15th edition of the “L’Oréal Portugal Medals of Honor for Women in Science”

L'Oréal announced the four winners of the 15th edition of the "L'Oréal Portugal Medals of Honor for Women in Science," which recognized the work of Patrícia Costa Reis, pediatrician at Santa Maria Hospital and professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon; Joana Cabral, researcher at the Institute for Research in Life Sciences and Health (ICVS) at the University of Minho; Joana Caldeira, researcher at the Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (i3S/INEB) at the University of Porto; and Diana Madeira, researcher at CESAM/ECOMARE at the University of Aveiro.

The four selected researchers are conducting advanced studies in the field of Science, Engineering, and Technology for Health or the Environment.

DIANA MADEIRA – CESAM/ECOMARE, University of Aveiro

With a PhD in Sustainable Chemistry, Diana Madeira seeks to understand how, over several generations, marine organisms are responding to climate change and pollution, which have been placing increasing pressure on the balance of the oceans and the life that exists within them. She also aims to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms that marine invertebrates induce to respond to these environmental pressures and how these mechanisms are related to parameters such as their survival capacity and reproductive success.

JOANA CABRAL – Institute for Research in Life Sciences and Health, University of Minho

The goal of the study conducted by Joana Cabral, PhD in Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience, is to represent the functional networks that organize the healthy human brain and understand why they are altered in neurological and psychiatric patients through mathematics. The researcher believes that mathematics, with its universal principles, will be able to provide a unifying theoretical model capable of representing the biophysical mechanisms that govern brain activity.

JOANA CALDEIRA – i3S Institute for Research and Innovation in Health, University of Porto

Joana Caldeira, PhD in Biomedicine, intends to combine the use of CRISPR gene editing technology (CRISPR/Cas9) with stem cell therapies for the regeneration of intervertebral discs that affect lower back pain. This pain affects more than 70% of the world's population, whether due to the natural aging process, various traumas, or genetic predisposition. With this project, she aims to improve already promising stem cell therapies and open the door to the first CRISPR-based intervertebral disc regenerative therapy. The results obtained will lay the foundation for pioneering clinical trials to reverse the current reality.

PATRÍCIA COSTA REIS – Institute of Molecular Medicine/Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon/Santa Maria Hospital

Doctor and researcher Patrícia Costa Reis devoted her PhD to the study of lupus. With this work, she aims to understand whether lupus patients have greater intestinal permeability, which could be responsible for the passage of bacteria from the intestine into the bloodstream, thereby contributing to chronic activation of the immune system. This project could lay the necessary groundwork for new therapeutic strategies, such as antibiotics or vaccines that alter the microbiome, thereby controlling the immune system and disease activity.

This edition of Call 70 female PhD candidates, aged between 30 and 36, whose work was reviewed by a scientific jury chaired by Alexandre Quintanilha, President of the Education and Science Commission. The work of each of the researchers will be recognized with an individual prize of €15,000, which aims to support and encourage the continuation of their research.

The "L'Oréal Portugal Medals of Honor for Women in Science" were created by L'Oréal Portugal, in conjunction with the Portuguese National Commission for UNESCO (CNU) and the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), with the aim of promoting women's participation in science. In 15 years, 49 young female researchers have been awarded in Portugal.