Biography

Paula Parreira (1984) graduated in Microbiology by the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Portugal) in 2007. In the same year she joined the team of Prof. M. Cristina Martins at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering of University of Porto (INEB), and from 2007 to 2013 conducted her PhD studies, under the guidance of Prof. M. Cristina Martins and Prof. Deborah Leckband (University of Illinois, at Urbana-Champaign in the USA), a pioneer in the use of force measurements techniques. During her time abroad, Paula Parreira worked mainly with Atomic Force Microscopy techniques in order to study and characterize bacterial interactions (adhesion-ligand complex). Her PhD has provided new insights for the development of alternative therapeutics for Helicobacter pylori infection, based on the creation of surfaces able to specifically bind this pathogen in order to eliminate it from infected hosts. After finishing her PhD, Paula Parreira joined the Bioactives Research Group of Centro de Biotecnologia Agricola e Agro-Alimentar do Alentejo (CEBAL) as a Postdoc Researcher, focusing on the study of antibacterial performance of bioactives obtained from natural and endogenous matrices as possible alternatives to conventional antibiotics against H. pylori and multi drug resistant bacteria. In the beginning of 2017, Paula Parreira joined the bioenginered surfaces group at INEB/i3S, being her main focus the development of alternative therapies against H. pylori by creating surfaces able to specifically attract and bind the pathogen, aiming its elimination from infected hosts.