Viviana Correia

I am a Postdoctoral researcher in the Advanced Cell Models Lab at iBET since 2024. My research focuses on investigating glycan-lectin interactions between triple-negative breast cancer cells and tumor associated macrophages at the tumor microenvironment, and the recapitulation of the glycosylation landscape in 3D cell models to foster novel therapies.

I specialized in molecular glycosciences and structural biology, namely the study of glycan-protein interactions using glycan and protein microarray technologies. Now I am hoping to apply it to the interface with oncoimmunology and cell technology. My skills also include molecular biology, high-throughput production, biochemical and biophysical methodologies for characterizing and detecting recombinant proteins.

I hold a BSc in Molecular and Cell Biology (2010), a MSc in Biotechnology (2012) and a PhD in Molecular Biosciences (2023), from NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal. I obtained a fellowship from the MolBioS program at ITQB NOVA, and developed my PhD project at the research center UCIBIO, FCT NOVA (Caparica, Portugal). My PhD work focused on characterizing bacterial systems for glycan recognition in the human microbiome. I contributed to the description of over 6 novel protein structures and binding specificities to dietary and host-derived glycans, with direct health implications and potential for developing novel pre- and probiotics.

I am drawn to the fundamental study of biological mechanisms at a molecular level combining multidisciplinary approaches and exploring biomarkers with direct applications in biomedical research.