Leadership & Organization
The NOVA Institute for Medical Systems Biology (NIMSB) is a centre of excellence in biomedical research whose discoveries and innovation projects will contribute to improve the quality of life for patients, reduce mortality, promote sustainable societal development, and enhancing Portugal’s competitive position in Europe and worldwide. The NIMSB project had its genesis in Health Platform and was developed with the objective of stimulating excellence research in areas associated with precision medicine, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration, concentration of resources and competencies, and internationalization.
NIMSB is a Strategic Platform of NOVA, as defined in the University’s Statutes, in Article 35, crossing the competencies mentioned above.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
MEET THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Board of Directors (BoD) is the body responsible for the executive direction of NIMSB, ensuring its scientific, operational, financial, and administrative management.
The members of the BoD are:
The Scientific Director, who presides over the board and has the casting vote, the Financial and Administrative Director, and the Vice-Directors for Impact & Financial Sustainability and for Research.
António Jacinto
Scientific Director
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António Jacinto is the Scientific Director of NIMSB.
Dr. Jacinto is Principal Investigator at the NOVA Institute for Medical Systems Biology and at NOVA Medical School, NOVA University Lisbon. His research interest is in understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate of tissue repair and regeneration, with a special interest on the roles played by cell metabolism and inflammation in these processes. Conducted studies in animal models and made important contributions in Drosophila epithelial repair and Zebrafish organ regeneration. But the current focus in on using systems biology approaches to study human tissue repair mechanisms and the consequences of their dysregulation, particularly in cancer and aging. The ultimate goal is to gain insights into human physiology and disease, which may lead to novel therapeutic methods that enhance human regenerative processes. Graduated in Biochemistry, in 1993, at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, Portugal, and obtained a PhD in Developmental Biology and Genetics, in 1999, at the University of London, UK. After the PhD, worked as Post Doc until 2002, at University College London. Established an independent junior research group at the Gulbenkian Institute of Science, Oeiras, in 2002. Joined the Institute of Molecular Medicine, Lisbon, in 2004, where led several research projects and oversaw institutional activities. Moved to the NOVA Medical School as a Principal Investigator in 2011, taking institutional roles, as Coordinator of the CEDOC – Chronic Diseases Research Centre from 2011 until 2019, as Vice-Dean for research at the NOVA Medical School from 2014 until 2021, and at present as Coordinator of the implementation of a new research centre, the NIMSB – NOVA Institute for Medical Systems Biology, funded by the Teaming for Excellence Programme – Horizon Europe. Published high-impact research papers in high-impact journals and received prestigious international grants, including an ERC Starting Grant. Participates actively in the scientific community, frequently reviewing international research grants and papers, and serving on scientific committees and advisory boards.
Alda Castro
Finance and Administrative Director
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Alda Castro is currently the Finance and Administrative Director of a NIMSB, with over 15 years of experience in financial and management control. She has held leadership positions across various sectors, specializing in financial planning, budgeting, and audit management. As the Director of Management Control at EUROPALCO since December 2023, Alda is responsible for implementing analytical accounting systems, supporting organizational restructuring, and advising the administration on operational costs and business investments. Previously, at the NOVA Medical School, she led a team as Director of Management Control, where she developed and implemented analytical accounting systems, spearheaded a 10-year business plan, and played a key role in the faculty’s restructuring and financial oversight.
Earlier roles include Audit Consultant at Deloitte, Financial and Management Control Manager at Plural Entertainment, SA, and Financial Controller positions at ISCTE and TIMWE Group. Alda has extensive experience in managing financial teams, implementing SAP systems, and providing strategic financial insights to executive boards. A graduate in business management from ISCTE, with additional governance training from the University of Economics in Prague, she also holds certifications in audit, taxation, and risk management.
Sofia Miguel
Vice-Director
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Sofia Miguel is the NIMSB Vice-director for Financial Sustainability and Impact.
Over the last 20 years, Dr. Miguel has been essentially linked to the national scientific and technological system. In 2002 she obtained her degree in Organic Chemistry from the Faculty of Sciences of University of Lisbon. After that, she worked five years for a national pharmaceutical company and at ITQB NOVA designing and developing new organic compounds with pharmaceutical and biomedical interest.
In 2012 she obtained her PhD in the field of Engineering Sciences and Technology from ITQB NOVA and where she also conducted her post-doctoral studies. She has several publications in peer-reviewed journals.
In 2014, she decided to join to the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, the national agency responsible for the funding of research in science, technology and innovation in all areas of knowledge. During the period she spent at FCT, she worked directly with the Board of Directors as scientific officer designing, implementing and monitoring robust evaluation processes, respecting the best international practices.
In 2018, Dr. Miguel joined again to NOVA to implement and coordinate the Research Funding Office, and the scientific activities of the SPEAR project designed to developed and implement Gender Equality Plans in the Academia. In 2022, she was invited to be adviser for Science and European affairs of the Portuguese Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education and where she become later Head of Cabinet.
Cláudia Nunes
Vice-Director
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Cláudia Nunes Santos is the NIMSB Vice-director for Research.
Dr. Cláudia Nunes dos Santos is Principal Investigator at NOVA Medical School and Guest Researcher at NIMSB. Her research is focused on understanding the role of polyphenols in providing the health benefits associated with consuming bioactive-rich plant foods and understanding the mechanistic basis of these beneficial changes. She is particularly interested in the ability of polyphenols metabolites to reach the brain and prevent or reverse the main hallmarks of neurodegenerative diseases.
She received her PhD at University of Lisbon in Plant Biochemistry and conducted her postdoctoral studies at Institute of Technology and Chemistry Biology, Portugal. She then worked as a Research Group Leader of the Molecular Nutrition and Health Lab at ITQB NOVA, before joining NOVA Medical School in Lisbon. She was awarded in 2018 with an ERC starting grant for zooming the link between diet and brain health focused in how phenolic metabolites modulate brain inflammation. Recently she was awarded with an ERC Proof-of-concept focused on a novel small molecule “NeuroShield” for tackling Parkinson’s Disease. She was also involved in a series of EU projects as a group leader and work-package leader (FP7-EUBerry; FP7-BacHBerry; Horizon2020-CHIC) and have attracted funding from Portuguese National Agency.
She has published over 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals (H-Index of 35, Web of Science).
Ana Pombo
MDC representative
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Ana Pombo is Vice-speaker of the Systems Medicine and Cardiovascular Disease Research Program of the MDC Berlin in the Helmholtz Association and Deputy Scientific Director of Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology (BIMSB) at the MDC.
She received her PhD in Physiological Sciences from the University of Oxford (UK) in 1998, which she developed at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology. She received a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship and remained in Oxford until 2000. She became a Group Leader at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Systems (MRC-LMS, UK). In 2012, she founded the Integrative Biology Section, MRC-LMS, and became a Professor in Cell Biology at Imperial College London. In 2013, she moved to Germany as a Group Leader at BIMSB, supported by a Helmholtz Association Distinguished Professorship, and became Professor (W3) at the Humboldt University of Berlin. From 2019, she serves as Deputy Scientific Director of BIMSB, MDC, and from 2022, as Vice-speaker of the Systems Medicine and Cardiovascular Disease research program of the MDC in the Helmholtz Association. She was the lead applicant of the NIMSB Teaming for Excellence project and NIMSB spokesperson at MDC. She has been a member of the NIH Common Funds 4D-Nucleome consortium since 2015, and co-coordinates the DFG Priority Program SPP2202 “Spatial Genome Architecture in Development and Disease”. Her research focuses on decoding the regulatory roles of 3D genome structure in gene expression and cellular memory. Her lab has pioneered high-resolution imaging and genomics technologies to study 3D genome architecture.
NIMSB-NOVA COORDINATION COMMITTEE
MEET THE COORDINATION COMMITTEE
This committee is the support body to the Supervisory Board that ensures the articulation between NIMSB and NOVA’s schools. The committee is constituted by the vice-rector for Research and Innovation, who presides, a member appointed by the Rector, who assists and by one representative of each school participating in the platform, appointed by the respective Dean.
These members are mainly responsible for the monitoring of NIMSB implementation and performance and NIMSB activities carried out in collaboration with NOVA’s schools. They also issue opinions and recommendations to the Supervisory Board whenever requested or whenever deemed necessary.
Isabel Rocha
President
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Isabel Rocha is Vice-Rector at NOVA University Lisbon, coordinating the areas of research, innovation and value creation.
She is a Principal Researcher at ITQB NOVA, coordinating the Synthetic Biology Research Laboratory. She has a PhD from the University of Minho in Chemical and Biological Engineering and did post-doctoral work at the Technical University of Denmark. She carries out research in Biotechnology, covering the topics of Bioinformatics, Metabolic Engineering, Synthetic Biology and Systems Biology, and has published more than 140 full papers in journals, books and international conferences. She is the scientific coordinator, among others, of the Shikifactory100 Project (Shikifactory100.eu) and the national representative on the executive board of the European Bioinformatics Infrastructure (ELIXIR). She is also an evaluator for various funding agencies, including the European Commission.
During 2007, she was a visiting professor at MIT, USA, as part of the MIT-Portugal Programme and was, from 2007 to 2017, part of the MIT-Portugal faculty, responsible for an innovation education programme involving 4 universities and 2 PhD programmes – the i-teams programme. She was President of P-Bio, the Portuguese Bioindustries Association, and was one of the founders of the companies Biotempo and SilicoLife.
She is Chair of the Board of Directors of the InnovPlantProtect CoLab, in crop protection, and Vice-Chair of the BIOREF CoLab in Biorefineries, and is also a member of the Board of Directors of Madan Parque, NOVA’s technology-based incubator.
Cláudio Soares
Representative apointed by the Rector
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Cláudio Soares is Pro-rector at NOVA University Lisbon and coordinates the NOVA Health Strategic Platform.
He graduated in Biochemistry in 1989 from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, Portugal. He carried out his PhD project at Uppsala University, Sweden (which he presented at the University of Lisbon in 1994). Dr. Soares joined ITQB NOVA in 1994 and has been running the Protein Modelling Laboratory there since 1999, one of the first laboratories in this field in Portugal. His Laboratory works on the molecular modelling of proteins using computational biophysical methods and its members have experience in a wide range of areas, from fundamental research methods to applications of biotechnological and biomedical interest.
He is a Full Professor at ITQB NOVA and was Director of the institute between 2013 and 2023, and Deputy Director from 2005-2008 and 2011-2013. He is the author of 128 articles published or accepted in peer-reviewed scientific journals and has an h-index of 41 (SCOPUS). He is 1st Secretary of the General Assembly of the Portuguese Biophysics Society and President of the Scientific Council of TAGUSPARK – Science and Technology Park, Portugal. He was President of the Portuguese Biophysical Society (2002-2008), a member of the Advanced Courses Committee of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) (2015-2018) and a member of the Council of the International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB) (2011-2017). Since 2004, he has been an evaluator for several international funding agencies, including the European Commission.
Since 1996, he has participated in 36 research projects with competitive funding and is currently the coordinator of a major project funded by the La Caixa Foundation, which involves a consortium of 7 laboratories in Portugal and Spain. Since 2015, he has also been the Coordinator of the Molecular, Structural and Cellular Microbiology Research Unit – MOSTMICRO-ITQB at ITQB NOVA, which is rated as Excellent by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology.
Eurico Cabrita
FCT NOVA
João Conde
NMS
Vera Lúcia Raposo
NOVA Law
Miguel Viveiros
IHMT NOVA
Leonardo Vannechi
NOVA IMS
Raquel Sá-Leão
ITQB NOVA
Susana Viegas
ENSP
SUPERVISORY BOARD
MEET THE SUPERVISORY BOARD
The Supervisory Board (SB) is the strategic decision-making and supervisory body of NIMSB. This Board is composed of five members, three of whom are appointed by the Rector, heard the Coordination Committee, and two members appointed by the Director of the MDC. The SB is chaired by one of its members, appointed by the Rector.
The Supervisory Board is responsible for monitoring the legality, effectiveness, and economic efficiency of the management of all the activities of NIMSB and can request at any time reports from the Board of Directors. It determines which decisions of the Board of Directors require the prior approval of the Supervisory Board and may issue instructions about important matters involving political aspects of the research and financial affairs of the institute.
Isabel Rocha
President
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Isabel Rocha is Vice-Rector at NOVA University Lisbon, coordinating the areas of research, innovation and value creation.
She is a Principal Researcher at ITQB NOVA, coordinating the Synthetic Biology Research Laboratory. She has a PhD from the University of Minho in Chemical and Biological Engineering and did post-doctoral work at the Technical University of Denmark. She carries out research in Biotechnology, covering the topics of Bioinformatics, Metabolic Engineering, Synthetic Biology and Systems Biology, and has published more than 140 full papers in journals, books and international conferences. She is the scientific coordinator, among others, of the Shikifactory100 Project (Shikifactory100.eu) and the national representative on the executive board of the European Bioinformatics Infrastructure (ELIXIR). She is also an evaluator for various funding agencies, including the European Commission.
During 2007, she was a visiting professor at MIT, USA, as part of the MIT-Portugal Programme and was, from 2007 to 2017, part of the MIT-Portugal faculty, responsible for an innovation education programme involving 4 universities and 2 PhD programmes – the i-teams programme. She was President of P-Bio, the Portuguese Bioindustries Association, and was one of the founders of the companies Biotempo and SilicoLife.
She is Chair of the Board of Directors of the InnovPlantProtect CoLab, in crop protection, and Vice-Chair of the BIOREF CoLab in Biorefineries, and is also a member of the Board of Directors of Madan Parque, NOVA’s technology-based incubator.
José Fragata
NOVA
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José Fragata is Professor Emeritus of Surgery, Co-director of the Heart Center of CUF Hospitals and Coordinator of the Cardiac Surgery Unit.
He obtained his medical training in Portugal and the United Kingdom and his doctorate in medicine in 1991. His aggregate degree in surgery was obtained in 1993 from NOVA University Lisbon. He was full professor and dean of NOVA Medical School and more recently Vice-rector for Health, also at NOVA. He has served on the General Council and chaired the Ethics Council of NOVA. He coordinates the postgraduate programme in Health Management at IUL’s INDEG-ISCTE and is president of the Academic Council of AHED (NOVA University’s Postgraduate School in Health). He is a cardiothoracic surgeon with a vast caseload in cardiac surgery for adults and children and in thoracic transplantation and has had a long national and international career in this specialty in parallel with a diversified academic career.
Cláudio M. Soares
NOVA
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Cláudio Soares is Pro-rector at NOVA University Lisbon and coordinates the NOVA Health Strategic Platform.
He graduated in Biochemistry in 1989 from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, Portugal. He carried out his PhD project at Uppsala University, Sweden (which he presented at the University of Lisbon in 1994). Dr. Soares joined ITQB NOVA in 1994 and has been running the Protein Modelling Laboratory there since 1999, one of the first laboratories in this field in Portugal. His Laboratory works on the molecular modelling of proteins using computational biophysical methods and its members have experience in a wide range of areas, from fundamental research methods to applications of biotechnological and biomedical interest.
He is a Full Professor at ITQB NOVA and was Director of the institute between 2013 and 2023, and Deputy Director from 2005-2008 and 2011-2013. He is the author of 128 articles published or accepted in peer-reviewed scientific journals and has an h-index of 41 (SCOPUS). He is 1st Secretary of the General Assembly of the Portuguese Biophysics Society and President of the Scientific Council of TAGUSPARK – Science and Technology Park, Portugal. He was President of the Portuguese Biophysical Society (2002-2008), a member of the Advanced Courses Committee of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) (2015-2018) and a member of the Council of the International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB) (2011-2017). Since 2004, he has been an evaluator for several international funding agencies, including the European Commission.
Since 1996, he has participated in 36 research projects with competitive funding and is currently the coordinator of a major project funded by the La Caixa Foundation, which involves a consortium of 7 laboratories in Portugal and Spain. Since 2015, he has also been the Coordinator of the Molecular, Structural and Cellular Microbiology Research Unit – MOSTMICRO-ITQB at ITQB NOVA, which is rated as Excellent by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology.
Maike Sander
MDC
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Maike Sander was appointed as the Scientific Director of the Max Delbrück Center in Berlin, Germany, in November 2022, following her tenure as Director of the Pediatric Diabetes Research Center at the University of California, San Diego. Her research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms that regulate the formation and function of insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells, aiming to develop new therapeutic approaches for diabetes. She combines genetic approaches using human stem cell models with single-cell genomics and genetic data.
Dr. Sander’s accolades include the Grodsky Award from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the Humboldt Research Award, and the Albert Renold Prize from the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. She is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, and the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina).
She has played a pivotal leadership role in multidisciplinary teams within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Human Islet Research Network and the Accelerating Medicines Partnership in Type 2 Diabetes Consortium. Additionally, she has served as the chair of the NIH study section on Cellular Aspects of Diabetes and Obesity, the review committee for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and has served on the strategic planning committee for the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Nikolaus Rajewsky
MDC
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Nikolaus Rajewsky is the scientific director of the Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology at the Max Delbrück Center (MDC-BIMSB) in Berlin Mitte, which he founded in 2008.
The MDC-BIMSB houses now about 25 labs. Nikolaus investigates how and why genes are switched on or off in healthy and diseased cells and develops methods to interfere with disease trajectories. A special focus is on non-coding RNAs. To this end, he combines computational approaches (computer science, statistics, theoretical physics) with methods from biochemistry and molecular biology. Nikolaus Rajewsky is a member of numerous international advisory boards, an elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), the “Leopoldina” (German Academy of Sciences) as well as the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. He is among the most highly cited researchers in his field and has received numerous awards, including an honorary doctorate from La Sapienza University in Rome and the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize from the German Research Foundation DFG.
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD
MEET THE SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD
The Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) is an advisory body for internal evaluation and counseling on strategic, scientific orientation, and maximizing societal impact.
It is composed of members external to NOVA, including international experts with recognized scientific competence in the NIMSB’s field of activity and representatives of partners and stakeholders, namely, NOVA, MDC, regional and national authorities, patient associations, medical organizations, hospitals, and sector companies. The composition and functioning of the Board are ruled by the funding agreement of NIMSB between the European Research Executive Agency of the European Commission and NOVA and by the consortium agreement between NOVA and MDC.
More information coming soon…
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
MEET THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Board of Directors (BoD) is the body responsible for the executive direction of NIMSB, ensuring its scientific, operational, financial, and administrative management.
The members of the BoD are:
The Scientific Director, who presides the board and has the casting vote, the Financial and Administrative Director and the Vice-Directors for Impact & Finantial Sustainability and for Research.
António Jacinto
Scientific Director
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António Jacinto is the Scientific Director of NIMSB.
Dr. Jacinto is Principal Investigator at the NOVA Institute for Medical Systems Biology and at NOVA Medical School, NOVA University Lisbon. His research interest is in understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate of tissue repair and regeneration, with a special interest on the roles played by cell metabolism and inflammation in these processes. Conducted studies in animal models and made important contributions in Drosophila epithelial repair and Zebrafish organ regeneration. But the current focus in on using systems biology approaches to study human tissue repair mechanisms and the consequences of their dysregulation, particularly in cancer and aging. The ultimate goal is to gain insights into human physiology and disease, which may lead to novel therapeutic methods that enhance human regenerative processes. Graduated in Biochemistry, in 1993, at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, Portugal, and obtained a PhD in Developmental Biology and Genetics, in 1999, at the University of London, UK. After the PhD, worked as Post Doc until 2002, at University College London. Established an independent junior research group at the Gulbenkian Institute of Science, Oeiras, in 2002. Joined the Institute of Molecular Medicine, Lisbon, in 2004, where led several research projects and oversaw institutional activities. Moved to the NOVA Medical School as a Principal Investigator in 2011, taking institutional roles, as Coordinator of the CEDOC – Chronic Diseases Research Centre from 2011 until 2019, as Vice-Dean for research at the NOVA Medical School from 2014 until 2021, and at present as Coordinator of the implementation of a new research centre, the NIMSB – NOVA Institute for Medical Systems Biology, funded by the Teaming for Excellence Programme – Horizon Europe. Published high-impact research papers in high-impact journals and received prestigious international grants, including an ERC Starting Grant. Participates actively in the scientific community, frequently reviewing international research grants and papers, and serving on scientific committees and advisory boards.
Alda Castro
Finance and Administrative Director
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Alda Castro is currently the Finance and Administrative Director of a NIMSB, with over 15 years of experience in financial and management control. She has held leadership positions across various sectors, specializing in financial planning, budgeting, and audit management. As the Director of Management Control at EUROPALCO since December 2023, Alda is responsible for implementing analytical accounting systems, supporting organizational restructuring, and advising the administration on operational costs and business investments. Previously, at the NOVA Medical School, she led a team as Director of Management Control, where she developed and implemented analytical accounting systems, spearheaded a 10-year business plan, and played a key role in the faculty’s restructuring and financial oversight.
Earlier roles include Audit Consultant at Deloitte, Financial and Management Control Manager at Plural Entertainment, SA, and Financial Controller positions at ISCTE and TIMWE Group. Alda has extensive experience in managing financial teams, implementing SAP systems, and providing strategic financial insights to executive boards. A graduate in business management from ISCTE, with additional governance training from the University of Economics in Prague, she also holds certifications in audit, taxation, and risk management.
Sofia Miguel
Vice-Director
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Sofia Miguel is the NIMSB Vice-director for Financial Sustainability and Impact.
Over the last 20 years, Dr. Miguel has been essentially linked to the national scientific and technological system. In 2002 she obtained her degree in Organic Chemistry from the Faculty of Sciences of University of Lisbon. After that, she worked five years for a national pharmaceutical company and at ITQB NOVA designing and developing new organic compounds with pharmaceutical and biomedical interest.
In 2012 she obtained her PhD in the field of Engineering Sciences and Technology from ITQB NOVA and where she also conducted her post-doctoral studies. She has several publications in peer-reviewed journals.
In 2014, she decided to join to the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, the national agency responsible for the funding of research in science, technology and innovation in all areas of knowledge. During the period she spent at FCT, she worked directly with the Board of Directors as scientific officer designing, implementing and monitoring robust evaluation processes, respecting the best international practices.
In 2018, Dr. Miguel joined again to NOVA to implement and coordinate the Research Funding Office, and the scientific activities of the SPEAR project designed to developed and implement Gender Equality Plans in the Academia. In 2022, she was invited to be adviser for Science and European affairs of the Portuguese Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education and where she become later Head of Cabinet.
Cláudia Nunes
Vice-Director
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Cláudia Nunes Santos is the NIMSB Vice-director for Research.
Dr. Cláudia Nunes dos Santos is Principal Investigator at NOVA Medical School and Guest Researcher at NIMSB. Her research is focused on understanding the role of polyphenols in providing the health benefits associated with consuming bioactive-rich plant foods and understanding the mechanistic basis of these beneficial changes. She is particularly interested in the ability of polyphenols metabolites to reach the brain and prevent or reverse the main hallmarks of neurodegenerative diseases.
She received her PhD at University of Lisbon in Plant Biochemistry and conducted her postdoctoral studies at Institute of Technology and Chemistry Biology, Portugal. She then worked as a Research Group Leader of the Molecular Nutrition and Health Lab at ITQB NOVA, before joining NOVA Medical School in Lisbon. She was awarded in 2018 with an ERC starting grant for zooming the link between diet and brain health focused in how phenolic metabolites modulate brain inflammation. Recently she was awarded with an ERC Proof-of-concept focused on a novel small molecule “NeuroShield” for tackling Parkinson’s Disease. She was also involved in a series of EU projects as a group leader and work-package leader (FP7-EUBerry; FP7-BacHBerry; Horizon2020-CHIC) and have attracted funding from Portuguese National Agency.
She has published over 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals (H-Index of 35, Web of Science).
Ana Pombo
MDC representative
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Ana Pombo is Vice-speaker of the Systems Medicine and Cardiovascular Disease Research Program of the MDC Berlin in the Helmholtz Association and Deputy Scientific Director of Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology (BIMSB) at the MDC.
She received her PhD in Physiological Sciences from the University of Oxford (UK) in 1998, which she developed at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology. She received a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship and remained in Oxford until 2000. She became a Group Leader at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Systems (MRC-LMS, UK). In 2012, she founded the Integrative Biology Section, MRC-LMS, and became a Professor in Cell Biology at Imperial College London. In 2013, she moved to Germany as a Group Leader at BIMSB, supported by a Helmholtz Association Distinguished Professorship, and became Professor (W3) at the Humboldt University of Berlin. From 2019, she serves as Deputy Scientific Director of BIMSB, MDC, and from 2022, as Vice-speaker of the Systems Medicine and Cardiovascular Disease research program of the MDC in the Helmholtz Association. She was the lead applicant of the NIMSB Teaming for Excellence project and NIMSB spokesperson at MDC. She has been a member of the NIH Common Funds 4D-Nucleome consortium since 2015, and co-coordinates the DFG Priority Program SPP2202 “Spatial Genome Architecture in Development and Disease”. Her research focuses on decoding the regulatory roles of 3D genome structure in gene expression and cellular memory. Her lab has pioneered high-resolution imaging and genomics technologies to study 3D genome architecture.