News

January 7, 2009

Fourteen outstanding projects from consortia of Portuguese research institutions and partners from industry have been awarded research grants to collaborate with MIT Portugal Program researchers. Following an open call for proposals, the grants were awarded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).

Each of the 14 projects were rated as excellent or very good by the international evaluation committees, which reviewed a total of 40 proposals addressing the ongoing research themes of MIT Portugal’s four Focus Areas. The investigators who submitted the 14 top-rated proposals will receive three-year contracts with FCT.

Prof. Patricia Almeida Carvalho

Patricia Almeida Carvalho, a tenured professor of materials science at the Instituto Superior Tecnico in Lisbon, is visiting MIT during the 2008–2009 academic year as a Fulbright scholar. A microscopist with a first degree in metallurgical and materials engineering and a PhD in mathematics and natural sciences, Carvalho is spending her sabbatical year in the laboratory of MIT’s Dean of Engineering, Subra Suresh, a member of MIT Portugal’s Governing Committee. Her visit is the result of a referral from her PhD advisor at Groningen University and Prof. Joaquim Sampaio Cabral at IST, one of MIT Portugal’s bio-engineering focus area leads.

MPP: What are you working on in the Suresh Lab?

PC: Our work involves cell and molecular mechanics in red blood cells that have been affected by malaria. Basically, I use atomic force micrsocopy (AFM) to study how affected cells are deformed, by measuring nanoscale forces using a cantilever device. Red blood cells that aren’t infected pass through the spleen, but infected cells become rigid and can’t do that.  They adhere to capillaries and burst, causing more infection. We’re trying to better understand—and measure—the deformation process.

The MIT Portugal Program demonstrated the range of its research and education programs at several public venues in Lisbon this fall, with a strong presence at three high-profile events highlighting higher education opportunities and high-tech developments in Portugal.

Raquel Folgado (left) and Sofia d’Orey (right)

At Portugal Tecnológico on November 18–20, an event that presents government and industry achievements in science and research, MIT Portugal displayed videos describing the program’s graduate degree options, research, and industry affiliations. MIT Portugal’s exhibit was part of the stand set up by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education.

On November 22-23, MIT Portugal had a large stand at Fórum Ciência Viva—an annual event at which academic institutions exhibit their programs to a general audience, as part of an effort to promote the culture of science in Portugal. Each MIT Portugal focus area was represented, as was the Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, which is led by Professor Joaquim Sampaio Cabral at the Instituto Superior Técnico. MIT Portugal students were on hand to talk about their work and to show off various projects, including a kayak with a seat that uses a material made from Portuguese cork.

At Futurália (December 10 –13), a higher education and employment recruitment fair aimed mostly at high school students, representatives of MIT Portugal were found in the “post-graduate lounge,” providing information about the program to students who had already completed their first degrees.

MIT researchers have found that the pigments responsible for the blue-green stain of the mucus that clogs the lungs of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients are primarily signaling molecules that allow large clusters of the opportunistic infection agent, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, to organize themselves into structured communities.

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