Márcia Medeiros

I am a physician (FMUSP-1999) with specialisations in General and Internal Medicine (HCFMUSP-2003) and Travel Medicine (IHMT NOVA-2018) and a scientist in the field of Medical and Health Sciences with a PhD in Science – Host-Pathogen Interactions (ICBUSP-2011).

As a PhD researcher in some Portuguese institutions of the highest international prestige, I have demonstrated: i) the role of immunoregulatory mechanisms in the sequestration phenomenon of Plasmodium-infected erythrocytes using an experimental rodent model and intravital microscopy (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0081409); ii) the molecular mechanisms observed in enzymopathies involved in erythrocyte resistance to malaria infection, shedding light on host-directed therapies (doi:10.3389/fcimb.2022.840968, doi:10.3390/ijms24021336); iii) the effect of new compounds and repurposed drugs on Plasmodium development in the invertebrate host and on liver and blood stages of malaria infection in experimental rodent models (doi:10.3390/plants12040963); iv) the association between revaccination with the live-attenuated bivalent oral polio vaccine (OPV) and a healthier microbiome composition in the gut and upper respiratory tract of revaccinated children, which may mediate non-specific effects of OPV on unrelated pathogens (doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.1016220).

Currently, I am doing pre-travel clinical appointments at the Travellers’ Clinic of the Association for the Development of Tropical Medicine (ADMT) since 2022, I am coordinating the Curricular Unit of Viral Infections of the Master in Tropical Health (IHMT NOVA) and I am teaching classes in the aforementioned Curricular Unit since 2023 and in the Specialization Course on Travel Medicine since 2024.

As an assistant researcher at the IHMT-NOVA, my current research interests focus on:

1. The genetic diversity of Plasmodium falciparum parasites in low-density infections and the contribution of low-density infections to the maintenance of malaria transmission in pre-elimination malaria settings in sub-Saharan Africa (SUBFAM protocol in collaboration with the Bandim Health Project in Guinea-Bissau) – I have been supervising a PhD candidate at IHMT NOVA (PhD Programme in Global Health and Tropical Diseases) in this project, who has received a PhD scholarship (UI/BD/151069/2021, in progress) from the Portuguese National Foundation for Science and Technology, FCT.
2.  The development of point-of-care technologies based on isothermal amplification of nucleic acids for the diagnosis of Plasmodium infections – (Project DxHub -HORIZON-WIDERA-2023-ACCESS-07).
3. The development of point-of-care technologies based on isothermal amplification of nucleic acids for the identification of antimalarial resistant Plasmodium parasites (RESMALDETECT project in collaboration with researchers from the University of Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain) – I have been supervising a Master candidate at IHMT NOVA (Master in Medical Parasitology) who is developing her Master dissertation within this project.
4. The identification of placental biomarkers among specific placental microRNAs, proteins and inflammatory factors related to the placental malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum parasites. A PhD candidate has started this research line.
5. The prevalence of Trypanosoma brucei gambiense parasites in Guinea-Bissau using molecular biology techniques, in order to fil the gap of more than 20 years without epidemiological information on the prevalence of this parasite in Guinea-Bissau. A Master candidate has started this research line.

My team consists of Masters and PhD students who have been supervised by me:

1. Ronise Silva, PhD candidate from Guinea-Bissau, IHMT NOVA PhD programme on Global Health and Tropical Diseases, FCT fellowship UI/BD/151069/2021/FCT – Research line 1
2. Maria Leonor Soares da Silva, PhD candidate from Angola, IHMT NOVA PhD programme on Global Health and Tropical Diseases – Research line 4
3. Mariana Pinto, Master candidate from Portugal, IHMT NOVA Master programme on Medical Parasitology – Research line 2
4. Sílvia Pires, Master candidate from Cape-Verde, IHMT NOVA Master programme on Tropical Health – Research line 5

1. Silva R, Lopes LF, Rodrigues A, Arez AP, Medeiros MM* (2024). Assessing the burden of submicroscopic Plasmodium infections in a pre-elimination malaria setting in sub-Saharan Africa, Guinea-Bissau. Malar J 23, 316. doi: 10.1186/s12936-024-05138-z (*corresponding author)
2. Carvalho M, Medeiros MM, Morais I, Lopes CS, Balau A, Santos NC, de Carvalho FA, Arez AP (2023). 2,3-Diphosphoglycerate and the Protective Effect of Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency against Malaria Infection—Exploring the Role of the Red Blood Cell Membrane. Int. J. Mol. Sci., 24, 1336. doi: 10.3390/ijms24021336 (the first two authors shared first authorship)
3. Medeiros MM*, Ingham AC, Nanque LM, Correia C, Stegger M, Andersen PS, Fisker AB, Benn CS, Lanaspa M, Silveira H and Abrantes P (2022) Oral polio revaccination is associated with changes in gut and upper respiratory microbiomes of infants. Front. Microbiol.13:1016220. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1016220 (*corresponding author)
4. Morais I*, Medeiros MM*, Carvalho M*, Morello J, Teixeira SM, Maciel S, Nhantumbo J, Balau A, Rosa MTG, Nogueira F, Rodrigues JA, de Carvalho FA, Antunes AMM and Arez AP (2022) Synthetic Red Blood Cell-Specific Glycolytic Intermediate 2,3-Diphosphoglycerate (2,3-DPG) Inhibits Plasmodium falciparum Development In Vitro. Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol. 12:840968. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2022.840968 (*the first three authors shared first authorship) 
5. Tavares, W., Morais, J., Martins, J.F., Scalsky, R.J., Stabler, T.C., Medeiros, M.M., Fortes, F.J., Arez, A.P. and Silva, J.C. Malaria in Angola: recent progress, challenges and future opportunities using parasite demography studies. Malar J 21, 396 (2022). doi: 10.1186/s12936-022-04424-y