iBET Scientists Win Best Oral Presentation and Best Poster Awards at ITQB NOVA PhD Students’ Meeting
Combating Food Spoilage due to ACB Contamination and Advancing T cell Manufacturing
PhD students at iBET/ITQB NOVA, Inês Leonardo and Margarida Costa, have been awarded the Best Oral Presentation and Best Poster awards, respectively, at the 14th ITQB NOVA PhD students’ meeting 2024.
Best Oral Presentation – Inês Leonardo
Inês’s presentation on “Exploring preservation strategies to combat Alicyclobacillus spp. spoilage in food products”, highlighted key findings from her doctoral project, supervised by Frédéric Gaspar and Teresa Crespo at iBET’s Microbiology and Molecular Biology Lab.
The project addresses a significant challenge experienced by the food and beverage industry: spoilage events caused by the presence of Alicyclobacillus (ACB) bacteria. Such contamination events lead to food waste, costly product recalls, and reduced consumer confidence due to unpleasant off-flavors.
Among other topics, Inês’s PhD investigates various strategies to control the presence of ACB at different stages of the industrial process, using UV-C LEDS, bacteriophages, and bacteriocins.
This work was conducted as part of the phages4ACB project, funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (2022.04043.PTDC).
Best Poster Presentation – Margarida Costa
Margarida’s poster presentation focused on “Advancing T Cell Manufacturing Through Tight Control of Cell Activation in Stirred-Tank Bioreactors” based on her PhD work at iBET’s Stem and Immune Cells Bioengineering lab, supervised by Margarida Serra and Marta Costa.
This work is integrated in the CARTool project which aims to develop more efficient processes towards the generation of CAR T cells with improved potency. It proposes an integrated manufacturing process in stirred-tank bioreactors for controlled T cell activation and expansion while tuning process parameters to shape T cell phenotype.
iBET extends its warmest congratulations to Inês, Margarida, and their respective supervisors and research teams for these remarkable achievements!