Previous classes

Diana Moita
“I am a graduate in Biochemistry from Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa. As a young, curious and adventurous person, I often feel the pressure to look outside the box and to not prematurely commit to what I am comfortable with. This is an intrinsic characteristic that I aspire to always keep at the core of my scientific persona, and which guided my search for a PhD fellowship. In line with this, my main wish for my scientific career project was to continue working on infectious diseases, in particular the field of malaria, with which I fell in love during my master’s thesis that I developed in Miguel Prudêncio’s Lab at iMM. With a PhD fellowship awarded by FCT I had the opportunity to start by doctoral studies in 2019 and be integrated in the LisbonBioMed PhD Programme. The environment of scientific excellence, the access to state-of-the-art facilities and technology as well as the intimate connection between the academia and research life that is provided by iMM are a major warranty that a hard-working and knowledge-craving PhD student like myself will be in an optimal setting to carry out her research project.”

Carolina Pacini
“I have obtained my bachelor’s degree in the “Biological Sciences: Microbiology and Immunology” course from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil, which is mainly focused on research since the first semester. The opportunity to work on wet-lab and conduct my own scientific project during my undergraduate studies was critical to ascertain my aspiration to become a successful scientific researcher and make advanced contributions to human welfare. In 2017, I started my master´s thesis at the same university under the Immunology and Inflammation programme, studying B cell influence on in vitro regulatory T cells differentiation. After two years, I decided to pursuit an experience abroad and applied for the PhD INPhINIT “la Caixa” Foundation Fellowship. Through this award, I could move to Portugal and find at João Lacerda Lab (iMM/ULisboa) the right project, that offered me the chance to investigate regulatory T cells with the final aim of reaching translation research. The friendly and welcoming environment associated with helpful facilities at iMM confirms that I have made the right choice!”

Nelly Silva
“My curiosity for science and infectious diseases led me to pursue a degree in Biology and a master’s in Molecular Biology and Genetics at the University of Lisbon. My main professional goal is to investigate the basis of viral infectious diseases by connecting molecular, biophysical and biochemical aspects, in order to improve their treatment, prevention and /or diagnosis. My PhD project focuses on understanding and inhibiting flaviviruses capsid protein to develop new drugs against dengue and Zika viruses. This project not only matches my scientific interests, but also constitutes an excellent opportunity to complement my educational background. At iMM, I have excellent conditions that make this an ideal place to develop my PhD.”