15th edition of the "L'Oréal Portugal Medals of Honor for Women in Science"

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

The four researchers selected are carrying out 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 put increasing pressure on the balance of the oceans and the life that exists in them. She also wants to know what molecular and cellular mechanisms 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 - Life Sciences and Health Research Institute, University of Minho

Representing the functional networks in which the healthy human brain is organized and understanding why they are altered in neurological and psychiatric patients through mathematics is the aim of the study developed by Joana Cabral, who has a PhD in Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience. 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 Health Research and Innovation, University of Porto

Joana Caldeira, who has a PhD in Biomedicine, aims to combine the use of CRISPR gene editing technology (CRISPR/Cas9) with stem cell therapies for the regeneration of intervertebral discs that affect low 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. This project aims to improve the already promising stem cell therapies and open the door to the first regenerative therapy for the intervertebral disc based on CRISPR technology. The results obtained will lay the foundations for pioneering clinical trials to reverse the current reality.

PATRÍCIA COSTA REIS - Institute of Molecular Medicine / Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon / Santa Maria Hospital

Doctor and researcher Patrícia Costa Reis dedicated her PhD to the study of Lupus. With this work, she intends to find out whether Lupus patients have greater intestinal permeability, which could be responsible for the passage of bacteria there into the bloodstream and thus contribute to the chronic activation of the immune system. This project could lay the foundations for new therapeutic strategies, such as antibiotics or vaccines that alter the microbiome and thus control the immune system and disease activity.

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

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