May 6
We had the honor to host
Dr. Gary Lewin from MDC who gave a talk on
“Tether proteins for mechanotransduction, from neurodevelopment to sensory disorders”
and Dr. Ana Rita Duarte from NOVA FCT, who gave a talk on
“Opportunities of Deep Eutectic Systems in Pharmaceutical Sciences “
Dr Gary Lewin Short Bio
Dr Gary Lewin earned his degree in Physiology and Pharmacology from Sheffield University and completed his Ph.D. at St. Thomas’s Hospital Medical School in London, focusing on sensory neuron physiology. His postdoctoral work at SUNY Stony Brook led to key discoveries about nerve growth factor’s role in inflammatory pain, paving the way for therapies like Pfizer’s Tanezumab.
He later worked at the Max-Planck Institute in Munich on neurotrophin function using mouse genetics, and since 1996 has led a research group at the Max Delbrück Center in Berlin. His lab has been at the forefront of mechanosensation research, identifying key molecules like STOML3 and introducing the naked mole-rat as a model for extreme physiology. Gary is also a Professor at Charité and a recipient of the 2019 Ernst Jung Prize for Medicine.
Dr Ana Rita Duarte Short Bio
Ana Rita C. Duarte is an Associate Professor at the Chemistry Department of Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa. She holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the same institution, where she explored supercritical fluid technology for drug delivery systems. Her research has focused on green technologies and biomaterials, particularly using supercritical fluids, ionic liquids, and natural deep eutectic solvents.
She has held research positions at Universidade do Minho, TU Delft, and MIT (as a Fulbright Scholar), and co-founded the biotech start-up HydrUStent, winner of the Novo Banco Innovation Award. In 2016, she was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant for her project DES.solve. Ana Rita has authored over 80 scientific papers and has an h-index of 25.