SBMG - Soft and Biofunctional Materials Group
Departamento de Ciência dos Materiais - DCM
CENIMAT/i3N associated laboratory
Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa, FCT/UNL
2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
Catarina Chaparro received her Master degree in Biotechnology from Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade NOVA de Lisboa in 2017. At the beginning of 2018, Catarina was the winner of a Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancro/Pfizer fellowship with the project: “Development of a theranostic system for breast cancer based on superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles”, under the supervision of Dr. PaulaSoares, Prof. Dr. João Paulo Borges and Prof. Dr. Paula Videira from Life Sciences Department (FCT-NOVA). This project aimed to obtain superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) composed of a magnetic core and an organic surface coating functionalized with a specific targeting agent, in this case, a monoclonal antibody, for breast cancer diagnosis (as MRI contrast agents) and therapy (able to generate heat by magnetic hyperthermia). Catarina’s interest in nanotechnology applied to medicine made her keen to use SPIONs in the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) diseases. In 2019 Catarina was awarded a Ph.D. fellowship to conduct a project entitled “Multifunctional magnetic nanoparticles for targeted Alzheimer's Disease theranostics”, under the supervision of Dr. Paula Soares, Prof. Dr. João Paulo Borges, and Dr. Vera Luísa Neves from Instituto de Medicina Molecular (IMM-FMUL). This research project consists of the conjugation of multifunctional magnetic nanoparticles to specific peptides that can improve NPs translocation through the blood-brain-barrier (BBB). Crossing these NPs through the BBB is important for the improvement of AD diagnosis/treatment effectiveness by MRI, localized magnetic hyperthermia, and controlled drug delivery.
Main research interest: Combination of cancer diagnosis and treatment in a single nanoplatform.