Isabel Ferreira and Eunice Costa saw their PhD work recognize with a “Best Communication Award” at the last edition of the11thInternational Chemical and Biological Engineering Conference (CHEMPOR 2011). Both students presented research results developed in collaboration between MIT Portugal and MIT, portraying one of the main objectives of this program.  Eunice Costa is at the 4th year of her PhD and her main interest is the development of functional materials for monitoring cell cultures. At this international conference she present the work entitled ‘Towards the development of a local microgel-based protease sensor’, developed in collaboration between faculty from two institutions: MIT and Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa: Linda G Griffith (MIT), Paula T Hammond (MIT), Ana Aguiar Ricardo (FCT), Margaret Lloyd (MIT), and Caroline Chopko (MIT). The researchers are aiming to access the protease function in in vitro tissue constructs through well-defined smart microbead hydrogels with polymeric coatings and protease-sensing moieties. The development of protease biosensors would provide valuable tools for studying the molecular and cellular basis of diseases, as well as assessing the efficiency of potential drugs targeting proteases. Deregulation of protease activity has been previously correlated with different diseased states, namely cancer and arthritis.
 Isabel Ferreira, a PhD student at Instituto Superior Técnico under the MIT Portugal Program, presented the work entitled: “Crude Oil Microbial Desulfurization: a viable green technology for sulfur elimination in refineries”, developed in collaboration with Carla de Carvalho (IST), Daniel Wang (MIT) and M. Raquel Aires-Barros (IST). The researchers studied a new biodesulfurization process through a green biological technology. Isabel and colleagues are proving the feasibility of using bacterial cells to remove sulfur from crude oil. Sulfur compounds, resulting from the combustion of crude and crude oil, are one of the main contributors to acid rain with an extensive impact on physical structures but also on the fauna, flora and human health (leading to several cardiovascular diseases and even cancer). Therefore desulfurization of oil is of capital importance and refineries all over the world have been investigating new technologies to perform desulfurization, in order to cope with the stringent regulations on sulfur limits while keeping production yields high. The work presented at CHEMPOR 2011 by Isabel, sheds a new light into desulfurization, suggesting that a microbial approach can be a new viable green technology for removing sulfur compounds present in crude oil. Since this presentation at the international conference, Isabel has graduated and she is now a PhD under the MIT Portugal Program. Her thesis “Biodesulfurization of Crude Oil by Whole Cells ofRhodococcus erythropolis” represents the work developed at IST and MIT under the supervision of the co-authors of the awarded presentation.
Congratulations to both for such a good work! |
