ICVS

ICVS Student Seminar “iPSC-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells and their Secretome: Effects on Neurovascular and Cellular Responses”
2025-11-24 13:00 - 14:00 UTC
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.

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 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.

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 "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 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 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 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 "Defining novel behavioral traits and new therapeutic opportunities in a clinically relevant mouse model of Rett Syndrome"
2026-01-12 13:00 - 14:00
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 “Immunogenic DNA Export via Amphisomes in Parkinson’s Disease"
2026-01-15 13:00 - 14:00
January 15th at 1 pm, don’t miss Carla Nunes‘s “Immunogenic DNA Export via Amphisomes in Parkinson’s Disease” at the A0.03 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.
Carla Nunes holds a degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Coimbra and completed her PhD in Experimental Biology and Biomedicine in 2015. She recently joined the Translational Neurogenetics Group at ICVS, as an Assistant Researcher. Her research focuses on understanding how mitochondrial dysfunction and extracellular vesicle signalling contribute to neuroinflammation, particularly in the context of aging-related neurodegenerative diseases.

ICVS Student Seminar “Optimizing the Cryopreservation of the Secretome from Induced Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Exploring the Efficacy of Lyophilization”
2026-01-19 13:00 - 14:00
January 19th at 1 pm, don’t miss Carla Pereira‘s “Optimizing the Cryopreservation of the Secretome from Induced Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Exploring the Efficacy of Lyophilization” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminar “Circadian Medicine in Sleep Apnea: Implications for Health and Disease"
2026-01-22 13:00 - 14:00
January 22nd at 1 pm, don’t miss Ana Rita Alvaro‘s “Circadian Medicine in Sleep Apnea: Implications for Health and Disease” at the A0.03 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.
ARA is a researcher at the Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology (CNC-UC), University of Coimbra, with a PhD and over 15 years of scientific experience in neuroscience. She leads an innovative research line on sleep and biological rhythms in ageing and age-related diseases, where she is the principal investigator of a dedicated subgroup. Author of 32 peer-reviewed publications, she has secured competitive national and international funding and established strong international collaborations. Motivated by applied research, she is also co-founder of the startup SleepApnea ID and actively engaged in science outreach.

ICVS Student Seminar “Influence of sex and gender on stress considering behavioral and neuroimaging measures”
2026-01-26 13:00 - 14:00
December 26th at 1 pm, don’t miss Ana Rita Moreira‘s “Influence of sex and gender on stress considering behavioral and neuroimaging measures” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Student Seminar “Studying the role of the phospholipase D pathway in autophagy and lipid droplet turnover"
2026-02-02 13:00 - 14:00
February 2nd at 1 pm, don’t miss Cidália Pereira‘s “Studying the role of the phospholipase D pathway in autophagy and lipid droplet turnover” at the A0.03 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminar “High-Throughput Screening Made Simple: Meet Our New Institute Platform"
2026-02-05 13:00 - 14:00
February 5th at 1 pm, don’t miss Joana Sousa‘s “High-Throughput Screening Made Simple: Meet Our New Institute Platform” at the A0.03 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.
High-throughput screening (HTS) is no longer a distant technology — it’s now part of our institute’s research landscape. In this talk, we’ll introduce our newly launched HTS facility, explain what it can do, and show how it can enhance a wide range of scientific projects. Whether you work with cells, molecular targets, or new model systems, this session will give you a clear, accessible overview of how HTS can open new possibilities for your research.

ICVS Student Seminar “Structural and Functional Analysis of Brain Maps in Alzheimer’s Disease"
2026-02-09 13:00 - 14:00
February 9th at 1 pm, don’t miss Luís Araújo‘s “Structural and Functional Analysis of Brain Maps in Alzheimer’s Disease” at the A0.03 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminar "Mitochondria: from Selfish symbionts to Cooperative organelles?"
2026-02-10 14:00 - 15:00
February 10th at 2 pm, don’t miss Tânia Catarina Medeiros‘s “Mitochondria: from Selfish symbionts to Cooperative organelles?” 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"
2026-02-19 13:00 - 14:00
February 19th at 1 pm, don’t miss Belém Marques‘s “The Proteostasis Code of the iMSCs Secretome in Parkinson’s Disease” at the A0.03 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Student Seminar “Exploring TRPV4 as a molecular mechanism driving inflammatory cells' infiltration into the spinal cord after injury”
2026-02-23 13:00 - 14:00
February 23rd at 1 pm, don’t miss Inês Castro‘s “Exploring TRPV4 as a molecular mechanism driving inflammatory cells’ infiltration into the spinal cord after injury” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminar “Deciphering Antimalarial Drug Response: From Parasite Genetics to Therapeutic Failure"
2026-02-26 13:00 - 14:00
February 26th at 1 pm, don’t miss Isabel Veiga‘s “Deciphering Antimalarial Drug Response: From Parasite Genetics to Therapeutic Failure” at the A0.03 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminar “Following the brain stars: Astrocytes integrate neuronal circuits and are involved in behavioral processing”
2026-03-05 13:00 - 14:00
March 5th at 1 pm, don’t miss João Oliveira‘s “Following the brain stars: Astrocytes integrate neuronal circuits and are involved in behavioral processing” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminar “Host Pharmacogenetics and Plasmodium Drug Resistance: Who Determines the Cure?”
2026-03-09 13:00 - 14:00
March 9th at 1 pm, don’t miss Tais Nobrega de Sousa‘s “Host Pharmacogenetics and Plasmodium Drug Resistance: Who Determines the Cure?” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminar “Glucocorticoid receptor signaling in Machado-Joseph disease: bile acids as a therapeutic intervention”
2026-03-12 13:00 - 14:00
March 12th at 1 pm, don’t miss Sara Silva‘s “Glucocorticoid receptor signaling in Machado-Joseph disease: bile acids as a therapeutic intervention” at the A0.03 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Student Seminar “c-MET Signaling in Innate Immune Responses to Aspergillus fumigatus Infection”
2026-03-16 13:00 - 14:00
March 16th at 1 pm, don’t miss Beatriz Machado‘s “c-MET Signaling in Innate Immune Responses to Aspergillus fumigatus Infection” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminar “On the role of neutrophils for stroke and its aftermath”
2026-03-19 13:00 - 14:00
March 19th at 1 pm, don’t miss Matthias Gunzer‘s “On the role of neutrophils for stroke and its aftermath”” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Student Seminar “Dissecting the role of Nucleus Accumbens neurons in anxiety-like behavior and behavioral preference”
2026-03-23 13:00 - 14:00
March 23rd at 1 pm, don’t miss Raquel Correia’s “Dissecting the role of Nucleus Accumbens neurons in anxiety-like behavior and behavioral preference” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminar “Hippocampal Circuit Dysfunction in Aging”
2026-03-26 13:00 - 14:00
March 26th at 1 pm, don’t miss Luisa Lopes‘s “Hippocampal Circuit Dysfunction in Aging”” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Student Seminar “Tissue-engineered 3D cellular models of human dopaminergic neurodegeneration for Parkinson’s disease”
2026-03-30 13:00 - 14:00
March 30th at 1 pm, don’t miss Anabela Moreira’s “Tissue-engineered 3D cellular models of human dopaminergic neurodegeneration for Parkinson’s disease” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Student Seminar “Deciphering the Role of Galectin-3 in Innate Immune Responses to Fungal Infections”
2026-04-13 13:00 - 14:00
April 13th at 1 pm, don’t miss Inês Pereira’s “Deciphering the Role of Galectin-3 in Innate Immune Responses to Fungal Infections” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminar “Susceptibility and resilience to chronic pain”
2026-04-16 13:00 - 14:00
April 16th at 1 pm, don’t miss Hugo Leite-Almeida’s “Susceptibility and resilience to chronic pain” at the A0.03 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.
