30th WEBINAR

22-04-2021 | 12:00

Delivery of oligonucleotides to control bacteria

Rita Sobral F. M. Santos

Junior Researcher at LEPABE/BIO

Rita Sobral Santos graduated in Bioengineering (FEUP) in 2011. She did her PhD in Belgium (3 years), Sweden and FEUP/i3S, establishing the 1st proof-of-concept of oligonucleotides delivery in bacteria by liposomes. In 2017, she obtained a double PhD degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from UGhent (Belgium) and in Chemical and Biological Engineering from FEUP. Rita S. Santos is currently a junior researcher at LEPABE, FEUP, in the group led by Professor Nuno Azevedo, and the project manager of the European project “DelNAM”. Rita has also collaborated with Biomode.

Talk summary

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is one of the most pressing global health problems of our time. Antibiotics resistance calls for alternative drugs and comprehensive diagnostic tools to prolong the lifetime of still valid antibiotics. Oligonucleotides designed to hybridize to selected RNA sequences in bacteria can be used as antisense antibacterial drugs and in vivo diagnostic probes. However, as the bacterial envelope is impermeable to oligonucleotides, they must be delivered by suitable vectors. Several delivery vectors have been studied, including liposomes, peptides, dendrimers and vitamin B12.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

29th WEBINAR

08-04-2021 | 12:00

Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells for Artificial and Solar Light Conversion

Dzmitry Ivanou

Assistant Researcher at LEPABE/PPE

Dzmitry Ivanou received his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from the Belarusian State University, Minsk, Belarus, in 2005. In 2010 Dr Ivanou was awarded the academic degree of Docent in Chemistry. Since 2014, Dr Ivanou is a researcher in LEPABE. Current interests are focused on Dye-sensitized and perovskite photovoltaics, targeting both fundamental and applied targets, aiming ultimately to bring these technologies to mass production.

Talk summary

Merging low manufacturing costs with decent power conversion efficiency, Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) are the object of intensive scientific research, which resulted in prototypes close to commercial products. However, problems with scalability and stability are hindering the technology to move easily to the market. Recent scientific results are changing this pattern. Several scientific and technological breakthroughs by UPorto research team on power conversion efficiency, scalability and stability of DSSCs will be presented.

Webinar Platform: Zoom

28th WEBINAR

25-03-2021 | 12:00

The challenge to microencapsulate liposoluble vitamins, for cosmetic and food applications

Marisa Ribeiro

PhD Student at LEPABE/SA

Marisa Ribeiro completed the Integrated Master in Chemical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP). Currently, she is a researcher at LEPABE, under the supervision of Dr.ª Berta Estevinho and Prof. Fernando Rocha. Her main research activities are focused on the protection of sensitive active ingredients, for their application into functional products, namely through their microencapsulation by spray-drying, having published 6 articles in this area.

Talk summary

Liposoluble vitamins, namely vitamin A and E, are key bioactive compounds, necessary for human health and well-being, with a large potential market in the food and cosmetic area. However, due to their instability towards some common processing and storage conditions, these vitamins can suffer degradation of their therapeutic properties. In this context, during this presentation, an overview of spray-drying procedure, an encapsulation technique commonly used to protect sensitive active compounds, as well as a brief description of the particles characterization procedures normally performed by our research group, will be made.

Webinar Platform: Zoom