Adriana Fontes (BF1A-D2E2-C2C3)

Curriculum Vitae

Adriana Fontes

Adriana Fontes completed her Ph.D. in Biosciences in 2023/06 at the University of Coimbra, her Master's degree in Molecular Biotechnology in 2014 from the University of Aveiro and Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, and her Bachelor degree in 2012 by the University of Aveiro. During her Ph.D., she was an early-stage researcher (ESR) at the project FOIE GRAS ("Bioenergetic Remodeling in the Pathophysiology and Treatment of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease", Grant agreement ID: 722619, Funded by Horizon 2020 - Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions), and received a 2-years scholarship from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) ("A bio-nutritive strategy against transition metal toxicity", SFRH/BD/05623/2020). Currently, she is a Postdoc at the Helmholtz Zentrum München, Institute for Toxicology and Pharmacology (Munich, Germany), working under third-party funding ("WilsonMed - Multimolecular targeting of copper overload in Wilson's disease", 01GM2001A, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research), and as Research Assitant in the project PAS GRAS ("De-risking metabolic, environmental and behavioral determinants of obesity in children, adolescents, and young adults, Grant agreement ID: 101080329, funded by Horizon 2.1 - HEALTH). She published 4 articles in journals, has 1 section(s) of books, organized 1 event(s), and participated in 12 event(s). She has supervised 2 bachelor theses, 1 practical internship, and 1 master thesis. She works with different cellular models (human hepatocellular and colon carcinoma), isolated primary hepatocytes, and animal models (rats). Her topic of research is the development of new therapies for Wilson disease (copper chelators and mushroom-enriched diet) and how these therapies could benefit other pathologies such as Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), or Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), always with a focus on mitochondria function. Currently, she is also studying the pathophisiology of Wilson's disease in the intestine in search of potential early biomarkers for this pathology. In her curriculum Ciência Vitae the most frequent terms in the context of scientific and technological output are mitochondrion; copper; zinc; gastrointestinal tract; mushrooms; Wilson disease; Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; liver; bioenergetics; mitochondrial dysfunctions; gut microbiota; lipid metabolism; gut-liver axis; metabolism; treatment; obesity; diagnosis; biomarkers; inflammation and metabolic syndrome.

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Identification

Personal identification

Full name: Adriana Fontes

Citation names

Fontes, Adriana

Author identifiers

Ciência ID: BF1A-D2E2-C2C3
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-0923-9053

Email addresses

adri.s.fontes@gmail.com (Professional)
adrianafilipa.dasilvafontes@helmholtz-munich.de (Professional)

Telephones

Mobile phone

(+351) 917215680 (Personal)

Telephone

(+49 ) 89 4140 Ext.: 3418 (Professional)

Addresses

Biedersteinerstr. 29, Bau 602, 80802, München, München, Germany (Professional)
Ingolstädter Landstraße 1, D-85764, Neuherberg, München, Germany (Professional)

Knowledge fields

Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Biochemistry
Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Mycology
Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Molecular Biology
Medical and Health Sciences - Clinical Medicine - Endocrinology and Metabolism

Languages

Language	Speaking	Reading	Writing	Listening
Portuguese	Advanced (C1)	Advanced (C1)	Advanced (C1)	Advanced (C1)
English	Intermediate (B1)	Advanced (C1)	Intermediate (B1)	Intermediate (B1)
Italian	Beginner (A1)	Beginner (A1)	Beginner (A1)	Beginner (A1)

Education

	Degree	Classification
2018 - 2023/06 Concluded	Biociências (Doutoramento) Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal "Mushroom enriched-diets to ameliorate mitochondrial dysfunction in Wilson disease" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)	19 out of 20
2017/09/25 - 2017/10/01 Concluded	Modular structure training in laboratory animal science (Outros) Major in Authorised person to carry out procedures on animals Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Neurociências e Biologia Celular, Portugal	16 out of 20
2015/02/12 - 2015/03/31 Concluded	Training in "Entrepreneurship" in the Active Life mode (Outros) Centro de Emprego e Formação Profissional de Águeda, Portugal	16 out of 20
2014 Concluded	Molecular Biotechnology (Mestrado) Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Italy "Mitochondrial defects in proteasome and COP9 mutants " (THESIS/DISSERTATION)	17 out of 20
2012 Concluded	Biotechnology (Licenciatura) Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal "Natural nanocomposites of hyaluronic acid reinforced with bacterial cellulose" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)	14 out of 20

Affiliation

Science

	Category Host institution	Employer
2023/05 - Current	Postdoc (Research)	Helmholtz Zentrum München Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt, Germany
	Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen Institut fur Toxikologie, Germany
2021/06/01 - 2023/06	Researcher (Research)	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal
	Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen Institut fur Toxikologie, Germany
2017/06/01 - 2021/05/31	Contracted Researcher (Research)	Helmholtz Zentrum München Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt, Germany
	Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen Institut fur Toxikologie, Germany
2018 - 2018	Research Assistant (Research)	CNC.IBILI, Portugal

2016/04/01 - 2017/05/31	Science and Technology Management	Instituto de Educação e Cidadania, Portugal

2015/01/09 - 2017/05/31	Researcher (Research)	Instituto de Educação e Cidadania, Portugal

2017 - 2017	Research Assistant (Research)	CNC.IBILI, Portugal

Projects

Grant

	Designation	Funders
2023/05/01 - Current	De-risking metabolic, environmental and behavioral determinants of obesity in children, adolescents and young adults 101080329 Researcher Technische Universität München Institut für Allgemeinmedizin und Versorgungsforschung, Germany	European Commission Third Framework Programme Ongoing
2023 - Current	Mushrooms from 'Farm to Fork' [Cogumelos do 'Prado ao Prato': Do Tratamento de Doenças do Metabolismo a Dieta Saudável Sustentável a partir da Valorização de Recursos Agro-florestais] PRR-C05-i03-I-000160 PhD Student Fellow Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal	Ongoing
2021 - 2024	WilsonMed - Multimolecular targeting of copper overload in Wilson's disease - new Therapies in animal models 01GM2001A Helmholtz Zentrum München Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt, Germany	Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung Dienststelle Bonn Ongoing
2021/06 - 2023/05	A bio-nutritive strategy against transition metal toxicity SFRH/BD/05623/2020	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
2017/01 - 2021/06	Bioenergetic Remodeling in the Pathophysiology and Treatment of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease 722619	European Commission Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions

Outputs

Publications

Book chapter	Kabiri, Yaschar; von Toerne, Christine; Fontes, Adriana; Knolle, Percy A.; Zischka, Hans. "Isolation and Purification of Mitochondria from Cell Culture for Proteomic Analyses". In Methods in Molecular Biology, 411-419. Springer US, 2021. 10.1007/978-1-0716-1186-9_25
Conference poster	Eun-Jung Kim; Dasol Kim; Banu Akdogan; Noreene M Shibata; Judith Sailer; Fontes, Adriana; Dongsik Park; et al. Corresponding author: Valentina Medici. "ARBM-101 AS A SAFE AND POTENT THERAPEUTIC OPTION FOR WILSON DISEASE". Paper presented in American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) - The Liver Conference 2023, 2023. Fontes, Adriana; Carola Eberhagen; Christine Von Toerne; Andree Zibert; Zischka, Hans. "Bioenergetic defects are accompanied by decreased barrier integrity in Caco-2 ATP7B KO cells". Paper presented in IBCA 2023 AACHEN, 2023. Ana Santos-Carvalho; Fontes, Adriana; Nuno Santos; Ana Margarida Araujo; Paula Guedes; Claudia Cavadas; Felix Carvalho; Sonia Ferreira. "5F-PB-22 and XLR-11, two consumed synthetic cannabinoids, present a distinct toxicity profile in neuronal, hepatic and cardiac cells.". Paper presented in 52nd Congress of the European Societies of Toxicology, 2016.
Journal article	Fontes, Adriana; Pierson, Hannah; Bierla, Joanna B.; Eberhagen, Carola; Kinschel, Jennifer; Akdogan, Banu; Rieder, Tamara; et al. "Copper impairs the intestinal barrier integrity in Wilson disease". Metabolism 158 (2024): 155973. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.metabol.2024.155973. 10.1016/j.metabol.2024.155973 Fontes, Adriana; Jauch, Adrian T.; Sailer, Judith; Engler, Jonas; Azul, Anabela Marisa; Zischka, Hans. "Metabolic Derangement of Essential Transition Metals and Potential Antioxidant Therapies". International Journal of Molecular Sciences 25 14 (2024): 7880. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25147880. 10.3390/ijms25147880 Fontes, Adriana; Ramalho-Santos, João; Zischka, Hans; Azul, Anabela Marisa. "Mushrooms on the plate: Trends towards NAFLD treatment, health improvement and sustainable diets". European Journal of Clinical Investigation 52 3 (2021): http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/eci.13667. 10.1111/eci.13667 Fontes, Adriana; Alemany-Pagès, Mireia; Oliveira, Paulo J.; Ramalho-Santos, João; Zischka, Hans; Azul, Anabela Marisa. "Antioxidant Versus Pro-Apoptotic Effects of Mushroom-Enriched Diets on Mitochondria in Liver Disease". International Journal of Molecular Sciences 20 16 (2019): 3987. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms20163987. 10.3390/ijms20163987 Simões, Inês C.M.; Fontes, Adriana; Pinton, Paolo; Zischka, Hans; Wieckowski, Mariusz R.. "Mitochondria in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease". The International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology 95 (2018): 93-99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocel.2017.12.019. 10.1016/j.biocel.2017.12.019 Santos Carvalho, A.; Fontes, A.; Santos, N.; Araújo, A.; Guedes, P.; Cavadas, C.; Carvalho, F.; Ferreira, S.. "5F-PB-22 and XLR-11, two consumed synthetic cannabinoids, present a distinct toxicity profile in neuronal, hepatic and cardiac cells". Toxicology Letters 258 (2016): S127. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.toxlet.2016.06.1507. 10.1016/j.toxlet.2016.06.1507

Activities

Oral presentation

	Presentation title	Event name Host (Event location)
2024/05/04	Copper impairs the intestinal barrier in Wilson Disease	Wilson Aarhus 2024 symposium Aarhus Univeristy (Aarhus, Denmark)
2023/01/12	Intestinal impairment in Wilson disease: mushrooms as a dietary approach for metal dyshomeostasis	III Metabolism Aging and Disease Meeting, Inflammaging: From Societal to Clinical Challenges University of Coimbra (Coimbra, Portugal)
2022/05	Copper impairs cellular barrier integrity in Wilson Disease	Wilson Aarhus 2022 symposium Aarhus University (Aarhus, Denmark)
2021/09/09	Dieta enriquecida com cogumelos para melhorar a disfunção mitocondrial em doenças do fígado - perspectiva de um PhD europeu	Ciclo de Conferências da CESPU CESPU - Instituto Universitário de Ciências da Saúde (Portugal)
2019/09/10	Thesis project in Biochemistry "Mushroom enriched-diets to ameliorate mitochondrial dysfunction in liver disease"	Thesis project presentation Universidade de Coimbra (Coimbra, Portugal)
2017/02	XLR-11, a synthetic cannabinoid, is more toxic to cells than its smoke products.	XLVII Portuguese Society of Pharmacology Reunion and XXXV Clinic Pharmacology Reunion and XVI Toxicology Reunion (Coimbra, Portugal)
2016/05	Innovative experimental advanced courses to engage fourth grade students in the understanding of Science.	Scicom Portugal 2016 (Lisbon, Portugal)
2016/05	I Science Festival in Oliveira do Bairro: Science for everyone.	Scicom Portugal 2016 (Lisbon, Portugal)

Event organisation

	Event name Type of event (Role)	Institution / Organization
2018/09 - 2018/10	Innovation in research and entrepreneurship (2018/10/30 - 2018/10/30) Workshop (Co-organisor)	Helmholtz Zentrum München Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt, Germany

Event participation

	Activity description Type of event	Event name Institution / Organization
2023/06/29 - 2023/06/30	The kick-off meeting of “PAS GRAS: De-risking metabolic, environmental and behavioural determinants of obesity in children, adolescents and young adults” Meeting	PAS GRAS KICKOFF Meeting Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
2019/06/27 - 2019/09/29	The International Conference on Fatty Liver 2019 Congress	International conference on Fatty Liver (ICFL 2019)
2019/07/10 - 2019/07/12	The 3rd Foie Gras Summer School - "Prospects and challenges of biomarkers that are influencing NAFLD diagnostics and treatment"	3rd FOIE GRAS Summer School: "Biomarkers for NAFLD Staging, Prognosis and Treatment" Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Farmácia, Portugal
2019/05/13 - 2019/05/15	What you never like to know about Flow Cytometry - The workshop on technical developments, research projects and methods in flow cytometry. Workshop	What you never like to know about Flow Cytometry Helmholtz Zentrum München Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt, Germany
2019/03/28 - 2019/03/28	Basics in Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and FACS-Sorting Workshop	Basics in FACS and FACS-Sorting Helmholtz Zentrum München Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt, Germany
2019/02/25 - 2019/02/27	How to publish in peer-reviewed journals Workshop	How to publish in peer-reviewed journals Helmholtz Zentrum München Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt, Germany
2018/11/28 - 2018/11/28	Course on Fluorescence microscopy - Principles and applications Workshop	Fluorescence Microscopy Helmholtz Zentrum München Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt, Germany
2018/10/19 - 2018/10/19	The Biostatistics with GraphPad Prism®: Basic Course Workshop	Biostatistics with GraphPad Prism®: Basic Course Helmholtz Zentrum München Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt, Germany
2018/07/03 - 2018/07/07	The 2nd FOIE GRAS Summer School - "Mechanisms of development and progression of NAFLD and the impact of the gut-liver axis in this process" Meeting	2nd FOIE GRAS Summer School: "Tools for the study of gut-liver crosstalk and energy fluxes in Non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFLD)" Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Area della Ricerca di Pisa, Italy
2018/05/30 - 2018/06/01	The 52nd Annual meeting of the European Society for Clinical Investigation (ESCI) Meeting	52nd Annual Meeting of the European Society for Clinical Investigation (ESCI) European Society for Clinical Investigation, Netherlands
2017/09/18 - 2017/09/22	The 1st FOIE GRAS Summer School and Kick-off meeting - "Tools for rationale measuring mitochondrial function in intact cells and isolated mitochondria" Meeting	1st FOIE GRAS Summer School: "Tools for rationale measuring mitochondrial function in intact cells and isolated mitochondria" Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Neurociências e Biologia Celular, Portugal
2017/07/29 - 2017/07/29	The European researcher’s night Exhibition	European researcher’s night 2017 Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Neurociências e Biologia Celular, Portugal

Course / Discipline taught

	Academic session	Degree Subject (Type)	Institution / Organization
2016 - 2017	Experimental Science Courses to Students (4th-grade) - Principles of Physics, Biology, and Chemistry	(Outros)	Instituto de Educação e Cidadania, Portugal
2015 - 2017	Laboratory Methods and Techniques (9th-grade students)	(Outros)	Instituto de Educação e Cidadania, Portugal
2016/06 - 2016/07	Health didactic course: Nutrition and Physical Activity (3rd to 6th-grade students)	(Outros)	Instituto de Educação e Cidadania, Portugal
2016/02 - 2016/02	Basic Biotechnology Course (4th to 6th-grade Teachers)	(Outros)	Instituto de Educação e Cidadania, Portugal

Interview (newspaper / magazine)

	Activity description	Newspaper / Forum
2018/06/22	Chronicles: “Good food an exercise a day keeps the doctor away”, published at the local newspaper Diário de Coimbra and recorded at the radio of the University of Coimbra (Radio Universidade de Coimbra, RUC).	Diário de Coimbra

Mentoring / Tutoring

	Topic	Student name
2023/10 - 2023/12	Testing of new copper chelators in HepG2 cells	Kilian Enzensberger
2023/02 - 2023/05	Copper toxicity in human enterocyte cellular models	Jasmin Dorner
2021/04 - 2022/02	Increased vulnerability to copper and fat in Wilson disease enterocyte-like cells	Jennifer Kinschel
2020/05 - 2020/09	The effects of a copper enriched high fat diet in an in-vitro gastrointestinal model	Linda Skiera
2015/09/01 - 2017/05/30	Natural Sciences/Biology and Geology/Biology	9th, 11th and 12th-grade students