Maria Isabel Veiga

  • Malaria
  • drug resistance
  • drug discovery
  • diagnostics
  • gene editing

My research interests, focus on the malaria parasite factors that mediate resistance to antimalarial drugs and the physiological changes and biological processes behind drug exposure, fostering on the development and formulation of future therapies and innovative malaria diagnostic tools.

I am exploring these factors in the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, taking advantage of the advances in genome editing and other genetic tools.

Allying fundamental with clinical research, my team also studies parasite and host genetics across malaria endemic countries, the temporal changes and putative functional implications in drug response, providing evidence base to inform decision-making on optimal treatment programs.

Maria Isabel Veiga

  • Malaria
  • drug resistance
  • drug discovery
  • diagnostics
  • gene editing

My research interests, focus on the malaria parasite factors that mediate resistance to antimalarial drugs and the physiological changes and biological processes behind drug exposure, fostering on the development and formulation of future therapies and innovative malaria diagnostic tools.

I am exploring these factors in the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, taking advantage of the advances in genome editing and other genetic tools.

Allying fundamental with clinical research, my team also studies parasite and host genetics across malaria endemic countries, the temporal changes and putative functional implications in drug response, providing evidence base to inform decision-making on optimal treatment programs.

Scientific Highlights

MY TIMELINE:
2022 – PEvoGen research line team coordinator; University of Minho
2019 – Distinction. Endorsed “Women in Science” book.
2018 – Distinction. Honorary Titular Researcher. Ministry of Science and Technology from Dominican Republic
2017 – Award. L’Oréal Portugal Medals of Honor for Women in Science
2014 – Team leader at ICVS; University of Minho
2012 – Post-doctoral fellow at David Fidock lab, Columbia University
2011 – PhD in Medical Sciences at Karolinska Institute
2004 – Biotechnology Engineering degree at Instituto Politécnico de Bragança.

LATEST PUBLICATIONS (search PubMed)

Artemisinin resistance-associated gene mutations in Plasmodium falciparum: A case study of severe malaria from Mozambique.
Casanova D, Baptista V, Costa M, Freitas B, Pereira MDNI, Calçada C, Mota P, Kythrich O, Pereira MHJS, Osório NS, Veiga MI.
Travel Med Infect Dis. 2023 Dec 29;57:102684. doi: 10.1016/j.tmaid.2023.102684.

Cerebral Malaria Model Applying Human Brain Organoids.
Silva-Pedrosa R, Campos J, Fernandes AM, Silva M, Calçada C, Marote A, Martinho O, Veiga MI, Rodrigues LR, Salgado AJ, Ferreira PE.
Cells. 2023 Mar 23;12(7):984. doi: 10.3390/cells12070984.

CMOS Spectrophotometric Microsystem for Malaria Detection.
Ferreira GM, Baptista V, Silva V, Veiga MI, Minas G, Catarino SO.
IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2023 Aug;70(8):2318-2328. doi: 10.1109/TBME.2023.3242691.

Optical Spectrophotometry as a Promising Method for Quantification and Stage Differentiation of Plasmodium falciparum Parasites.
Baptista V, Silva M, Ferreira GM, Calçada C, Minas G, Veiga MI, Catarino SO.
ACS Infect Dis. 2023 Jan 13;9(1):140-149. doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.2c00484

PMMA Microcapsules for the Inactivation of SARS-CoV-2.
Sousa VI, Parente JF, Marques JF, Calçada C, Veiga MI, Osório NS, Tavares CJ.
ACS Omega. 2022 Jun 22;7(26):22383-22393. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.2c01446.

Plasmodium falciparum Drug Resistance Genes pfmdr1 and pfcrt In Vivo Co-Expression During Artemether-Lumefantrine Therapy.
Silva M, Malmberg M, Otienoburu SD, Björkman A, Ngasala B, Mårtensson A, Gil JP, Veiga MI.
Front Pharmacol. 2022 May 24;13:868723. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.868723.

SARS-CoV-2 introductions and early dynamics of the epidemic in Portugal.
Borges V, Isidro J, Trovão NS, Duarte S, Cortes-Martins H, Martiniano H, Gordo I, Leite R, Vieira L; Portuguese network for SARS-CoV-2 genomics (Consortium); Guiomar R, Gomes JP.
Commun Med (Lond). 2022 Jan 28;2:10. doi: 10.1038/s43856-022-00072-0.

Development of an Ultraviolet-C Irradiation Room in a Public Portuguese Hospital for Safe Re-Utilization of Personal Protective Respirators.
Padrão J, Nicolau T, Felgueiras HP, Calçada C, Veiga MI, Osório NS, Martins MS, Dourado N, Taveira-Gomes A, Ferreira F, Zille A.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Apr 16;19(8):4854. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19084854.

Review of Microdevices for Hemozoin-Based Malaria Detection.
Baptista V, Peng WK, Minas G, Veiga MI, Catarino SO.
Biosensors (Basel). 2022 Feb 11;12(2):110. doi: 10.3390/bios12020110.

Chloroquine-susceptible and -resistant Plasmodium falciparum strains survive high chloroquine concentrations by becoming dormant but are eliminated by prolonged exposure.
Ursing J, Johns R, Aydin-Schmidt B, Calçada C, Kofoed PE, Ghanchi NK, Veiga MI, Rombo L.
J Antimicrob Chemother. 2022 Mar 31;77(4):1005-1011. doi: 10.1093/jac/dkac008.

The Future in Sensing Technologies for Malaria Surveillance: A Review of Hemozoin-Based Diagnosis.
Baptista V, Costa MS, Calçada C, Silva M, Gil JP, Veiga MI, Catarino SO.
ACS Sens. 2021 Nov 26;6(11):3898-3911. doi: 10.1021/acssensors.1c01750.

OmniSARS2: A Highly Sensitive and Specific RT-qPCR-Based COVID-19 Diagnostic Method Designed to Withstand SARS-CoV-2 Lineage Evolution.
Carvalho E, Calçada C, Branca F, Estévez-Gómez N, De Chiara L, Varela N, Gallego-García P, Posada D, Sousa H, Sousa J, Veiga MI§, Osório NS§. §: shared authorship.
Biomedicines. 2021 Sep 26;9(10):1314. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines9101314.

Multilayer Thin-Film Optical Filters for Reflectance-Based Malaria Diagnostics.
Costa MS, Baptista V, Ferreira GM, Lima D, Minas G, Veiga MI, Catarino SO.
Micromachines (Basel). 2021 Jul 28;12(8):890. doi: 10.3390/mi12080890.

Expansion of a Specific Plasmodium falciparum PfMDR1 Haplotype in Southeast Asia with Increased Substrate Transport.
Calçada C, Silva M, Baptista V, Thathy V, Silva-Pedrosa R, Granja D, Ferreira PE, Gil JP, Fidock DA, Veiga MI.
mBio. 2020 Dec 1;11(6):e02093-20. doi: 10.1128/mBio.02093-20.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis associated with severe tuberculosis evades cytosolic surveillance systems and modulates IL-1β production.
Sousa J, Cá B, Maceiras AR, Simões-Costa L, Fonseca KL, Fernandes AI, Ramos A, Carvalho T, Barros L, Magalhães C, Chiner-Oms Á, Machado H, Veiga MI, Singh A, Pereira R, Amorim A, Vieira J, Vieira CP, Bhatt A, Rodrigues F, Rodrigues PNS, Gagneux S, Castro AG, Guimarães JT, Bastos HN, Osório NS, Comas I, Saraiva M.
Nat Commun. 2020 Apr 23;11(1):1949. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-15832-6.

Rapid phenotyping towards personalized malaria medicine.
Veiga MI, Peng WK.
Malar J. 2020 Feb 11;19(1):68. doi: 10.1186/s12936-020-3149-4.

Multigenic architecture of piperaquine resistance trait in Plasmodium falciparum.
Silva M, Calçada C, Teixeira M, Veiga MI, Ferreira PE.
Lancet Infect Dis. 2020 Jan;20(1):26-27. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(19)30689-9.

Portable Device for Optical Quantification of Hemozoin in Diluted Blood Samples.
Catarino SO, Felix P, Sousa PJ, Pinto V, Veiga MI, Minas G.
IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2020 Feb;67(2):365-371. doi: 10.1109/TBME.2019.2913454.

Plasmodium falciparum K13 expression associated with parasite clearance during artemisinin-based combination therapy.
Silva M, Ferreira PE, Otienoburu SD, Calçada C, Ngasala B, Björkman A, Mårtensson A, Gil JP, Veiga MI.
J Antimicrob Chemother. 2019 Jul 1;74(7):1890-1893. doi: 10.1093/jac/dkz098.

Plasmodium falciparum Plasmepsin 2 Duplications, West Africa.
Inoue J, Silva M, Fofana B, Sanogo K, Mårtensson A, Sagara I, Björkman A, Veiga MI, Ferreira PE, Djimde A, Gil JP.
Emerg Infect Dis. 2018 Aug;24(8):1591-3. doi: 10.3201/eid2408.180370.

Dosage of Single Low-Dose Primaquine to Stop Malaria Transmission.
Cruz M, Sánchez IM, Diaz J, Cuevas F, Silva M, Disla M, Ferreira PE, Veiga MI.
J Infect Dis. 2018 May 5;217(11):1849-1850. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiy108.

Hexahydroquinolines are antimalarial candidates with potent blood-stage and transmission-blocking activity.
Vanaerschot M, Lucantoni L, Li T, Combrinck JM, Ruecker A, Kumar TRS, Rubiano K, Ferreira PE, Siciliano G, Gulati S, Henrich PP, Ng CL, Murithi JM, Corey VC, Duffy S, Lieberman OJ, Veiga MI, Sinden RE, Alano P, Delves MJ, Lee Sim K, Winzeler EA, Egan TJ, Hoffman SL, Avery VM, Fidock DA.
Nat Microbiol. 2017 Oct;2(10):1403-1414. doi: 10.1038/s41564-017-0007-4.

Globally prevalent PfMDR1 mutations modulate Plasmodium falciparum susceptibility to artemisinin-based combination therapies.
Veiga MI, Dhingra SK, Henrich PP, Straimer J, Gnädig N, Uhlemann AC, Martin RE, Lehane AM, Fidock DA.
Nat Commun. 2016 May 18;7:11553. doi: 10.1038/ncomms11553.

PATENTS

2023 – EP4222479 – AUTOMATIC DEVICE FOR NON-INVASIVE MALARIA DIAGNOSIS THROUGH OPTICAL REFLECTANCE TECHNIQUES, METHODS AND USES THEREOF
2021 – WO2021191882 ANTIMALARIAL AGENT, METHODS AND USES THEREOF

 

 

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