (Co-organisor)
 Fundação da Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

Universidade do Porto Faculdade de Ciências, Portugal

Event participation

Activity description
Type of event 		Event name
Institution / Organization
2023/04/27 - 2023/04/27 2023 BIODIV Annual Meeting presentation - Immune system activation and the formation of colour patterns
Meeting
 2023 BIODIV Annual Meeting
Fundação da Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
2021/02/01 - 2021/02/05 CIBIO-inBIO advanced course 'Art and Design in Science' (taught by Dr Vasco Batista and Dr Raquel Vasconcelos). https://cibio.up.pt/workshops--courses/details/advanced-course-art--design-for-scientists
Universidade do Porto Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Portugal
2020/10/22 - 2021/02/04 cE3c advanced course 'cE3c Seminars I' (led by Dr Margarida Matos and taught cE3c group leaders). https://ce3c.ciencias.ulisboa.pt//training/ver.php?id=13
Centro de Ecologia Evolução e Alterações Ambientais, Portugal
2021/01/18 - 2021/01/22 cE3c advanced course 'Gene Prediction and Annotation of Whole Genomes' (taught by Dr Antonio Muñoz). https://cibio.up.pt/workshops--courses/details/advanced-course-gene-prediction-and-annotation-of-genomes
2021/01/06 - 2021/01/08 cE3c advanced course 'Reproducibility in Science' (taught by Dr Inês Fragata). https://ce3c.ciencias.ulisboa.pt/training/ver.php?id=156
Centro de Ecologia Evolução e Alterações Ambientais, Portugal
2020/10/09 - 2020/10/13 CIBIO-inBIO advanced course 'Topics in Production of Science' (taught by Cristina Luís, Filipa Vala and Patrícia García Pereira). https://ce3c.ciencias.ulisboa.pt/training/ver.php?id=95
Universidade do Porto Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Portugal
2018/11/29 - 2018/11/30 I3S 2018 institutional meeting (Póvoa de Varzim) where local researchers presented their work.
2018/10/20 - 2018/10/20 Conference of the I3S institute on Neurobiology and Neurologic Disorders (Fundação de Serralves, Porto).
Conference
 Open Session of the Neurobiology and Neurologic Disorders Integrative Program
Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Portugal
2017/05 - 2017/05 Invited to visit and talk at the lab of Dr Walter Saltzburgerat the Institute of Zoology, Basel Universität, Switzerland (seminar title: "Mechanism of a viral inhibitor of Toll-like receptors activation").
2017/03 - 2017/03 Attending advanced course on 'Eco-Evo-Devo' from the IGC PhD Programme 'Integrative Biology and Biomedicine' (taught by Dr Patrícia Beldade, Dr Ivo chelo, Dr Alistair McGregor, Dr Christen Mirth, Dr Abderrahman Khila).
Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Portugal
2016/08 - 2016/09 Short internship learning about using CRISPR-Cas9 on mouse for tracking T-Cells (in the group of Dr Vera Martins, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência).
Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Portugal
2015/01 - 2015/08 Short volunteer internship providing assistance with lab maintenance (lab of Dr Rogério Tenreiro, TecLabs, FCUL).
Fundação da Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
2011/08 - 2011/08 Participation in "Ciência Viva no Laboratório" visiting the Cytogenetics lab from "Hospital de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro" (learned how to identify human chromosomes and karyotype human blood samples)
Centro Hospitalar de Trás-os-montes e Alto Douro EPE, Portugal

Course / Discipline taught

Academic session Degree Subject (Type) Institution / Organization
2023/07/24 - 2023/08/04 EMBO practical course: Plasticity in developing systems: Time, space, and environment, Heidelberg, Germany PhD students (kandidaatti) EMBO Press, Germany

EMBL Heidelberg Genomics Core Facility, Germany

Mentoring / Tutoring

Topic Student name
2023/03/01 - 2023/07/31 Testing salts in eyespot size 2 undergrad students from the BED course, FCUL, Lisboa
2023/04/01 - 2023/06/30 Testing LPS dosage in eyespot size 5 students from the BED course of the 1st MsC BED - FCUL, Lisboa
2023/01/19 - 2023/01/19 Visit from Undergrad students to the lab Secondary School Dona Luísa de Gusmão, Lisboa
2019/10/01 - 2020/10/31 Human biological samples processing and acquisition in flow cytometry Zoe Jungingen, Guilherme Farias, other students