Topics Webinar | Advances in Natural Products and Their Derivatives for Metabolic and Chronic Inflammatory Disease Therapy
Meet Our Speakers
Dr. Paulo Matafome
Instituto Politécnico de Coimbra, Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Coimbra, Portugal;
Paulo Matafome holds a PhD in Biomedical Sciences (Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, 2012). He is a Physiology Professor at the Coimbra Health School, Polytechnic University of Coimbra. He is also an integrated member of CIBB (research center of the University of Coimbra). He has published 97 research articles and 4 book chapters. He currently is associate editor of several journals and Deputy Editor-in-chief of Diabetology. He has supervised or co-supervised 12 PhD students (5 concluded), 21 MSc students, and 22 BSc Students, coordinating and participating in several national and international research projects. He currently is one of the co-coordinators of the Project PAS GRAS funded (~9.5M Euros) by the Horizon program—Cluster Health. His interests rely on the pathophysiology of metabolic diseases, namely obesity and type 2 diabetes, disclosing the mechanisms governing adipose tissue dysfunction in obesity and leading to insulin resistance, including the transgenerational risks of obesity. He has also been interested in identifying molecular and imaging biomarkers of the metabolic and vascular complications of metabolic diseases, and in identifying therapeutic targets for obesity based on the neuroendocrine mechanisms that govern adipose tissue function. Moreover, he has been involved in research projects aiming to identify new nutritional and food-derived compounds able to modulate key pathways to improve oxidative stress and metabolic fitness, as well as aiming to disclose the impact of food processing and contaminants, namely added sugars and glycation products, on metabolic and vascular complications associated to metabolic diseases.
Dr. Alexandre Borbely
Institute of Biological and Health Sciences, Federal University of Alagoas;
Alexandre Borbely earned his Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Sciences (2006) from the University of Santo Amaro, Brazil. Master's and Ph.D. degrees in Cell and Developmental Biology (2009 and 2013), and post-doctorate (2015) from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. During his doctoral studies, he had sandwich training at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria (2011-2012), and he identified a proteoglycan involved in trophoblast invasion in the placenta, its mechanisms, and implications in gestational diseases. Since 2014, he has been an adjunct professor and research group leader at the Federal University of Alagoas, Brazil. He is a Brazilian representative of the Latin American Society for Maternal-Fetal Interaction and Placenta (SLIMP) and a member of the Iberoamerican Network for Vascular Alterations in Pregnancy Complications (RIVATREM). In the last 5 years, he authored and collaborated on 21 manuscripts, working mainly with placental Zika virus infection, microplastic contamination of human placentas, and natural products for pregnancy.
Assoc. Prof. Maria Teresa Cruz
University of Coimbra- Faculty of Pharmacy;
Maria Teresa Cruz (MT Cruz) holds a degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences (1991) from the University of Lisbon, a master's in Drug Technologies (1996), and a PhD in Pharmacology (2004) at UC. She is associate professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Group Leader at the Centre for Innovative Biomedicine and Biotechnology. MT Cruz has actively participated in numerous national and international funded projects, including those funded by the European Union 7th Framework Programme, John Hopkins, Cosmetics Europe, Lierac, and Vichy. She has contributed to 7 international patents and filed 4 provisional patent requests, authored 6 book chapters, and published 203 articles in SCI indexed journals. Included in the "World's Top 2% Scientists" concerning the most cited researchers in 2022, MT Cruz boasts an h-index of 39 with 7742 citations, as per the Web of Science. She has supervised or co-supervised 20 doctoral, 28 master and 3 post-doctoral students. MT Cruz regularly reviews R&D projects for various institutions, including Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, French National Research Agency, Alzheimer's Association Research Fellowship Program, ERA4Health, among others. In terms of knowledge transfer and valorization, MT Cruz has played a pivotal role in creating a spin-off from the UC, Toxfinder, which has received several entrepreneurship awards. MT Cruz contributed to the establishment of a Pilot Production Unit for Cell Therapy, the UpCells laboratory, resulting from a partnership between UC and a pharmaceutical industry, meeting all the requirements for the preparation and handling of cellular products for clinical application according to GMP. In terms of pedagogical activity, MT Cruz teaches various curricular units at the Faculty of Pharmacy and contributed to several master's and doctoral programs at the University of Coimbra and at the Institute of Biosciences - UNESP - Botucatu Campus
On Friday 28 June 2024, MDPI and the Journal Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceuticals organized the 8th webinar entitled "Advances in natural products and their derivatives for metabolic and chronic inflammatory disease therapy".
The introduction was held by the Chair of the webinar, Prof. Dr. Marisa Freitas, from Associated Laboratory for Green Chemistry (LAQV) of the Network of Chemistry and Technology (REQUIMTE), based at Faculty of Pharmacy of University of Porto, Portugal. Dr. Freitas introduced the context of natural products in the context of metabolic and related disorders.
Prof. Dr. Paulo Matafome, from Coimbra Health School, Polytechnic University of Coimbra, Portugal, give us an overview of the use of natural products to improve adipose tissue function with a presentation entitled “The Role of NRF2 Activators in Improving Adipose Tissue Function”.
After his presentation, Prof. Dr. Alexandre Borbely, from the University of Santo Amaro, Brazil moved the discussion to the protective effect of Passiflora edulis extract against placental Zika virus infection.
The third presentation was given by Prof. Dr. Maria Teresa Cruz from University of Coimbra. She showed that Isoeugenol could be useful in the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease through the activation of NRF2.
In this section, you will find the recordings of this webinar to watch, re-watch and share with your colleagues!
Advances in Natural Products and Their Derivatives for Metabolic and Chronic Inflammatory Disease Therapy, 2nd Edition
Edited by Eduarda Fernande, Marisa Freitas and Ana Teresa Rufino
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 July 2024
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