Patricia Monteiro, PhD
Principal Investigator
pmonteiro (at) med.up.pt
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ORCID
@PatMont_
https://tinyurl.com/pmonteiro

Patricia Monteiro is a Principal Investigator at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP), Portugal, since October 2022. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Monteiro was a Principal Investigator at the ICVS institute, University of Minho, between 2018-2022.
Dr. Monteiro holds a BSc/MSc degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences (FFUC, University of Coimbra) and a PhD in Biosciences with specialization in Neuroscience. She received her doctoral training from Prof. Guoping Feng at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA (2010-2015), later moving to Prof. Nuno Sousa lab (2016-2018) as an EMBO postdoctoral fellow.
As Principal Investigator of the NeuroEphys Lab, Dr. Monteiro uses electrophysiology recordings, rodent behavioral tasks, transgenic mice, optogenetics and chemogenetics to study brain circuits in neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
She is an invited junior member of the Portuguese National Academy of Sciences and an Advisory Board Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), serving for their Scientific Exchange Grants (SEG) program.

Luis Jacinto, PhD
Principal Investigador
ljacinto (at) med.up.pt
Google Scholar
ORCID
https://tinyurl.com/luisjacinto

Luis Jacinto is a Principal Investigator at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP), Portugal, since January 2023. Prior to this appointment, Luis was a Principal Investigator at the ICVS institute, School of Medicine, University of Minho, between 2020-2022.
Dr. Jacinto holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering with specialization in Neuroscience (University of Minho, 2013), a BSc in Biology (FCUP, University of Porto) and a MSc in Biomedical Engineering, with specialization in Biomedical Instrumentation (FEUP, University of Porto). Dr. Jacinto received doctoral training at the Center for Neural Engineering, Penn State University, USA and ICVS, Universtiy of Minho, Portugal. He held postdoctoral positions at the Brain Institute, University of Utah, USA (2014) and ICVS (2014-2019).
As Principal Investigator of the NeuroEphys Lab, Dr. Jacinto uses biological and engineering approaches to create novel neurotechnologies that can advance fundamental neuroscience research and provide novel diagnostic and therapeutic solutions for brain disorders. Through a combination of electrophysiology, optogenetics, brain-machine interfacing, systems engineering, micro/nanofabrication, and machine learning, he develops electrophysiological neural probes, bioelectronic interfaces for neurotransmitter sensing, stimulators for wireless and non-invasive brain activity modulation, and methodologies for neural signal analysis and complex behavior detection. The ultimate goal of his work is to translate these innovations to the clinical realm and advance the understanding of how our brain integrates and processes information to interact with the world.

Liliana Luz
Lab Manager
liliana_luz (at) med.up.pt

Liliana Luz is a Lab Manager at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP), Portugal, since September 2023. Prior to her current role, Dr. Luz worked as Postdoctoral Fellow at Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (i3S), from 2017-2023, with a primary focus on studying the functional organization of spinal and supraspinal neuronal networks. Dr. Luz holds a BSc/MSc degree in Biology from the University of Aveiro and a PhD in Neuroscience from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto. In 2013, she worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre for Integrative Physiology at the University of Edinburgh, where she studied the development of the somatosensory cortex, specifically in the context of the Fragile X syndrome. Between 2013 and 2017, she held a position of Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto. She has an extensive experience in electrophysiology, as well as knowledge in post-hoc anatomical identification of the neurons, immunohistochemistry, and neuronal tracing.

Sara Reis
Postdoctoral Researcher
screis (at) med.up.pt

Sara Reis is a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP), Portugal, since November 2023. She holds a BSc degree in Human Biology from University of Évora, a MSc in Cellular and Molecular Biology from University of Coimbra and a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Wurzburg. During her PhD, Sara studied the cardiac interoceptive role of periaqueductal gray neurons during defensive states. She is interested in studying the neuronal circuits underlying cardiac interoception in a mouse model of autism spectrum disorder.

Alexandra Cruz
PhD student
up202210899 (at) edu.med.up.pt

Alexandra has a background in Biochemistry from the University of Coimbra, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, and a Master in Biomedical Research from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra. During her MSc, Alexandra studied the impact of prenatal stress on the offspring’s behavior and microglia morphology. In 2022, she joined our team as a lab tech but her scientific passion led her to pursue a PhD with us. As a PhD student, she is currently exploring the involvement of the brain immune system in OCD.

Ana Carolina Castro
PhD student
up202212049 (at) edu.med.up.pt

Carolina has a background in Biochemistry from University of Minho, School of Sciences and a Master in Health Sciences from the School of Medicine, also at University of Minho. During her bachelor, she was interested in the relationship between serotoninergic signaling and protein homeostasis of the central nervous system. Carolina joined the lab in 2020 as a master student. She is interested in studying the neurobiological mechanisms underlying auditory sensitivity in a mouse model of autism spectrum disorder.

Mafalda Abrantes
PhD student
mafalda.abrantes (at) inl.int

Mafalda has a background in Engineering Physics and joined the lab in 2020 for her master project where she explored graphene biosensors for neurotransmitters’ detection in the brain. Her interest in 2D materials and brain physiology led her to pursue a PhD in graphene nanobioelectronics where she is currently developing new graphene devices for neural interfacing. (in collaboration with the 2D Materials and Devices group at INL)

Margarida Falcão
PhD student
up202002630 (at) edu.med.up.pt

Margarida has a background in Applied Biology and a Master in Health Sciences, both from University of Minho. As an undergraduate student, she was interested in the applications of electrical epidural stimulation for spinal cord injury recovery. Margarida joined the lab in 2020 as a master student and her current project involves in vivo brain recordings, thalamocortical communication, and sensory processing in a mouse model of autism.

Patrícia Silva
Research Fellow
apsilva (at) med.up.pt

Patrícia holds a Master degree in Biomedical Engineering from the School of Engineering at University of Minho. She joined the lab in 2021 as a master student to develop a closed-loop system for real-time compulsive behavior detection and optogenetic stimulation in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Patricia is currently developing a wireless headstage for optical stimulation in closed loop systems, and is interested in translating her knowledge of OCD into humans research through data analysis of brain activity signatures in OCD patients.

Beatriz Silva
Master student
beatriz.a.silva (at) inl.int

Beatriz joined the lab in 2023 for her Master in Engineering Physics dissertation project focusing on graphene electrodes technology and electronics interface development for brain neuroelectrical recordings. (in collaboration with the 2D Materials and Devices group at INL)

Catarina Azevedo
Master student
up202308333@edu.med.up.pt

Catarina has a background in Biomedical Engineering and joined the lab for her master’s dissertation in Neurobiology. She is studying sleep microarchitecture in a mouse model of ASD, through automated EEG-based sleep scoring.

Laríssa Andrade
Master student
up202308696@edu.fe.up.pt

Laríssa has a BSc in Biomedical Engineering and joined the lab for her master’s dissertation in Biomedical Engineering. She is investigating electrophysiological biomarkers of DBS therapeutic effects in intracortical recordings of obssessive-compulsive disorder patients, in a project in colaboration with São João Hospital in Porto (CHUSJ).

Márcia Azevedo
Master student
marciaazevedo (at) ua.pt

Márcia has a background in Biology from University of Aveiro. During her bachelor, she was interested in exploring the molecular pathways underlying contextual fear and traumatic memory in rodents. Márcia joined the lab in 2023 as a master student. She is interested in studying sensory processing pathways in a mouse model of autism spectrum disorder.

Tiago Pereira
Affiliated researcher
tiago.pereira (at) inl.int

Tiago joined the lab in 2022 for his Master degree project in Engineering Physics focusing on the development of integration processes for graphene bioelectronic transistors and uLEDs in polymeric substrates for flexible neural interfaces (in collaboration with the 2D Materials and Devices group at INL). Now, as a research engineer at INL he continues to colaborate with the lab on the development of new fabrication methods for sensors neurotransmitter biomarkers.