Biography

Since 2015, Helena Soares (HS) leads the Human Immunobiology and Pathogenesis research lab at CEDOC-NMS, whose mission is to understand how the tissue environment regulates the immune response in humans and how it is affected both by age and sex. Establishing from scratch an ambitious, disruptive and cross-disciplinary program bridging clinical (10 hospitals) and fundamental research was very challenging and time-consuming. But the risk paid off, and in 2021 HS lab published (Amaral-Silva Commun Biol 2021) their first deep dive into mechanistic human studies by asking why in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients,
the T cells selectively attack the joints. During Covid-19 pandemic her lab contributed to customize ELISA assay for SARS-CoV-2 (Gonçalves Front Med 2020). HS lab showed for the first time that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines prime a T cell immune response locally in the mammary gland that is subsequently transferred to breast milk (Gonçalves, Cell Rep Med 2021). In a follow up study, HS lab showed that upon SARS-CoV-2 infection, maternal immune responses are geared toward neutralizing-IgM and prompt an NK cellular response in the fetus (Gonçalves JCI Insight 2023
In 2023, HS was promoted to Principal Investigator at the Associate Professor level. HS has directed 8 research projects funded by international funding agencies (ESCMID in 2018 and in 2023), pharma industry (Gilead 2017 and 2018, Pfizer 2017 and 2021) and by FCT. She is a team member in several international grants, including 2 Twinning projects awarded by European Commission. Beyond honing a clinical collaborative framework, HS is decisively mentoring the next-generation of experimental clinicians by supervising MDs (José Feliz, João Maciel and Raquel Casal) whose PhD thesis bridge their clinical interests with hands-on translational research. To reinforce the translational nature of the lab she heads, HS has established several links with the industry including Memorandums of understanding (Medinfar and Pfizer), industry sponsored projects (Gilead and Pfizer) and the coordination of Masterclasses (Janssen and Sanofi) for health professionals.
Her provision of scientific advice at International level includes being a co-organizer to the recently formed EFIS-study group on Immune Sex Differences (since 2024), being an expert and collaborator of the European Commission Joint Research Centre CIAO project (2021-23); serving as a reviewer and panel member for various national and international organizations including ERC, Czech Science Foundation, French Science Foundation (ANR); FCT; and acting as reviewer for several scientific journals

She is regularly invited to speak in national and international forums- e.g. Meeting of American Society for Cellular and Computational Toxicology 2024; Spanish Immunology Society Meeting 2023, Joint Research Centre’s CIAO final workshop (in 2023), and in several research institutes

HS has received an international award for Best Campaign for Vaccine Awareness by the European Federation of Immunological Societies (EFIS) and by the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS)
HS’s postgraduate teaching is driven by a commitment to share innovative research-based knowledge in both Academic and Industry settings. For instance, HS is coordinator of the post-graduation course in “Vaccine Hesitancy” aimed at health professionals and hosts the Advanced Course on Precision Medicine from a pharma perspective, organized by Pfizer. In 2021, she was invited to lecture at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) High School Scientific Training and Enrichment Program, USA 2021.

HS the coordinator of the workgroup Chronic Diseases and Infection at Nova University since 2022. For the period 2025-29, she is slotted to take part of the Scientific Committee and to be Head of a Thematic Line in I4H Research Unit. HS also holds elected positions on the Direction (2020-23) and on the Fiscal Council of the Portuguese Society for Immunology.