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

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Paula is currently a Junior researcher of the Biomaterials group at Cenimat|i3N, in the Materials Science Department from NOVA School of Sciences & Technology.
Her main scientific activities are focused on the development of multifunctional magnetic devices for biomedical applications, namely magnetic hyperthermia, magnetic resonance imaging, and controlled drug delivery systems. She has published more than 20 articles in peer-reviewed journals and 3 book chapters. Paula also supervises students during their Master's thesis and Ph.D. thesis, and gives support to theoretical and lab classes, mainly Biomaterials and Nanomedicine, Biomaterials, and Introduction to biomaterials.
Paula received her Master's degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade de Lisboa in 2009. She worked as a Pharmacist in a community pharmacy for two and a half years where her main activities were related to customer service, recipes monitoring, and vaccine administration. In 2012, Paula started her Ph.D. in Nanotechnologies and Nanosciences at Cenimat, supervised by Professor João Paulo Borges, Prof. Isabel Ferreira, and Prof. Dr. Carlos Novo from IHMT. Her Ph.D. work focused on the development of multifunctional nanoparticles suitable for cancer theranostics. More specifically, Paula extensively studied the synthesis and stabilization of iron oxide nanoparticles, their coating with a biopolymer, chitosan, and the application of these multifunctional nanoparticles in the biomedical field: magnetic hyperthermia, controlled drug delivery systems, and magnetic resonance imaging. Currently, her main research interests are related to the development of new multifunctional magnetic systems for cancer theranostics applications including magnetic hyperthermia, MRI, and drug delivery.
Other interests also include thermoresponsive microgels and colloidal electrospinning to produce multi-stimuli responsive magnetic membranes.
Since 2017, Paula is the Principal Investigator of a National Research Project, DREaMM (Ref. PTDC/CTM- REF/30623/2017, 238,421.63 €), which focuses on the development of dual-stimuli responsive magnetic membranes for cancer theranostics application. In 2020 she was also funded in Programa Pessoa – Translational Cooperation between Portugal and France in collaboration with Dr. Sebastian Blanquer from the Institut Charles Gerhardt Montpellier, Université de Montpellier, France. The project focus on the development of magnetic-responsive 3D printed scaffolds. She is also a member of the research team of project NanoCell2SEC (Ref. PTDC/CTM- REF/30529/2017) and InPaCTus a co-promotion project by “The Navigator Company” (Raiz, Coimbra University and Aveiro University).
Paula develops her research work in collaboration with colleagues from CENIMAT|i3N and international research teams in parallel projects (IMM and CEDOC in Lisbon, CSIC in Madrid, Institut Charles Gerhardt Montpellier, Université de Montpellier in France, UMCU in The Netherlands).
In 2020, Paula was awarded a Junior Research Contract under the Individual Call to Scientific Employment Stimulus - 3rd Edition sponsored by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia.

Main publications:

Paula I. P. Soares, Joana Romão, Ricardo Matos, Jorge Carvalho Silva, and João Paulo Borges.Design and engineering of magneto-responsive devices for cancer theranostics: Nano to macro perspective. Progress in Materials Science 116 (2021): 100742.
Adriana Gonçalves, Filipe V. Almeida, João Paulo Borges, and Paula I. P. Soares.Incorporation of Dual-Stimuli Responsive Microgels in Nanofibrous Membranes for Cancer Treatment by Magnetic Hyperthermia. Gels 7 (2021): 28
R. J. Matos, Catarina I. P. Chaparro, Jorge C. Silva, Manuel A. Valente, João Paulo Borges, Paula Soares. Electrospun composite cellulose acetate/iron oxide nanoparticles non-woven membranes for magnetic hyperthermia applications. Carbohydrate polymers 198 (2018):9-16.
Paula Soares, Ana Isabel Sousa, Isabel Ferreira, Carlos Novo, and João Borges Borges. Towards the development of multifunctional chitosan-based iron oxide nanoparticles: Optimization and modelling of doxorubicin release. Carbohydrate Polymers 153 (2016):212-221.
Paula Soares, César Laia, Alexandra Carvalho, Laura Pereira, Joana Coutinho, Isabel Ferreira, Carlos Novo, and João Paulo Borges. Iron oxide nanoparticles stabilized with a bilayer of oleic acid for magnetic hyperthermia and MRI applications. Applied Surface Science 383 (2016):240-247.
Paula Soares, Frederik Löchte, Coro Echeverria, Laura Pereira, Joana Coutinho, Isabel Ferreira, Carlos Novo, and João Paulo Borges. Thermal and magnetic properties of iron oxide colloids: influence of surfactants. Nanotechnology 26 (2015) 42:425704.
Paula Soares, Ana Alves, Laura Pereira, Joana Coutinho, Isabel Ferreira, Carlos Novo, and João Paulo Borges. Effects of surfactants on the magnetic properties of iron oxide colloids. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 419 (2014):46–51.