Teresa Serra
Head of Natural Bioactives and Nutraceuticals Area / Natural Bioactives & Nutraceuticals

Biography
I am the Head of Natural Bioactives and Nutraceuticals area of iBET.
I am graduated in Biological Engineering from Instituto Superior Tecnico – Universidade Tecnica de Lisboa (2003), with a PhD in Engineering and Technology Sciences- Biotechnology from ITQB-NOVA (2010).
Working in iBET since 2004, my PhD contributed to the valorization of traditional Portuguese apple and cherry varieties through the development of functional ingredients using novel extraction technologies and phytochemical/bioactivity assays. Part of my studies were done at Univ Coimbra where I acquired experience in supercritical fluid extraction methodologies. My strong interest in cell-based models led me to undertake a 1yr post‐doc internship at ACTU of iBET (2014), where I gained knowledge on human cancer stem cells biology and bioprocessing. The project was developed in close collaboration with Merck Serono and provided me scientific competences to develop new advanced models of colorectal cancer for the evaluation of food bioactives and excel this thematic line in my research career path.
Current Research at iBET, with funding from FCT (Portugal), EU programs and private funding from Food/Pharmaceutical industry, is focused on i) the design of innovative processes (extraction, purification and formulation) and (bio)analytical tools to support the development of functional foods and nutraceuticals, and ii) evaluation of health promoting effect of natural bioactives by combining state of art analytical tools with advanced cell-based assays. To accelerate the translation of our research to clinical application, we have designed and coordinated human intervention studies for the evaluation of the bioavailability and efficacy of natural bioactives present in foods and nutraceuticals.
CV Highlights: (i) 70 publications; ii) Invited Scientist at UFSM in Brazil (2022); iii) Invited lecture of master/doctoral programs; vi) Awarded by national associations and industries (Nutrition Awards 2011, Nutrition Awards 2012 and Aveleda Award 2013-White wine and Health).