Ana Armada

Ana Maria Armada is an Assistant Researcher at the Teaching and Research Unit of Medical Microbiology (UEI MM) at the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (IHMT), Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UNL, Lisbon, Portugal) and Researcher at the THOP – TB, HIV and opportunistic diseases and pathogens group at the Centro R&D Global Health and Tropical Medicine (GHTM, IHMT). She was born in 1966 and has dual nationality Portuguese/Australian. She graduated from the University of Lisbon, Faculty of Pharmacy in 1991 (1985-1991). In 1998 she concluded her Master degree in Biotechnology (Biochemistry Engineering) at the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) in Lisbon. Since that time, she has become an Assistant researcher and, after her public dissertation in 2008, she became an Auxiliary Researcher in INETI/UTPAM (now dissolved). In 2019 she completed her PhD in IHMT/FCM/UNL (PhD Program in Human Genetics and Infectious diseases).

At present, she teaches at several Curricular Units of Master and Doctorate Courses at IHMT-NOVA in the area of Immunology, Biosecurity, Cell culture, Intracellular distribution and activity of antibiotics, one of them she also coordinates (Cell Culture Course). She is a Member of the Scientific Committee of PhD in Biomedical Sciences (IHMT-NOVA), Portuguese Pharmaceutical Society (Professional License nº 8961) and member of the Flow Cytometry facility of GHTM/IHMT. She is also the IHMT-NOVA Editorial Coordinator of the digital platform of vaccines information (https://www.imune.pt/sobre-o-imune-pt/). Since 2019 she is part of the Leptospirosis and Lyme Borreliosis Group of UEI MM, IHMT, UNL.

Since 2009, her research lines have been directed to the study (i) of inter-relations between pathogenic microorganisms (M. tuberculosis, Leishmania spp., B. burgdoferi s. l., and Leptospira interrogans) and the host cell (macrophages), and (ii) development of new diagnostic tools and alternative therapies for the treatment of drug-resistant diseases, in Tuberculosis , Cancer and Lyme disease, by examining the ability of microRNAs and natural compounds to revert drug resistance through interaction with ABC transporters and gene methylation patterns, thus acting as chemosensitizers. Since 2019 she is part of Leptospirosis and Lyme Borreliosis group in IHMT, and her research work has been focused on the study of spirochetes (Borrelia and Leptospira) with particular emphasis on the development of molecular tools for early diagnosis of leptospirosis, and application of new immunological techniques for neuroborreliosis diagnostic.

In parallel, she continues her close collaboration with the group of Drug Response and Resistance from NOVA Medical School (MicroRNA involvement in breast cancer susceptibility and progression, NGS, miRNA and infection).

In 2021 a digital vaccine information platform (https://www.imune.pt/sobre-o-imune-pt/) was launched to tackle vaccine misinformation, with Ana Armada as the coordinator of the specialized editorial committee of IHMT/UNL.

1. Mendes A, Armada A, Cabral LIL, Amado PSM, Campino L, et al. 2022. 1,2,4-Trioxolane and 1,2,4,5-Tetraoxane Endoperoxides against Old-World Leishmania Parasites: In Vitro Activity and Mode of Action. Pharmaceuticals (Basel), 15(4):446. doi: 10.3390/ph15040446.
2. Gomes BC, Honrado M, Armada A, Viveiros M, Rueff J, Rodrigues AS. 2020. ABC Efflux Transporters and the Circuitry of miRNAs: Kinetics of Expression in Cancer Drug Resistance. Int J Mol Sci, 21(8):2985. doi: 10.3390/ijms21082985.
3. Armada A, Gomes BC, Viveiros M, Rueff J, Rodrigues AS. Regulation of ABCB1 activity by microRNA-200c and microRNA-203a in breast cancer cells: the quest for microRNAs’ involvement in cancer drug resistance. 2019. Cancer Drug Resist, 2(3):897-911. doi: 10.20517/cdr.2019.24.
4. Armada A, Martins C, Spengler G, Molnar J, Amaral L, Rodrigues AS, Viveiros M. 2016. Fluorimetric Methods for Analysis of Permeability, Drug Transport Kinetics, and Inhibition of the ABCB1 Membrane Transporter. Methods Mol Biol, 1395:87-103. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-3347-1_7.
5. Novo C, Martins TM, Prata S, Lopes A, Armada A. 2009. Gene sequencing, modelling and immunolocalization of the protein disulfide isomerase from Plasmodium chabaudi. Int J Biol Macromol, 45(4):399-406. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2009.07.001.