Abstract:

The talk will explore the key challenges in the design and development of drug delivery systems aimed at targeted disease treatment. Special emphasis will be placed on strategies for crossing biological barriers, with a focus on targeting the brain, while also considering broader aspects of precision delivery, safety, and efficacy. The presentation will highlight current limitations, emerging technologies, and future perspectives in advancing more effective and patient-specific therapies

Biography:

Joana A. Loureiro is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Porto and a senior researcher of LEPABE. Her research work focuses on the development of nanoparticles for biomedical applications. Her research focuses on bionanotechnology and drug delivery systems, particularly lipid-based and polymeric nanoparticles for the treatment of neurological diseases. Over the last decade, she has also worked on nanostructured biomaterials for biocompatible medical devices, mechanisms of protein misfolding and pathogenic biomarkers in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, surface modification of nanoparticles for tissue-specific targeting, and biomimetic membrane models for studying drug-cell interactions. In parallel with her academic career, she recently co-founded BNanoTech, a startup dedicated to developing and commercializing innovative nanoparticle-based technology for direct drug delivery to the brain. She is/was involved in several projects (>17) for the development of nanoengineered structures for the controlled delivery of bioactive molecules, including 3 as PI, and she has been in active collaboration with several national and international research groups. In 2017, she was awarded by Fulbright, which allowed her to start a collaboration at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, where she started testing the efficacy of those drug delivery systems in vivo. She has contributed significantly to over 90 publications (96% Q1), more than 5000 citations, and an h-index of 32. Since 2021, she has been listed annually in the “World’s Top 2% Scientists” by Stanford University. Additionally, she (co-)supervised/supervised >20 MSc, 5 PhD, and some other students from bachelor’s degrees, two of them in the topic of microalgae valorization for biomedical applications.