ICVS

ICVS Student Seminar "Defining novel behavioral traits and new therapeutic opportunities in a clinically relevant mouse model of Rett Syndrome"
2026-01-12 13:00 - 14:00 UTC
January 12th at 1 pm, don’t miss Daniela Fernandes’s “Defining novel behavioral traits and new therapeutic opportunities in a clinically relevant mouse model of Rett Syndrome” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminar “Bad signal”: how spinal cord injury disrupts neuro-immune communications"
2026-01-08 13:00 - 14:00
January 8th at 1 pm, don’t miss Susana Monteiro‘s “Bad signal”: how spinal cord injury disrupts neuro-immune communications” at the A0.03 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.
Susana Monteiro is a neuroimmunologist with an MSc in Biomolecular Methods (University of Bristol, UK and Universidade de Aveiro) and a PhD in Health Sciences (Universidade do Minho). During her scientific training, she was involved in multiple research projects in the Neuroimmunology field – from clinical research searching for Multiple Sclerosis biomarkers to basic research understanding how the autonomic deregulation caused by chronic stress exposure impacts immunity. She joined the ReNEU team in 2016 for her postdoc working on understanding the contribution of inflammation for Spinal Cord Injury pathophysiology and conversely, how injury to the spinal cord affects the neuronal pathways controlling the regulation of immune responses. Presently, her current research interests are: 1) understanding how to engage efficient immune responses to CNS injury repair by manipulating peripheral autonomic neural circuits. 2) exploring how peripheral immune cells shape microglia behaviour and CNS local inflammation. 3) identifying peripheral targets for CNS immunomodulation and validating them in translational/clinical studies. In parallel to her scientific interests, she is committed to student mentoring and science communication to inspire young minds to shape the future of scientific discovery.

ICVS Student Seminar “Insights from Stem Cell Secretome-based Interventions in Spinal Cord Injury: Microglial Modulation of Phagocytosis and Synaptic Remodeling”
2026-01-05 13:00 - 14:00
January 5th at 1 pm, don’t miss Melyssa Carvalho‘s “Insights from Stem Cell Secretome-based Interventions in Spinal Cord Injury: Microglial Modulation of Phagocytosis and Synaptic Remodeling” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Student Seminar “Novel KDM4C inhibitors for the treatment of Triple Negative Breast Cancer: rational design, synthesis and biological validation”
2025-12-15 13:00 - 14:00
December 15th at 1 pm, don’t miss Sofia Sousa‘s “Novel KDM4C inhibitors for the treatment of Triple Negative Breast Cancer: rational design, synthesis and biological validation” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminar "The Proteostasis Code of the iMSCs Secretome in Parkinson’s Disease"
2025-12-11 13:00 - 14:00
December 11th at 1 pm, don’t miss Belém Sampaio Marques´’s “”The Proteostasis Code of the iMSCs Secretome in Parkinson’s Disease”” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.
Belém Sampaio Marques is a Junior Researcher at ICVS and an Invited Assistant Professor at the University of Minho’s School of Medicine. She holds a Ph.D. in Health Sciences from the University of Minho and specializes in aging and age-related diseases, particularly neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s. Her research focuses on Parkinson’s disease and the potential of mesenchymal stem cell (MSCs) secretome in neuroprotection and repair.

ICVS Advanced Seminar "NDR1/2 Kinases in Retinal Neurodegeneration: How NDR2 Shapes Microglial Activation and Neurovascular Dysfunction in Diabetes"
2025-12-04 13:00 - 14:00
December 4th at 1 pm, don’t miss Hélène Léger‘s “NDR1/2 Kinases in Retinal Neurodegeneration: How NDR2 Shapes Microglial Activation and Neurovascular Dysfunction in Diabetes” at the A0.03 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.
Dr. Hélène Léger is a Junior Researcher in the Retinal Dysfunction & Neuroinflammation Lab at the Coimbra Institute for Clinical and Biomedical Research (iCBR), Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra. Her research focuses on how Hippo pathway kinases—particularly NDR1 and NDR2—regulate retinal inflammation, vascular function, and neurodegeneration. In this seminar, she will discuss how NDR2 orchestrates microglial activation and microglia–endothelial communication in the context of diabetic retinopathy.

ICVS Advanced Seminar “Cognitive (Dys)Regulation in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - insights from neuroimaging studies"
2025-11-27 13:00 - 14:00
November 27th at 1 pm, don’t miss Pedro Morgado‘s “Cognitive (Dys)Regulation in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder – insights from neuroimaging studies” at the A0.03 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.
Pedro Morgado (MD, PhD) is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine and Principal Investigator at ICVS Research Institute, University of Minho, in Braga, Portugal. He serves as the Regional Coordinator for Mental Health in the North Region of Portugal. At the ICVS, he leads the Stress and Compulsivity Research Group (Stress.Comp) and heads the Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders Unit at Hospital de Braga. His research focuses on obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders, stress and anxiety, addictive behaviors, and schizophrenia. He is also interested in clinical communication and the doctor-patient relationship.
Since 2016, he has been a member of the Board of Portuguese Communication in Health Society. He served as Vice-President of the School of Medicine, University of Minho from 2017 to 2022 and was a member of the Board of the Psychiatry College of the Portuguese Medical Council from 2021to 2023. In 2021, he received the FLAD Science Award Mental Health.His research is focused on obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders, addictive behaviors, anxiety disorders, and schizophrenia. He is also interested in clinical communication and the doctor-patient relationship. He has published >100 papers, book chapters, and books and serves on the editorial board of numerous peer-reviewed international journals.
He has been a member of the Board of the Psychiatry College of the Portuguese Medical Council since 2021 and the Board of Portuguese Communication in Health Society since 2016. He served as Vice-President of the School of Medicine, University of Minho between 2017-2022. In 2021, he won the FLAD Science Award for Mental Health.

Ciência: é fundamental!
2025-11-24 14:00 - 16:00
24 November | 2:00 PM
Zulmira Simões Auditorium, School of Medicine, University of Minho
ICVS and Escola de Medicina – Universidade do Minho celebrate World Science Day with the roundtable “Science: it’s fundamental!”
With Madalena Alves (FCT), Sandra Paiva (UMinho), Cláudia Cavadas (UCoimbra), Patrícia Maciel (ICVS) and Elsa Logarinho (i3S). Moderated by Teresa Firmino (Público).
Join us to reflect on the role of fundamental science in health innovation and its impact on society.
Free entry!

ICVS Student Seminar “iPSC-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells and their Secretome: Effects on Neurovascular and Cellular Responses”
2025-11-24 13:00 - 14:00
November 24th at 1 pm, don’t miss João Afonso‘s “iPSC-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells and their Secretome: Effects on Neurovascular and Cellular Responses” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminar “Inside AccelBio: Accelerating drug discovery through collaboration"
2025-11-20 13:00 - 14:00
November 20th at 1 pm, don’t miss Vânia Cardoso‘s “Inside AccelBio: Accelerating drug discovery through collaboration” at the A0.03 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.
Vânia Cardoso holds a PhD in Immunology and is a translational scientist at AccelBio. She was a founding scientist of a biotech startup that advanced her PhD findings into a drug development program. At AccelBio, she drives collaborative projects that translate scientific discoveries into validated targets and preclinical candidates.

ICVS Student Seminar “The impact of astrocytic metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 manipulation in the medial prefrontal cortex”
2025-11-17 13:00 - 14:00
November 17th at 1 pm, don’t miss Samuel Alves‘s “The impact of astrocytic metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 manipulation in the medial prefrontal cortex” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminar “Magnetic nanocomposites for immunotheranostic applications"
2025-11-13 13:00 - 14:00
November 13th at 1 pm, don’t miss Juan Gallo‘s “Magnetic nanocomposites for immunotheranostic applications” at the A0.03 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.
Dr Gallo works on the application of nanotechnology into the biomedical field, both for the diagnosis and treatment of disease. We currently divide our efforts into two different but complementary areas:
On the one hand, we carry out fundamental research in the area of Magnetic Imaging (MRI, MPI), Magnetic Actuation (Magnetic Hyperthermia, Magneto-mechanical actuation), and controlled drug delivery, starting from the Chemistry and going all the way to the in vitro/in vivo validation.
On the other, we focus on applied problems in the biomedical field, trying to develop integrated theranostic (therapy plus diagnostic) solutions in fields such as oncology, autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases, with special focus on immunomodulation strategies.

ICVS Student Seminar “Real-time Color Imaging for Nerve-Identification During Surgery”
2025-11-10 13:00 - 14:00
November 10th at 1 pm, don’t miss Ana Margarida Oliveira‘s “Real-time Color Imaging for Nerve-Identification During Surgery” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminar “Development of neurovascular networks: from tip cells to coupling"
2025-11-06 13:00 - 14:00
November 6th at 1 pm, don’t miss Vanessa Coelho-Santos‘s “Development of neurovascular networks: from tip cells to coupling” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.
Vanessa Coelho-Santos is an Invited Auxiliary Researcher at the University of Coimbra, where her group investigates the cellular and molecular mechanisms driving neurogliovascular communication throughout brain development and maturation. Her research combines advanced imaging technologies, ranging from pre-clinical models to high-resolution approaches such as in vivo multiphoton microscopy, with genetic and molecular tools to unravel how vascular, glial, and neuronal interactions shape brain function under physiological and pathological conditions. She has been recognized with several prestigious awards and competitive grants, including Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowships, the “la Caixa” Junior Leader Fellowship, support from the American Heart Association, and, most recently, a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant.

ICVS Student Seminar “Endogenous opioid signaling in the nucleus accumbens in motivated behaviors”
2025-11-03 13:00 - 14:00
November 3rd at 1 pm, don’t miss Bárbara Pereira‘s “Caloric Restriction Mimetics as Secretome-Enhancing Agents for Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Based Therapy in Parkinson’s Disease” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminar “Impact of Climate Change on Fungal Diseases: from the pathogen to the host”
2025-10-28 13:00 - 14:00
October 28th at 1 pm, don’t miss Martin Hoenigl‘s “Impact of Climate Change on Fungal Diseases: from the pathogen to the host” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.
Martin Hoenigl, M.D., has a particular interest in conducting research on clinical mycology, including fungal diagnostics, host-fungal pathogen interactions, and pharmacology of antifungal drugs. Dr. Hoenigl is the past president of the European Confederation of Medical Mycology (ECMM). He serves as Associate Editor at Open Forum Infectious Diseases (OFID) and Deputy Editor at Mycopathologia and mBio. Find more information on Dr. Hoenigl on his Clinical Mycology YouTube channel and on Twitter, under @martinhoenigl.

ICVS Student Seminar “Endogenous opioid signaling in the nucleus accumbens in motivated behaviors”
2025-10-27 13:00 - 14:00
October 27th at 1 pm, don’t miss Margarida Macedo‘s “Endogenous opioid signaling in the nucleus accumbens in motivated behaviors” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminar “The neuromuscular junction as a therapeutic target and source of biomarkers in ALS”
2025-10-21 11:00 - 12:00
October 21st at 11 am, don’t miss Richard Robitaille‘s “The neuromuscular junction as a therapeutic target and source of biomarkers in ALS” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.
Richard Robitaille’s research interests include the study of the role of glial modulation in synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus, interactions of glial cells during the synapse during the formation and the aging of synapse, the role of those interactions during aging of the synapse and contribution of glial cells in the malfunctioning of neuromuscular junctions in Amyotropic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

ICVS Student Seminar “Alveolar macrophage response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection”
2025-10-20 13:00 - 14:00
October 20th at 1 pm, don’t miss Ana Rita Oliveira‘s “Alveolar macrophage response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminar “The interplay between Tau and RNA granules in Stress-induced neuronal dysfunction”
2025-10-16 13:00 - 14:00
October 16th at 1 pm, don’t miss Joana Silva’s “The interplay between Tau and RNA granules in Stress-induced neuronal dysfunction” at the A0.03 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.
Joana Margarida Silva graduated in Applied Biology and completed an MSc in Molecular Genetics in 2012. She obtained her PhD in Health Sciences from the School of Medicine, University of Minho, in 2017. In 2018, she was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the Canon Foundation and later received an FCT Individual Contract to investigate the role of Tau in nuclear processes, particularly its interplay with RNA-binding proteins. Since 2021, Joana has been a Junior Researcher at ICVS, in C2B, where she explores how chronic stress contributes to processes of neurodegeneration.

ICVS Student Seminar “Neuroprotective and pro-dopaminergic effects of the secretome from hypoxic and normoxic iMSCs cultured under dynamic conditions in Parkinson’s Disease in vitro models"”
2025-10-13 08:00 - 17:00
October 13th at 1 pm, don’t miss Alessander Leyendecker Junior‘s “Neuroprotective and pro-dopaminergic effects of the secretome from hypoxic and normoxic iMSCs cultured under dynamic conditions in Parkinson’s Disease in vitro models” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminar “Exploring the Microbiome in Colorectal Cancer: Implications for Prevention, Diagnosis, and Therapy Response”
2025-10-09 13:00 - 14:00
October 9th at 1 pm, don’t miss Rui M. Reis’s “Exploring the Microbiome in Colorectal Cancer: Implications for Prevention, Diagnosis, and Therapy Response” at the A0.01 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.
Rui Manuel Reis, PhD, has dedicated nearly three decades to cancer research, primarily focusing on molecular pathology to discover and validate biomarkers. He is an Invited Associate Professor at the School of Medicine, University of Minho, Portugal, and serves as Scientific Director of the Barretos Cancer Hospital, Brazil. In this seminar, he will share his recent research on the interaction between the microbiome and colorectal cancer.

ICVS Student Seminar "Layer-specific imbalances in cortical interneurons in the Dp(16)1Yey mouse model of Down Syndrome"
2025-10-06 13:00 - 14:00
October 6th at 1 pm, don’t miss Sara Guerreiro’s “Layer-specific imbalances in cortical interneurons in the Dp(16)1Yey mouse model of Down Syndrome” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminar "IPLEXMED: Driving the Next Generation of Diagnostics from Lab to Life"
2025-10-02 13:00 - 14:00
October 2nd at 1 pm, don’t miss Bruno Almeida’s “IPLEXMED: Driving the Next Generation of Diagnostics from Lab to Life” at the A0.03 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.
IPLEXMED, a spin-off from the University of Minho and INL, is developing NEXAGUARD®—a portable, graphene-based diagnostic platform delivering lab-quality results in 20 minutes at the point of care or at home. Validated at TRL 6 with multiple patents filed, it targets bacterial respiratory infections and AMR, with plans to expand to STDs, sepsis, and hospital-acquired infections. Market launch is set for 2027 with a scalable “razor-and-blade” model, driving faster diagnostics, improved treatments, and lower healthcare costs worldwide.

ICVS Student Seminar “Sleep and MCH-neuron impact on microglia-Aβ plaque dynamics”
2025-09-29 13:00 - 14:00
September 29th at 1 pm, don’t miss Mariana Ferreira “Sleep and MCH-neuron impact on microglia-Aβ plaque dynamics” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Student Seminar "Cholinergic dynamics of projections from Laterodorsal Tegmentum to the Nucleus Accumbens in associative learning"
2025-09-22 13:00 - 14:00
September 22nd at 1 pm, don’t miss Ana Clara Faria “Cholinergic dynamics of projections from Laterodorsal Tegmentum to the Nucleus Accumbens in associative learning” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Student Seminar “Unravelling the role of itaconate in the immunometabolic regulation of antifungal immunity”
2025-09-15 13:00 - 14:00
September 15th at 1 pm, don’t miss Tatiana Fernandes “Unravelling the role of itaconate in the immunometabolic regulation of antifungal immunity” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Student Seminar “Elucidation of the Functional Roles of Lipid Metabolism During Leishmaniasis”
2025-09-08 13:00 - 14:00
September 8th at 1 pm, don’t miss Marta Araújo “Elucidation of the Functional Roles of Lipid Metabolism During Leishmaniasis” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Student Seminar “When the Brain Sleeps, Microglia Listen: Responses to MCH Neuron Activity”
2025-09-01 13:00 - 14:00
September 1st at 1 pm, don’t miss João Frei “When the Brain Sleeps, Microglia Listen: Responses to MCH Neuron Activity” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Student Seminar “Assessing astrocytic modulation of neuronal activity in cortico-limbic circuits”
2025-07-28 13:00 - 14:00
July 28th at 1 pm, don’t miss João Machado “Assessing astrocytic modulation of neuronal activity in cortico-limbic circuits” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.
