Marta Sílvia F. Da Costa

Medicinal chemistry
Drug Discovery
Precision Medicine
Triple Negative Breast Cancer
Renal Cell Carcinoma

Marta Costa, Assistant Researcher at ICVS – University of Minho, is an expert in innovative cancer therapeutics and CEO of Karion Therapeutics, a spin-off dedicated to the development of groundbreaking cancer therapies. With degrees in Applied Chemistry (UM, 2006) and a PhD in Organic Chemistry (UM, 2011), Marta’s journey includes roles as a Medicinal Chemist at Bial (Pharma), postdoctoral positions at UM and international experience at Leiden University Medical Center (2012).
Joining ICVS in 2015 as a post-doctoral fellow, Marta now exhibits multidisciplinary expertise as an Assistant Researcher. Her focus centers on pioneering therapies, particularly small organic molecules, targeting aggressive cancers like triple negative breast cancer and renal cell carcinoma. Noteworthy contributions comprise international publications, book chapters, and two patents (WO/2020/261242 and WO/2021/191882). She actively mentor’s students and engages in science dissemination.
Marta’s impactful work earned her prestigious national and international accolades, including the Arqus International Innovators Award (2023) and the Innovation Award Bluepharma (2022). Her commitment secured competitive grants from LPCC-NRN (2019, 2022) and FEDER (2020).
Driven to enhance cancer patient survival and quality of life, Marta is dedicated to advancing innovative cancer therapeutics.

Marta Sílvia F. Da Costa

Medicinal chemistry
Drug Discovery
Precision Medicine
Triple Negative Breast Cancer
Renal Cell Carcinoma

Scientific Highlights

Papers:
1. Oliveira-Pinto S, Pontes O, Lopes D, Sampaio-Marques B, Costa MD, Carvalho L, Gonçalves CS, Costa BM, Maciel P, Ludovico P, Baltazar F, Proença F, Costa M. Unravelling the anticancer potential of functionalized chromeno[2,3-b]pyridines for breast cancer treatment. Bioorg Chem, 2020, 100, 103942. doi: 10.1016/j.bioorg.2020.103942.
2. Pontes O, Oliveira-Pinto S, Baltazar F, Costa M. Renal cell carcinoma therapy: Current and new drug candidates. Drug Discov Today, 2022, 27, 304-314. doi: 10.1016/j.drudis.2021.07.009.
3. Sousa A, Pontes O, Andrade J, Baltazar F, Costa M, Proença F. Imidazolylpyrrolone-Based Small Molecules as Anticancer Agents for Renal Cell Carcinoma. ChemMedChem, 2023, 18, e202200519. doi: 10.1002/cmdc.202200519.
4. Scialla S, Hanafy MS, Wang JL, Genicio N, Costa Da Silva M, Costa M, Oliveira-Pinto S, Baltazar F, Gallo J, Cui Z, Bañobre-López M. Targeted treatment of triple-negative-breast cancer through pH-triggered tumour associated macrophages using smart theranostic nanoformulations. Int J Pharm, 2023, 632, 122575. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2022.122575.
5. Afonso J, Gonçalves C, Costa M, Ferreira D, Santos L, Longatto-Filho A, Baltazar F. Glucose Metabolism Reprogramming in Bladder Cancer: Hexokinase 2 (HK2) as Prognostic Biomarker and Target for Bladder Cancer Therapy. Cancers (Basel), 2023, 15, 982. doi: 10.3390/cancers15030982.

Awards:
1. Arqus International Innovators Award (2023)
2. Innovation Award Bluepharma | University of Coimbra (2022)
3. SpinUM (2022) – 1st place in the Best Business Idea Contest promoted by TecMinho

Patents:
1. WO/2020/261242 – CHROMENE-BASED COMPOUNDS, METHODS AND USES THEREOF; Costa, Marta; Maria Fernanda R. Paiva Proença; Fátima Baltazar; Patrícia Maciel; Olívia Pontes; 2020.
2. WO/2021/191882 – ANTIMALARIAL AGENT, METHODS AND USES THEREOF; Costa, Marta; Fátima Baltazar; Maria Fernanda Rego Paiva Proença; Pedro Ferreira; Maria Isabel Veiga; Carla Calçada; 2021.

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Projects

As Leader

Marta Costa

Establishment of a patient-derived xenograft CAM model for in vivo validation of the new anticancer drug candidate SM01 – CAMAvatar

Establishment of a patient-derived xenograft CAM model for in vivo validation of a new anticancer drug candidate

Marta Costa

SynCroTher – New chromene derivatives for cancer therapy

Competitive project call from European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) for the registration of Intellectual property, International patent phases

As Member

Marta Costa

Real-time multi-photon microscopy for optical biopsy of colorectal tissues

The main objective of the project is to provide real-time optical biopsy using multi-photon microscopy in conjunction with conventional colonoscopy. To achieve this, a micro system will be implemented in the instrument channel of conventional colonoscopes.