ICVS

ICVS Student Seminar “Targeting CD147- and GLUD1-mediated metabolic reprogramming in cancer and muscular dystrophy”
2025-04-14 13:00 - 14:00 UTC
April 14th at 1 pm, don’t miss Andreia Nunes “Targeting CD147- and GLUD1-mediated metabolic reprogramming in cancer and muscular dystrophy” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminar “Tripartite Synapses: Astrocyte regulation of synaptic function, network activity and animal behavior”
2025-04-17 12:00 - 13:00
Join Us for the ICVS Advanced Seminar Series
ICVS Advanced Seminars, a weekly series aimed at fostering discussion on cutting-edge research, take place every Thursday at EM.
Alfonso Araque, Professor in the Department of Neuroscience – University of Minneapolis, USA

“Tripartite Synapses: Astrocyte regulation of synaptic function, network activity and animal behavior”

Alfonso Araque is a professor in the Department of Neuroscience – University of Minneapolis, USA. His research interests focus on the mechanisms, properties, and physiological consequences of the communication between neurons and astrocytes. He employs electrophysiological, opto/chemogenetic tools and imaging experimental approaches to understand how the communication between neurons and astrocytes affects physiological and pathological aspects of brain function.

ICVS Student Seminar “Behavioral and neuropathological characterisation of the Dp(16)1Yey mouse model of Down Syndrome”
2025-04-28 13:00 - 14:00
April 28th at 1 pm, don’t miss Sara Guerreiro “Behavioral and neuropathological characterisation of the Dp(16)1Yey mouse model of Down Syndrome” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminars “Targeting the muscle-tumor metabolic crosstalk”
2025-04-29 14:30 - 15:30
Paolo Porporato, Paolo Porporato, University of Torino and principal investigator at MBC – Molecular Biotechnology Center “Guido Tarone”
“Targeting the muscle-tumor metabolic crosstalk”
Following his PhD in Molecular Medicine at the Avogadro University (Novara, Italy) and a PostDoc in Brussels at UCL, Paolo E. Porporato received a Rita Levi-Montalcini grant to return to Italy in 2016 and he is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Turin. His work spans cancer metabolism, and cancer’s systemic effects including muscle atrophy and cachexia.

ICVS Student Seminar "Metabolic circuits of immune regulation and function during fungal infection"
2025-05-05 13:00 - 14:00
May 5th at 1 pm, don’t miss Ana Raquel Fernandes “Metabolic circuits of immune regulation and function during fungal infection” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminars "No natural numbers for malaria: the changing landscape of Plasmodium falciparum molecular epidemiology of drug resistance"
2025-05-08 12:00 - 13:00
Pedro Gil, Principal Researcher and Associate Professor at the Karolinska Institute
“No natural numbers for malaria: the changing landscape of Plasmodium falciparum molecular epidemiology of drug resistance”
Pedro Gil holds a Licentiate degree in Biology from the Universidade de Lisboa (1991), a Master of Science in Medical Genetics from the University of Aberdeen (1993), and a PhD in Molecular Oncology from the Nova University of Lisbon (2000). In 2014 he obtained the title of Docentur (equivalent to Agregation) from Karolinska Institute. Currently, he is the Principal Investigator of the Malaria Research Group at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology (MTC) at Karolinska Institute.

ICVS Student Seminar “Characterization of genetic diversity of Plasmodium spp in the Dominican Republic”
2025-05-12 13:00 - 14:00
May 12 at 1 pm, don’t miss Cláudia Federo “Characterization of genetic diversity of Plasmodium spp in the Dominican Republic” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Student Seminar “The rostral ventromedial medulla as a key target of the maladaptive response to chronic inflammatory pain”
2025-05-19 13:00 - 14:00
May 19th at 1 pm, don’t miss Diana Rodrigues “The rostral ventromedial medulla as a key target of the maladaptive response to chronic inflammatory pain” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminars "Decoding the host-environment crosstalk in pulmonary fibrosis: advancing precision medicine"
2025-05-22 12:00 - 13:00
Hélder Novais-Bastos, Pulmonologist, Physician-scientist in interstitial lung diseases, and head of Interventional Pulmonology Unit of Hospital de São João
“Decoding the host-environment crosstalk in pulmonary fibrosis: advancing precision medicine”
Hélder obtained a degree in Medicine in 2008 by Nova Medical School, and in 2009, he joined ICVS to study the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in host-pathogen interaction during different stages of infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, having concluded his PhD in 2017. Presently, Helder is a Pulmonologist at Hospital São João, where he coordinates the interventional pulmonology and endoscopy unit, and leads a research project with biobank (FIBRALUNG) at the major Interstitial Lung Diseases unit of the country. He is now mainly focused on studying the underlying molecular pathways of sarcoidosis and pulmonary fibrosis. He also divides his time as Assistant Professor of the Faculty of Medicine of University of Porto (FMUP), and physician-scientist at the Immune Regulation research group at i3S.

ICVS Student Seminar “RKIP in Lung Adenocarcinoma: Insights into tumor biology, prognostic significance, and resistance to EGFR targeted therapies”
2025-05-26 13:00 - 14:00
May 26 at 1 pm, don’t miss Ana Raquel Cunha “RKIP in Lung Adenocarcinoma: Insights into tumor biology, prognostic significance, and resistance to EGFR targeted therapies” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminars “From Nutrition to Clinical Research: A Journey of Growth, Innovation and Knowledge Integration”
2025-05-29 12:00 - 13:00
Natália Cruz-Martins, Assistant Researcher at ICVS
“From Nutrition to Clinical Research: A Journey of Growth, Innovation and Knowledge Integration”
Natália Cruz-Martins, PhD, is an Associate Researcher at the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS). She has an academic and research background in nutrition, natural medicine, phytochemistry, phytopharmacology, functional foods and nutraceuticals. She has increasingly focused on the use of naturally occurring bioactives for human health, not only from a health promotion and disease prevention perspective, but also for treatment. She has been working as an university professor since 2017, has been advisor of several theses, reviewer and member of the editorial board of several indexed journals, and is a member of the evaluation committee of the College of Nutritionists. She has participated in several research projects, received several grants and awards, published more than 300 articles in international peer-reviewed journals, 2 edited books and several book chapters. She is a member of the Council for Nutritional and Environmental Medicine (CONEM, Norway) and the Global Burden of Diseases (GBD) Network.

Sulci, Gyri, Ventricles, Dissecting Fibers
2025-06-01 08:00 - 2025-06-05 12:00
Theoretical and practical course on neurosurgery with hands-on training in cadaver model, in a fully equipped surgical lab, reviewing the Anatomy, Pathology, and Operative approaches to vascular and neoplastic intracranial lesions.
https://b-acis.pt/workshops/course-neurosurgery/

ICVS Advanced Seminar "Epidemiology of asthma in Portuguese adults – the EPI-ASTHMA study, a nationwide population-based survey”
2025-06-05 12:00 - 13:00
Join Us for the ICVS Advanced Seminar Series
ICVS Advanced Seminars, a weekly series aimed at fostering discussion on cutting-edge research, take place every Thursday at EM.
“Epidemiology of asthma in Portuguese adults – the EPI-ASTHMA study, a nationwide population-based survey”
Jaime Correia de Sousa, ICVS/EM, University of Minho
Jaime Correia de Sousa is Honorary Professor (Professor Afiliado) in the School of Medicine of the University of Minho. He is a family physician with a special interest in Respiratory Medicine. He has a PhD in Medicine (Univ. of Minho) and MSc in Public Health (Univ. of Porto). Published over 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals. Principal investigator of the Epi-Asthma Project (an epidemiological national survey of asthma in Portugal) and EPISODE (Exploring clinical predictors of COPD exacerbation in a community cohort). Past President of the International Primary Care Respiratory Group 2016-2018. Member of the Board 2012-19. Chair of the Asthma Right Care Strategy Team (IPCRG). Member of the IPCRG Education Sub-Committee. Former Member of the Planning Committee of the Global Alliance against Chronic Respiratory Diseases (GARD – WHO) 2015- 2019. Former member of the Ethics Committee for Health of the North Regional Health Administration.

ICVS Student Seminar "Unveiling the contribution of itaconate to pulmonary granulomatous inflammation in sarcoidosis"
2025-06-09 13:00 - 14:00
June 9th at 1 pm, don’t miss Cátia Rodrigues “Unveiling the contribution of itaconate to pulmonary granulomatous inflammation in sarcoidosis” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminar “From neuronal polarization to function: unveiling the transport and function of neuronal surface receptors”
2025-06-12 12:00 - 14:00
Join Us for the ICVS Advanced Seminar Series
ICVS Advanced Seminars, a weekly series aimed at fostering discussion on cutting-edge research, take place every Thursday at EM.
“From neuronal polarization to function: unveiling the transport and function of neuronal surface receptors”
Luís Ribeiro, MIA, University of Coimbra
Luís’s research is focused on uncovering the molecular and cellular mechanisms regulating the distribution and function of neuronal surface receptors in health, ageing, and disease. His PhD at the University of Coimbra explored ghrelin receptor function in the hippocampus, with findings published in PNAS and Science Signaling. During his postdoc at VIB-KU Leuven, he used advanced imaging, biochemical, and proteomic methods to study synaptic protein regulation, with work published in Neuron and PLOS Biology. In 2021, he became an independent investigator at CNC-UC, supported by FCT and MSCA fellowships. He now leads a lab at MIA-Portugal, recently funded by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, expanding research into brain disorders and ageing.

ICVS Student Seminar "Astrocytic Foxo1 regulates hippocampal spinogenesis, synaptic plasticity and enhances fear memory"
2025-06-16 13:00 - 14:00
June 16th at 1 pm, don’t miss Daniela Abreu “Astrocytic Foxo1 regulates hippocampal spinogenesis, synaptic plasticity and enhances fear memory” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Student Seminar "Involvement of skeletal muscle in Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3: contribution to disease, potential for biomarker development and therapeutic targeting"
2025-06-23 13:00 - 14:00
June 23rd at 1 pm, don’t miss Daniela Garcia “Involvement of skeletal muscle in Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3: contribution to disease, potential for biomarker development and therapeutic targeting” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Student Seminar "SPINT2 Expression in Cancer: Focus on Its Role and Therapeutic Impact in BRAF-Mutated Melanoma"
2025-06-30 13:00 - 14:00
June 30th at 1 pm, don’t miss Sónia Celeiro “SPINT2 Expression in Cancer: Focus on Its Role and Therapeutic Impact in BRAF-Mutated Melanoma” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Student Seminar “Lipid Metabolism-Mediated Mechanisms of Antifungal Immunity”
2025-07-07 13:00 - 14:00
July 7th at 1 pm, don’t miss Adriana Teixeira-Costa “Lipid Metabolism-Mediated Mechanisms of Antifungal Immunity” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminars “Ironing out the role of iron in hematopoiesis and leukemia”
2025-07-10 12:00 - 13:00
Delfim Duarte is a physician-scientist and leader of the Hematopoiesis and Microenvironments group. His teams’ goals are to study the cell extrinsic regulation of leukemia and hematopoiesis at the local and systemic levels and to unravel new biological mechanisms in leukemia through in vivo studies. He is also a clinician at the Dept of Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation in IPO-Porto and an Invited Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto (FMUP).

ICVS Student Seminar "Novel therapeutic approaches for bladder cancer"
2025-07-14 13:00 - 14:00
July 14th at 1 pm, don’t miss Ana Isabel Silva “Novel therapeutic approaches for bladder cancer” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.

ICVS Advanced Seminars “DataRepositóriUM: partilhar, publicar e gerir dados de investigação”
2025-07-17 12:00 - 13:00
DataRepositóriUM: partilhar, publicar e gerir dados de investigação
Your research data is valuable to the University of Minho, so organizing and sharing it securely increases its impact, promotes good Open Science practices and enhances reuse by other researchers.
DataRepositóriUM – UFMG Data Repository will help you preserve and document your data, comply with good scientific practices, obtain DOI (Persistent Identifier) ​​and visibility for your results, facilitate citation and recognition of your work.

ICVS Advanced Seminars “Automating analysis and training in focused cardiac ultrasound”
2025-07-24 12:00 - 13:00
Sandro Queirós (SQ) graduated in Biomedical Engineering in 2013 by the University of Minho (Portugal). In 2018, he completed a joint Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Engineering by the University of Minho (Portugal) and in Biomedical Sciences by KU Leuven (Belgium). Since 2018, SQ is a full-time researcher at ICVS, having been granted an FCT-funded junior research position in 2020.
Throughout his research career, Sandro has been mainly interested in the development of novel medical imaging processing solutions to help clinicians in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Specifically, his work has been focused primarily on cardiovascular diseases – the leading cause of death in the world. He has been the leading developer of novel image processing methodologies for cardiac function quantification, as well as novel technological solutions for preoperative planning, intraoperative guidance, and postoperative evaluation of transcatheter heart interventions. More recently, his work aims at developing novel artificial intelligent solutions for automatic medical training and diagnosis in echocardiography.
Overall, SQ (co-)authored 40 peer-reviewed articles, 39 full proceedings, and 29 conference abstracts, totaling an accumulated IF of 184, >1300 citations and an h-index of 21. His research outputs have also led to 2 international and 1 Portuguese invention patents, 2 provisional patents and the commercial licensing of an image tracking software. SQ has also (co-)supervised the thesis of 4 Ph.D. (ongoing), 10 M.Sc. (3 ongoing) and 6 B.Sc. students.

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.

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 “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 “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 "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 “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 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.
