Project: Unveiling the temporal and spatial hierarchy of HIV-1 viral assembly and its restriction by host innate immunity

Supervised by Ricardo Henriques

Thesis Committee: Maria João Amorim and Tiago Paixão

Aidan is a Bachelor in Microbiology from the Trinity College Dublin and is about to obtain a Masters in Experimental Medicine from Queen's University Belfast. His Masters thesis entitled “Defining the role of newly identified host proteins that are important for rhinovirus replication” was advised by Aurelie Mousnier. Aidan is interested in host-microbe interactions with focus on viruses, but also molecular biology, bioinformatics and microscopy.

Ana holds a Bachelor degree in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Aveiro and a Masters in Molecular Genetics and Biomedicine from the NOVA School of Science and Technology in LIsbon. Her Masters thesis entitled “Characterization of growth and quorum sensing responses in Barnesiella and Muribaculum gut microbiota members” was advised by Karina Xavier. Ana’ favourite scientific domains are microbe-microbe interactions, mechanisms of infection, metabolism, gene regulation and mathematical modelling of biological systems.

Andrea has a Bachelor degree in Biology (Molecular biology and Physiology) from the University of Belgrade where she is concluding a Masters in Biophysics. Her Masters thesis entitled “Effects of IgG from sera of ALS patients on electrophysiological properties of neurons” was advised by Milena Milošević. She has multiple interests but her favourite domain is cognitive and behavioral neuroscience and biological psychiatry.

Project: lnvestigation of key genetic elements that could change the cellular fate during embryonic development: The case of Tgfbr1 controlling phenotypic plasticity

Supervised by Moises Mallo

Thesis Committee: Elias Barriga and Leonor Saúde

Project: Centrosome-Cilia complex Manipulation by Viruses

Supervised by Mónica Bettencourt-Dias and Maria João Amorim

Thesis Committee: Jonathan Howard and Raquel Oliveira

Project: Identification of cell-cell signaling regulated traits in Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, the most prevalent member of the human gut microbiota.

Supervised by Karina Xavier

Thesis Committee: Paula Duque and Élio Sucena

Andrès holds a degree in Biological Engineering from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and a Masters in Microbiology from the Universidad de los Andes. His Master thesis entitled “Reconstructing a tripartite bacterial consortium with lignocellulolytic capacity and its potential applications in plastic biodegradation” was advised by Diego Javier Jiménez Avella. He is interested in systems biology, microbial ecology and microbial modelling.

https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mra.00022-22
https://doi.org/10.15446/revfaccienc.v10n1.86805

Carolina is a graduate from the BSc+MSc in Biomedical Engineering and Biophysics from the Nova University of Lisbon. Her Masters thesis entitled “Retrotransposition causes age-dependent neural function decline in Drosophila melanogaster” was supervised by Alisson Gontijo at CEDOC. Carolina is interested in disease mechanisms, cell biology and developmental biology.

Project: Improving Mitotic Fidelity in Pluripotent Stem Cells

Supervised by Raquel Oliveira

Thesis Committee: Lars Jansen and Pablo Sartori

Project: Investigating the cellular mechanisms of compensatory proliferation in the developing vertebrate retina

Supervised by Caren Norden

Thesis Committee: Élio Sucena and António Jacinto

Project: How mitotic transcription inactivation can modulate cell identity and cell fate?

Supervised by Raquel Oliveira

Thesis Committee: Moises Mallo and Marco Fumasoni

Project: The biogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 replication factories.

Supervised by Maria João Amorim and Colin Adrain

Thesis Committee: Caren Norden and Jocelyne Demengeot

Project: Prediction and Super-Resolution Observation of Structural Dynamics

Supervised by Ricardo Henriques

Thesis Committee: Maria João Amorim and Marco Fumasoni

Daniela obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in marine biology at the University of Algarve. Her international master's was particularly focused on marine scientific research. She performed her master’s thesis in the UK, in the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, on the effects of Marine Heatwaves and Artificial Light at Night on Kelp Species, in cooperation with the Center of Marine Science of Algarve-CCMAR. Her scientific interest relies on ecosystem dynamics studies, integrating biological to ecological studies, climate change responses, and marine conservation.

Diana is a Medical Doctor and an accomplished infectious diseases specialist. She got her degree from the Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa and made her medical internship in infectious diseases in the Lisbon University Hospital Centre. She is interested in infectious diseases, infection prevention in vulnerable populations, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and of course COVID-19.

http://doi.org/10.4236/aid.2013.34045
https://doi.org/10.29021/spdv.74.2.555
http://doi.org/10.20344/amp.7052

Evan completed a 4-year bachelor’s degree in Biological and Biomedical Sciences at Trinity College Dublin. After specializing in immunology, he completed a capstone project investigating circadian influences on gamma-delta T cells. He also carried out an internship in the lab of former IGCer Dr Colin Adrian at Queens University Belfast, investigating the role of proteostasis in regulating cancer cell stress pathways. He is now a member of the IBB2023 cohort with an interest in inter-tissue communication and is excited to start a new project at IGC.

Project: A computational framework for the evolution of metabolic networks in the gut environment.

Supervised by Tiago Paixão

Thesis Committee: Karina Xavier and Lounès Chikhi

Fikir is a student of the international EMERALD programme for medical doctors. She got her doctor of Medicine degree from the Hawassa University. She is passionate about her Specialty in Pediatrics and Child Health but she has grown interest in clinical and biomedical research. During her PhD she would like to study innate immunity and inflammation.

https://bmcresnotes.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13104-016-2289-7

Gwendolin holds a Bachelor’s degree in Molecular Medicine from the University of Regensburg and a Master’s degree in Biomedicine from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Her Master thesis entitled “Functional characterization of the multisubunit tethering complexes HOPS and CORVET in P. falciparum” was advised by Tim Gilberger. Gwendolin is interested in the molecular basis of host-pathogen interactions and the cell biology of parasites.

Project: Mechanical control of chromatin dynamics during collective cell migration.

Supervised by Elias Barriga

Thesis Committee: Ivo Telley and Caren Norden

Project: Contribution of resistance and disease tolerance mechanisms in the response against infection.

Supervised by Luís Moita

Thesis Committee: Luís Teixeira and Maria João Amorim

Project: Data-driven adaptive microscopy to study cellular entry

Supervised by Ricardo Henriques

Thesis Committee: Mónica Bettencourt-Dias and Elias Barriga

Project: Investigating the influence of pseudostratification for neuroepithelial development.

Supervised by Caren Norden

Thesis Committee: Moisés Mallo and Elias Barriga

Manuel holds a licenciatura degree in Physics from the Universidad Del Valle de Guatemala. His final project thesis entitled “Epidemiological models using graph theory” was advised by Pedro Morales-Almazán. He is currently obtaining a diploma in Quantitative Life Sciences at the International Centre For Theoretical Physics in Trieste. His current interests are on molecular biophysics.

Project: Investigating the cell biology and translocation patterns of bipolar cells’ lamination in the developing vertebrate retina

Supervised by Caren Norden

Thesis Committee: Elias Barriga and Moises Mallo

Project: The impact of quorum sensing manipulation during recovery from diet-induced dysbiosis

Supervised by Karina Xavierand Jocelyne Demengeot

Thesis Committee: Isabel Gordoand Luís Teixeira

Project: Investigating the influence of nuclear and tissue properties in pseudostratified neuroepithelia maturation.

Supervised by Caren Norden

Thesis Committee: Raquel Oliveira and Elias Barriga

Project: Role of nutrient-sensing during the evolutionary adaptation to DNA replication stress

Supervised by Marco Fumasoni

Thesis Committee: Isabel Gordo and Miguel Soares

Marta got her Bachelor’s degree and Masters in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Algarve. She did her final project entitled “Study of the impact of mode of delivery in brain and gut” with John Cryan and her Masters thesis entitled “ClockOME: Searching for oscillating genes in early vertebrate development” was advised by Isabel Duarte and Ramiro Magno. She contributed to FrozenChicken that is not exactly what you would think. Marta’s ultimate ambition is to become a computational neuroscientist to study the processes and circuitry underpinning in human cognition and perception.

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00933
http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3765944
https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.25.432894
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.628439

Project: A functional axis between biliverdin reductase A and Nuclear factor-erythroid factor 2-related factor 2 in macrophage redox homeostasis

Supervised by Miguel Soares

Thesis Committee: Jonathan Howard and Moises Mallo

Miguel studied Biology, the Evolutionary and Developmental branch, at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon and is about to obtain a Masters in Biomedical Research at the Faculty of Medicina of the University de Coimbra. His Masters thesis entitled “The Role of Sp1 in Oligodendrocyte Differentiation: a mechanically regulated transcription factor”, advised by Gisela Santos at Center for Neurosciences and Cellular Biology.

Project: Exploring biofilm formation in gut communities as an important trait for microbiota stability and resilience

Supervised by Karina Xavier

Thesis Committee: Waldan Kwong and Isabel Gordo

Project: Dynamics and mechanisms of Mitotic Transcriptional Inhibition in Drosophila melanogaster

Supervised by Raquel Oliveira

Thesis Committee: Marco Fumasoni and Paula Duque

Project: Insights into the mechanistic bases of disease tolerance in Drosophila melanogaster.

Supervised by Élio Sucena

Thesis Committee: Luís Moita and Isabel Gordo

Project: Understanding the genetic consequences of habitat loss, fragmentation and species interaction through spatial modelling

Supervised by Lounès Chikhi

Thesis Committee: Tiago Paixão and Élio Sucena

Rita holds a Bachelor in Biochemistry from NOVA School of Science and Technology and a Masters in Laboratory Technologies in Forensic Sciences from Instituto Universitário Egas Moniz. After developing her Master’s thesis, entitled "Evaluating the effects of cannabinoids on an organoid-based model of prenatal exposure", she continued to work with 3D cellular models to study neurodevelopmental disorders at Instituto Superior Técnico. Rita's main interests are neuronal development, behavior, microscopy, and bioengineering.

Project: Investigating a role in translation for plant SR proteins involved in stress responses.

Supervised by Paula Duque

Thesis Committee: Raquel Oliveira and Jörg Becker

Project: Identification and characterization of novel effector proteins associated with the bee gut bacterial secretion systems

Supervised by Waldan Kwong

Thesis Committee: Giulia Ghedini and Karina Xavier

Project: Cytosolic DNA mimicry at the onset of collective cell migration in vivo

Supervised by Elias Barriga

Thesis Committee: Caren Norden and Vera Martins

Slipa is a microbiologist and bioinformatician. She comes from the serene eastern state of Odisha in India. During her Master’s, Slipa worked on the influence of rhizosphere microbiota on rice crops. After obtaining her Master’s degree in  Applied Microbiology from KIIT University, Slipa diversified to learn Bioinformatics as a remote intern at the University of Bern, Switzerland. Using comparative genomics, she described novel commensal Streptococci in healthy human lungs. Slipa has grown a sizeable network worldwide, including her participation in SymbNET and multi-OMICs courses from EMBL-EBI, Hinxton, United Kingdom. Slipa started her PhD in 2023 and intends to pursue her longstanding interest in understanding host-pathogen interactions and applications of OMICs approaches further.

Project: Lipolysis mediates metabolic adaptation to SARS-CoV-2 infection

Supervised by Miguel Soares

Thesis Committee: Jocelyne Demengeot and Luís Moita

Teresa got a Bachelor’s degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology and a Masters both from the NOVA Faculty of Sciences and Technology. Her thesis, advised by Miguel Prudêncio at the Institute for Molecular Medicine in Lisbon, was entitled “Comparative immunological analysis of whole-sporozoite malaria vaccines“. She is into host-microbe interactions.

Project: Understanding mechanics of protein conformational changes using finite strain theory

Supervised by Pablo Sartori

Thesis Committee: Ivo Telley and Bruno Correia

Yatharth is a biophysicist interested in the interaction of physics, biology, and computation. He obtained a master's degree in physics from the Indian Institute of Technology Indore in India and studied the morphology of amyloid aggregates using coarse-grained computer simulations. He then spent a year at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Hyderabad as a Junior Research Fellow. He designed optomechanical experiments to observe amyloid aggregation dynamics in-vitro using fluorescence microscopy. His current interests are studying the effects of environmental and genetic perturbations on the behavior of living cells and designing specialized optomechanical instruments.