THE NANOMEDICINE & CLINICAL ONCOLOGY TEAM
João Conde, PhD
João Conde is a Full Professor of Precision Medicine & Oncogenomics (BioMedicine) at NOVA Medical School, Comprehensive Health Research Centre (CHRC), Universidade NOVA de Lisboa. He holds a Habilitation (Agregação) in Biomedicine (2023), with a specialization in Precision Medicine and Oncogenomics. His expertise spans oncogenomics, nanomedicine and gene therapy, with a strong focus on precision medicine in oncology. In 2013, he received his PhD in Biology with a specialization in NanoBiotechnology from the Universidade NOVA de Lisboa and the Universidad de Zaragoza as part of the FP7 European Consortium NanoScieE+-NanoTruck for the development of multifunctional gold nanoparticles for gene silencing. Following that, he was a Marie Curie Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Harvard-MIT Division for Health Sciences and Technology, and Queen Mary University of London's School of Engineering and Materials Science. From 2017 to 2019, he was a Junior Investigator at the Instituto de Medicina Molecular. In 2019, he won an ERC Starting Grant from the European Research Council (1.5M€) to build a genetic biobarcode to profile breast cancer heterogeneity. He is also a co-founder of the biotech company TargTex, Targeted Therapeutics for Glioblastoma Multiforme (Funding ~18M€, European Innovation Council Accelerator - 14M€). Since 2020, he is also a Senior Collaborator of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Consortium from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), University of Washington. In 2023, he partnered with Vector Bioscience Cambridge to develop cancer therapies. From 2023 to 2025, was member of the Scientific Advisory Board of FCT: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. Since 2024, he has been on the Scientific Advisory board of Vector Bioscience Cambridge. From March 2024 to November 2025 he was the Vice Dean for Research at NOVA Medical School. In 2025, NOVA Medical School was awarded ~6.5M€ (FEDER-LISBOA2030 and Haddad Foundation) to build a preclinical-to-clinical hub and a medical innovation center with João Conde as one of the scientific coordinators.
The main aspects related to the recognition and diffusion of his early contributions are: more than 160 articles in journals of Cancer Therapy, Oncology, Nanotechnology/Materials Science and NanoMedicine (Nature, The Lancet, Nature Materials, The Lancet Oncology, Nature Nanotechnology, JAMA Oncology, Nature Reviews Materials, Nature Communications, The Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol, Nature Rev Methods Primers, PNAS, The Lancet Neurology, Nature Rev Bioengineering, The Lancet Public Health, Accounts of Chemical Research, The Lancet Child Adolesc Health, Progress in Materials Science, ACS Nano, Advanced Materials, JACS, Angewandte Chemie, Advanced Functional Materials, Advanced Science, Trends in Cancer, Trends in Biotechnology, Biomaterials, etc), more than 30 articles are as 1st author and nearly 70 articles as corresponding author and cited more than 24.000 times (h-index 63). Nearly 40 of them have been selected as cover pages for journals such as Nature Materials, Nature Nanotechnology (COVID-19 Special Issue), The Lancet, The Lancet Oncology, Nature Reviews Materials, The Lancet Public Health, ACS Nano, JAMA Oncology, JACC, Matter, Nano Letters, Adv. Functional Materials, Matter, Trends in Cancer, JACS, Angewandte Chemie, ACS Central Science, ACS Sensors, Biomaterials Science, ACS Applied Bio Mat, Adv. Healthcare Materials, Analytical & Bioanalytical Chemistry, and BioTechniques. In addition, 12 international patents on nanomaterials-based platforms for cancer therapy and diagnosis were submitted and/or approved. He was also awarded several international awards, including the 2024, 2023 and 2022 World’s Top 2% Scientists list by Stanford University, the Nanomaterials 2020 Young Investigator Award, the 2021 Biomaterials Science Emerging Investigator, the Top 2% Most cited in Nanoscience/ Nanotechnology from PLOS Biology, the Wellcome Image Awards 2017, the Nano-Micro Letters Researcher Award, and the National Cancer Institute Image Award.
Principal Investigators
Isabel Fernandes, MD PhD
Isabel Fernandes, MD, Ph.D., is a clinical research scientist in oncological and health matters. She is the Oncology Coordinator at CUF Descobertas, CUF Santarém and CUF Torres Vedras Hospitals. Works as an assistant to the director of the National Programme for Oncological Diseases, a consultant to the ethics committee for clinical research (CEIC), and a founding member of the Portuguese Sarcoma Group (GPES). Member of the European Society of Oncology (ESMO) and the Portuguese Society of Oncology (SPO). She is currently a visiting Assistant Professor of Medical Oncology and Oncobiology at the Nova Medical School. Isabel Fernandes graduated with distinction from ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal, with a PhD in Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship.
isabel.c.costa@jmellosaude.pt
isabel.c.costa@cuf.pt
THE TEAM
Biomedical Researchers
Bárbara B. Mendes, PhD
Bárbara B. Mendes has a PhD in Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine & Stem Cells, from University of Minho (Portugal) in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania (USA). She is the first-author and co-author of more than 10 full length papers published in international scientific journals, 3 book chapters, 8 oral communications and 19 poster presentations. In addition, she is inventor of 1 international patent. She has an h-index of 19 according to Google Scholar, and 12 for Scopus, and her work was cited more than 1800 times.
For nearly five years, she has been researching and engineering intrinsically bioactive systems as mimics of the native extracellular matrix that find multiple research and clinical applications in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering field. She is conducting research work in a multidisciplinary ground, from biomaterials, drug delivery to gene therapy.
Jordi Martinez-Esain, PhD
Jordi Martínez obtained his PhD in Chemistry in 2018 from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and the Materials Science Institute of Barcelona (ICMAB) under the supervision of Dr. Yáñez (UAB), Dr. Ricart (ICMAB), and Dr. Faraudo (ICMAB). During his PhD, he studied the surface chemistry of metal fluoride nanocrystals, combining experimental design with computational studies to understand their behavior and self-assembly properties. After completing his PhD, Jordi focused on Metal-Organic Frameworks and Metal-Organic Polyhedra, working on their design, synthesis, and all-atomistic simulations to understand their properties and applications in the NanoUp group at the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2). Currently, he joined Conde Lab to study the use of Metal-Organic Polyhedra as carriers for hydrogel based gas-therapy against glioblastoma.
Jiemin Wang, PhD
Jiemin Wang holds a PhD in Medicine from the Regenerative Medicine Institute, School of Medicine, University of Galway, Ireland. He has published over 20 scientific papers, including nine as the first author, co-first author, or corresponding author. His research has received over 1,000 citations, with an h-index of 15 according to Google Scholar. His recent work focuses on pharmaceutical formulation and biocompatibility, cell therapy, and the immunosuppressive properties of the tumor microenvironment. He was awarded the ERA Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship to work in Conde NanoLab in hydrogels for cancer therapy and drug delivery.
Clinical Oncologists
Sofia Braga, MD PhD
Sofia Braga, MD, PhD, is a medical Oncologist consultant. She is the Head of oncology department in Hospital Amadora Sintra since 2023 and works at CUF descobertas as a medical oncologist. She did her PhD at Nova Medical School (2007-2011). She is a researcher in dozens of breast cancer clinical trials since 2002. She is a visiting Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences of the University of Algarve since 2009 and of NOVA Medical School since 2014. She is doing translational research at NOVA Medical School in the Translational Tumor Immunology Lab since 2015.
Eduardo Netto, MD PhD
Eduardo Netto (MD, PhD) is a Senior Consultant in Radiation Oncology at Instituto Português de Oncologia de Lisboa since 2008, dedicated to head and neck, skin cancer, and sarcomas. He concluded his PhD in Medicine at Nova Medical School with distinction in 2019. He collaborates with NMS with students under graduation and as assistant to the director of the National Program for Oncological Diseases. Dr. Netto is an active member of several national and international cancer societies.
Daniela Garcez, MD
Daniela Garcez is a specialist in Neurology, with a postgraduate degree in Neuro-Oncology from the European Association of Neuro-Oncology (EANO). She is currently the coordinator of the Brain Tumor Unit at CUF Tejo and CUF Descobertas. She previously worked at the Champalimaud Foundation and at IPO Lisbon, where she completed her residency. She earned her medical degree from the Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Porto (ICBAS). Her research focuses on understanding and identifying the preferential pathways through which gliomas spread in the brain, with the aim of developing strategies to halt their progression.
Andreia Chaves, MD
Andreia Chaves is a medical oncologist dedicated to lung, skin and breast cancers. Member of European Society of Oncology (ESMO), International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), Lung Cancer Portuguese Study Group (GECP) and Portuguese Society of Oncology (SPO). Since 2016, has presented multiple oral communications at national meetings focused on lung cancer. Contributor to the Portuguese expert panel on consensus guidelines to the treatment of Non Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). Held a position as a member of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee at the Portuguese Institute of Oncology (IPO) in Coimbra. Appointed as an invited member of the national panel for the pilot project on lung cancer screening. Author and co-author of scientific articles, currently participating in several clinical trials in the field of oncology. Engaged in research collaboration with NOVA Medical School in the areas of skin and lung cancer.
Mário Fontes e Sousa, MD PhD
Mário Fontes-Sousa is a Medical Oncologist Specialist working at Hospital CUF Tejo and ULSLO, in Lisbon. He received his M.D. from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Lisbon and his PhD in Medicine and Molecular Oncology from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Porto with a thesis dedicated to novel epigenetic biomarkers in endocrine-resistant breast cancer. He also holds a post-graduation in Immunoncology from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Navarra. He is currently the Secretary of the Genito-Urinary Cancer Group at EORTC, a major worldwide research organization, and is an elected national representative of the Medical Oncology Specialty at the Portuguese Medical Association (Ordem dos Médicos). He is dedicated to clinical research, being National Coordinator, Principal Investigator, or Sub-Investigator in many clinical trials (phase I to phase IV) and non-interventional studies. He has authored dozens of papers and is a reviewer for many international journals. He has been an invited speaker or moderator at both international conferences (ex. ESMO, SOGUG) and national conferences (ex. SPO, GPGU, SPS, CPSA, and many others).
Diogo Alpuim Costa, MD
Diogo Alpuim Costa, MD, is a medical oncologist and a PhD student at Nova Medical School and he is doing research in the area of microbiota and breast cancer (4th year – Present). He is the Coordinator of the Functional Oncology Unit and the Medical Day Hospital at Hospital de Cascais Dr. José de Almeida since 2023; coordinator of the Haemato-Oncology department at CUF Cascais / Sintra since 2024; Medical Oncologist at CUF Descobertas since 2016; and Clinical Director of the Centro Hiperbárico de Cascais since 2023. He has the competencies from the Medical Association in Hyperbaric and Underwater Medicine since 2017 and in Military Medicine since 2021. He has a Master's in Hyperbaric and Underwater Medicine from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon (2024). He had several awards and distinctions namely, three recommendations for services rendered at Centro de Medicina Subaquática e Hiperbárica (CMSH) (2020 and 2021) and NRP Sagres (2020), the portuguese Navy Military Merit Medal (2023); NATO Special Service Commission Medal (2023).
Bruno Miguel Silva, MD
Bruno Miguel Silva (MD) is a Medical Oncology resident at Hospital Beatriz Ângelo since 2023. He graduated from NOVA Medical School in 2021 and completed a postgraduate program in Management for Healthcare Professionals at ISCTE Business School. Currently pursuing a PhD in Medicine at NOVA, his research focuses on breast cancer survivorship and health workforce capacity building, under the supervision of Professors Pedro Póvoa, Isabel Fernandes, and Bruno Heleno. His academic interests include cancer survivorship, patient-reported measures, medical education, and simulation-based training.
Marina Vitorino, MD
Marina Vitorino, MD, is a medical oncologist dedicated to breast, gynaecological, and digestive cancers. Active member of the multidisciplinary Translational Tumor Immunology research team at NOVA Medical School, coordinated by Professor Guadalupe Cabral. She is an invited teaching assistant in the Master’s in Medicine at NOVA Medical School. Member of European Society of Oncology (ESMO) and Portuguese Society of Oncology (SPO). Author and co-author of scientific articles and presentations at national and international conferences. Currently participating in several clinical trials in the field of oncology. Beginning a doctoral program in Medicine at NOVA Medical School in 2025.
Marta Vaz Batista, MD
Marta Vaz Batista, MD, is a medical oncologist dedicated to breast and gynaecological cancers. She is particularly interested in brain metastasis from breast cancer and clinical investigation, working as a medical monitor and being responsible for clinical trials in the brain metastasis field. Member of European Society of Oncology (ESMO), Portuguese Society of Oncology (SPO) and Portuguese Society of Senology (SPS). She holds a position in ESMO Educational Publications Working Group, working as editor in educational books. Author and co-author of scientific articles and presentations at national and international conferences. Currently participating in several clinical trials in the field of oncology. Postgraduate in nutrition in oncology and beginning a doctoral program in Medicine at NOVA Medical School in 2025.
marta.f.batista@jmellosaude.pt
Mariana Malheiro, MD
Mariana Malheiro (MD) is a medical oncologist since 2017, with clinical and research experience at Hospital São Francisco Xavier and CUF Tejo. She is actively involved in the coordination and conduct of international clinical trials, particularly in urologic and skin cancers, collaborating with networks such as the EORTC. holds a medical degree from the University of Minho and has completed further training in Immuno-Oncology, Oncology Nutrition, and Health Technology Assessment. She is currently a PhD student at NOVA Medical School, conducting research in the field of cancer survivorship. She serves as principal investigator in several phase II–III trials and has contributed to peer-reviewed publications. In parallel with her clinical activity, she coordinates postgraduate and exam preparation courses for physicians, and is actively engaged in science communication and cancer health literacy.
mariana.malheiro@jmellosaude.pt
PhD Students
Catarina Martins, MSc
Catarina Martins graduated in Forensic and Criminal Sciences at Egas Moniz, in 2018. She obtained her master´s degree in Biotechnology at the Faculty of Science and Technology of University of Lisbon (FCT) in 2021. As a result of the work in the laboratory, a review article was published, “Gold Nanoparticles for Vectorization of Nucleic Acids for Cancer Therapeutics”. She was in two research grants, one in CENIMAT related to the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in biological samples and one in INSA related to a European project: “Enhancing whole genome sequencing (WGS) and/or Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) national infrastructures and capacities to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic in the European Union and European Economic Area”. Recently she gained a PhD scholarship from Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology, under the supervision of Prof. João Conde at NMS and Prof. Luiz Liz-Marzán at CIC biomaGUNE, titled “Multilayer hydrogel microneedles for colorectal cancer Nanotherapeutics: A combinatory therapy solution”.
Diana Sousa, MSc
Diana Sousa graduated in Biochemistry and obtained a Master degree in Biochemistry for Health at NOVA School of Science and Technology of the NOVA University. She worked for three years as a research fellow in different labs in the fields of Medical and Health Sciences with emphasis on Immunology, Cell Biology, Glycobiology and Cancer Therapeutics and acquired experience in antibody development and characterization, cell line manipulation and immune cell isolation/differentiation, focusing on immunomodulatory processes. She is also interested in the development of anti-cancer targeted therapeutics and diagnosis tools using nanobiomaterials and is currently pursuing her PhD in Biomedicine at the Conde Lab working on the project "Gold-nanoconjugates as an approach to target microRNAs and immune-infiltrating cells involved in lung cancer progression", which aims to develop a therapeutic strategy using gold-nanobeacons as vectors for controlled and efficient silencing of endogenous microRNAs involved in lung cancer and to evaluate its effects alone and in combination with immunomodulatory strategies.
Jhenifer Oliveira, MSc
Jhenifer Oliveira graduated in Biochemistry at NOVA School of Science and Technology – UNL in 2018. She obtained her Master's degree in Biochemistry for Health at ITQB/FCT – UNL in 2021. Her dissertation project consisted of implementing and optimizing a 3D hepatic cell model and was performed at the Advanced Cell Models laboratory – iBET, under the supervision of Doctor Catarina Brito. During this project, she acquired experience in cell culture, 3D cell culture, fluorescence microscopy, image analysis and flow cytometry data analysis. Recently, she joined Conde Lab as a PhD student in Biomedicine and will be working on the synthesis and characterization of hybrid nanoparticles and hydrogels for local therapy of breast cancer, as well as on the evaluation of the therapeutic efficacy and the profiling of tumour heterogeneity.
_edited.jpg)
Pedro Ribeiro, MSc
Pedro Ribeiro graduated in Biochemistry at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon in 2018. At the same faculty, he obtained a Master's degree in Medical Biochemistry. His dissertation project consisted of evaluating the differences in extracellular vesicles derived from the liver in different metabolic states and was performed with the Medir Lab group in Nova Medical School Research, under the supervision of Doctor Rita Machado de Oliveira. Recently, Pedro started the PhD in Biomedicine, continuing the extracellular vesicles project developed in the master’s degree but now with a translational research aspect by including nanoparticles as a therapeutic perspective, under the supervision of Professor João Conde.
Diana Peixoto, MSc
Diana Peixoto completed the Integrated Master in Pharmaceutical Sciences at Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Coimbra (Portugal) in 2020. Currently, Diana is a PhD Student under the supervision of Prof. Carmen Alvarez-Lorenzo from the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain), Prof. Ana Cláudia Paiva-Santos from the University of Coimbra (Portugal), and Prof. João Conde from the NOVA Medical School (Portugal), with a PhD scholarship from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (2021.05914.BD, ranked fifth place among 89 applications submitted). Her passion for scientific research has been the driving force behind her academic and professional choices. Diana has chosen this path due to the vastness of unsolved questions in the medical and health sciences fields, particularly the ones related to cancer. Thereby, her research interests are related to the nanomedicine field, especially in the study of innovative nanotechnological approaches for cancer treatment. Currently, Diana working on Pancreatic Cancer-targeted nano-based, multimodal, and biomimetic strategies for improved therapeutics.
Master Students
Rita Rafael, BSc
Rita Rafael holds a Bachelor's degree in Medicinal Biotechnology from the Escola Superior da Guarda. She completed her internship at the Champalimaud Foundation, where she had her first contact with extracellular vesicles derived from prostate cancer cells in the "Systems Oncology" group. She is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Biomaterials and Nanomedicine at the Faculty of Science and Technology of NOVA University Lisbon. With a longstanding interest in the field of cancer, her goal is to contribute to scientific innovation and the development of new therapeutic strategies. Recently, she joined the Conde Lab as a Master's researcher, where she is focused on the development and characterization of dendritic and lipid-based nanoparticles for localized breast cancer therapy, assessing their therapeutic efficacy and tumor heterogeneity profile.
Emily Rohrmoser, BSc
Emily Rohrmoser completed her Bachelor's degree in Biology and Molecular Biology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. In 2023, she began her Master's studies in Biomedical Research at Nova Medical School in Lisbon. Since September 2024, she has been conducting her Master's thesis at the Conde NanoLab, focusing on the development of nanoparticles for the local treatment of breast cancer and the evaluation of their therapeutic efficacy.
Joana Coutinho, BSc
Joana Coutinho is a master's student in Biomedical Engineering at Polytechnic Institute of Setúbal, where I also completed my bachelor's degree in Biomedical Technology. Currently, she is conducting the thesis project at NMS on the 'Development of fibrillar hydrogels to study the mechanical stiffness of breast cancer subtypes and therapeutic responses. She is passionate about cancer research and biomaterials, particularly 3D models that can mimic tumor tissues and microenvironments, which she believes represents a significant scientific advancement in better understanding and treating diseases
Beatriz Matos, BSc
Beatriz Matos is finishing a Master's Degree in Micro and Nanotechnologies Engineering at SST-NOVA. During this time, her bachelor's project was conducted in the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL), on the Medical Devices Research Group, in the field of Microfluidics and Liquid Biopsy. Currently, she is pursuing her master’s thesis in CENIMAT and Conde NanoLab, focusing on the development of conductive microgels based on GelMA and MXenes, fabricated with microfluidic devices for enhancing tumor permeabilization. In the future, Beatriz intends to work in the field of nanomedicine, using nanotechnology and its advances to investigate new approaches of diagnosing and treating diseases, such as cancer.
Bruna Franco, BSc
Bruna Franco graduated in Biological Engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico, in 2023. Recently she joined Luís Costa Lab (Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine - GIMM) in a collaboration with João Conde Lab (NMS) to obtain her Master’s degree in Biological Engineering at the same institution, under the supervision of Dr. Sandra Casimiro and Dr. Bárbara Mendes, respectively. Her work focuses on producing trackable nanoparticles for targeted delivery of anti-RANK siRNA and RANK-TRAF6 binding peptide as a breast cancer treatment.
Alumni
Rajendra Prasad, PhD
Tufts University, Boston US
Joana Amorim, MSc
FCT-NOVA
Cristina Volpini
PhD Student at Università degli Studi di Pavia
Alessia Privitera
PhD Student at Humanitas University
Alazne Moreno
Fellow in IDIBAPS/Hospital Clinic
João Ravasco
Medical writer at AstraZeneca
João Conniot
Clinician at ULS Hospital São José
Marta Santos
Management Business Analyst at AXA GO Portugal
Mariana Pereira
Nova Medical School - Tenreiro Lab
Leonardo Di Fillipo
Mayo Clinic