Margarida M. Fernandes

Biography

Graduated in Chemistry by University of Minho (UM), I completed my PhD at the School of Engineering from UM in 2011 in the area of Materials Science and Biotechnology for biomedical applications (Doctoral Program in Textile Engineering). As a result of my PhD studies, a patent (EP3058936A2) was granted and a marketable product (KhairPep: https://www.khairpep.com/) developed. Shortly after finishing the PhD, I joined the Group of Molecular and Industrial Biotechnology (GBMI) at the Chemical Engineering Department of Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, Spain where I was granted with the prestigious Marie Curie Individual (IEF) fellowship (FP7-331416) to study novel antimicrobial approaches and urinary catheters' functionalization to fight indwelling medical devices-associated infections. After approximately 4 years in Spain, I started a FCT granted Researcher position at Centre of Physics & Centre of Biological Engineering from UM for 5 years , where I studied the effect of electrically active microenvironments on the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts for bone tissue engineering purposes and on novel antimicrobial approaches. In the framework of this work I received the prestigious L'Oréal for Women in Science 2017 Portugal award.
I am currently a Senior Researcher at the Microelectromechanical Systems Research Unit-CMEMS, which also participates in the Associate Laboratory in Biotechnology, Bioengineering and Electromechanical Systems-LABBELS, working on the effect of electroactive environments on the behaviour of bacteria, fungi and plant cells for both agriculture and biomedical applications. In 2022, I was awarded with an individual contract from Individual Call to Scientific Employment Stimulus - 5th Edition (2022.01434.CEECIND).
I am the Coordinator of an Horizon-RIA (HORIZON-CL4-2023-RESILIENCE-01-TWO-STAGE) project: VINNY: Advanced nano encapsulation of bio-based pesticides and fertilisers for a circular and sustainable viticulture (total budget 8,384,661 €); and the PI of 1 on-going exploratory projec from FCT Call for R&D Projects in All Scientific Domains 2022 (2022.02697.PTDC, B-EAMs: Exploring ElectroActive Microenvironments to re-sensitize Bacteria.
My research interests are related with materials Engineering and Health-Related Biotechnology for Bone Tissue Engineering, Microbiology (novel antimicrobial strategies) and Agriculture. I published a total of 76 publication ( 68 articles in peer-review journals, 8 book chapters, h-index 23) and one granted patent. I have been involved in the preparation and management of 12 national (portuguese and spanish funding schemes) and international (European Comission) projects (7 as team member and 5 as principal investigator).