Catarina Bourgard, Ph.D.

July 2021 – July 2022

Researcher in Molecular Biology within the ongoing projects:

​

• 2020-2021: joined the fight against Covid-19!

       VR Grant (2020-21): “A genetic trap for small molecules that inhibits SARS-CoV-2 main protease”

       Ref. 2020-04738

• Center for Antibiotic Resistance, CARe

       Therapeutics: "Mode of action of natural products in pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria and their       

       development as antibacterial agents"

• 2019-2022: Sweden-Brazil International Research Collaboration 

       STINT/CAPES Exchange Grant “Overcoming Plasmodium vivax drug resistance” Ref. BR2018-8017

​

 

March 2019 – June 2021

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Sven & Lawski’s Foundation postdoc fellowship

​

Research developed within the following grants:

​​

• 2020-2021: joined the fight against Covid-19!

       VR Grant (2020-21): “A genetic trap for small molecules that inhibits SARS-CoV-2 main protease”

       Ref. 2020-04738

​

Developing a platform to find new antiviral drugs against SARS-CoV-2, including finalizing the construction of a genetic trap for small molecule inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease. This system will remain useful for future mutant variants of the virus. Perform a robotized large-scale screen with high selectivity using a newly designed dual genetic system in yeast and verify hits and develop them into lead antiviral compounds.

​

Research supervised by Prof. Dr. Per Sunnerhagen

Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology

University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg – SWEDEN

In collaboration with:

Department of Biology and Biological Engineering

Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg - SWEDEN

​

​

​

• Center for Antibiotic Resistance, CARe

       Therapeutics: "Mode of action of natural products in pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria and their       

       development as antibacterial agents"

​

The global increase in antibiotic resistance calls for action on multiple fronts, one of which is to find new candidate antibiotics. Very few of these currently come out worldwide in the drug discovery pipeline. Trying to contribute to this effort, and potentially find antibacterial molecules with new modes of action, we screen collections of molecules from tropical plants for antibacterial activity. Of particular interest are molecules active against Gram-negative bacteria.

 

Research supervised by Prof. Dr. Per Sunnerhagen

Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology

University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg – SWEDEN

In collaboration with:

Department of Chemistry - BMC

University of Uppsala, Uppsala - SWEDEN

 

 

 

• 2019-2022: Sweden-Brazil International Research Collaboration 

       STINT/CAPES Exchange Grant “Overcoming Plasmodium vivax drug resistance” Ref. BR2018-8017

​

• 2017-2020: Sweden-Brazil-Cambodia International Research Collaboration

       VR Grant: “Combatting antimicrobial resistance by novel antimalarial molecules against Plasmodium           vivax and P. falciparum from South America and South-East Asia” Ref. 2014-4234

​

• 2015-2017: Sweden-Brazil International Research Collaboration (participation since 2016)

       Exchange VR Grant: “Superior bioactive molecules against Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium           

       falciparum through genetic screening in yeast” 

 

This project aims at identifying novel promising lead compounds to combat resistant Plasmodium strains. Frontline techniques in yeast genomics will be used to identify the targets of molecules with antiplasmodial activity, and to improve the selectivity for the parasite ortholog of the target over the human counterpart. We have a special view to use the yeast system to access protein targets expressed in parasite life cycle stages that are difficult to access by other methods. The Brazilian partners contribute knowledge about disease models and genetic engineering of the malaria parasite, as well as dedicated genetic drug screening systems. The Cambodian partner is a world-leading expert in Plasmodium drug resistance genomics. The Swedish partners contribute bioinformatics, high-throughput yeast screening methodology, and medicinal chemistry for the redesign and development of leads.

​

Research supervised by Prof. Dr. Per Sunnerhagen

Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology

University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg – SWEDEN

In collaboration with:

Laboratory of Tropical Diseases, Institute of Biology

University of Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo - BRAZIL

​

Unit of Malaria Molecular Epidemiology

Institut Pasteur du Cambodge

Phnom Penh - CAMBODIA

​

​

​

March 2014 – March 2019, Ph.D. thesis successfully defended on 1st March

Ph.D. in Genetics and Molecular Biology

• Ph.D. thesis, FAPESP Project: “Analyses of the immunopathological and molecular mechanisms involved in cytoadherence of Plasmodium vivax”

       FAPESP Ref. 2013/20509-5 supervised by Prof. Dr. Fabio Costa and Dr. Letusa Albrecht

​

I took the challenge of better comprehending such deadly, as well as, mechanistically elusive disease, which we all know by the name of Malaria. For me, within the wonders of Immuno-Parasitology, this project focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis and infection capacity of P. vivax. Through cytoadherence assays, we evaluated the adherence capacity of several stages of Pv-iE to different endothelial receptors. Following this research line, we aimed to verify the molecular involvement of immune variant genes as parasitic ligands in the cytoadherence process by sequencing the whole transcriptome by applying RNA-seq technology to the different stages of Pv-iE, involved or not in cytoadherence. The knowledge produced during this research project will be of extreme importance for the future development of vaccines and therapeutic strategies against P. vivax malaria.

​

Laboratory of Tropical Diseases, Institute of Biology

Department of Genetics, Evolution, Microbiology, and Immunology

University of Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo - BRAZIL

 

Instituto Leônidas & Maria Deane

Fundação Oswaldo Cruz – Fiocruz, Manaus, Amazonas - BRAZIL

 

Instituto Carlos Chagas

Fundação Oswaldo Cruz - Fiocruz, Curitiba, Paraná - BRAZIL

​

​

 

 

 

 

July 2011 – February 2014

Research Technician and Lab Manager, Science Fellowship 

​

• ERC Grant: “Microbial adaptation within ecosystems” ERC Ref. ERC-2010-StG-260421

​​

All-natural populations are constantly subject to new mutations, and frequently face new environments, to which they adapt. To further understand the genetics of adaptation it is important to measure rates and effects of adaptive mutations, as well as patterns of epistasis amongst beneficial mutations in environments with different strengths of abiotic versus biotic interactions. One important biotic interaction being the target of investigations is the interaction between a commensal strain of E. coli and one of its predators: a macrophage. For that bacterial evolution experiments were done with the aim to track the adaptative mutations as they become incorporated into bacterial populations adapting to different environments: identification and mapping of mutations and Insertion Sequences (IS) in E. coli lines in the presence of Macrophages within a dynamic of infection.

 

• FCT Grant: “Epistasis in antibiotic resistance.” FCT Ref. PTDC/BIA-EVF/114622/2009​

​

The rapid evolution of multiple antibiotic resistances constitutes an increasing health problem. The objective was to study the genetic interactions, known as epistasis, amongst mutations (SNPs and transpositions) conferring antibiotic resistance to try and find combinations of antibiotics that impose the biggest fitness costs to the bacterium E. coli, therefore providing new insights towards developing more effective public health strategies for the control of drug resistance. The strength and type of epistasis are relevant for the evolution of sex, buffering of genetic variation, speciation, and the topography of fitness landscapes. Experiments were performed analyzing the evolution of antibiotic resistance using the powerful technique, based on neutral markers: pairwise evolution of antibiotic resistance, determination of the effects of deleterious mutations in Mutation Accumulation (MA) lines with different genetic backgrounds and fitness, identification and mapping of IS in MA lines to estimate the transposition rate and understand its dynamics in experimental evolution.

​

Research supervised by Prof. Isabel Gordo

Evolutionary Biology Research Group

Gulbenkian Science Institute, Oeiras - PORTUGAL

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

May 2009 – April 2011

Research Technician, Science Fellowship

 

• FCT Grant: “The etiology and pathogenesis of venous thrombosis in the Portuguese “in risk” population: From clinical manifestations to identification of hereditary risk and protective factors as well as exogenous or environmental factors.” FCT Ref. PIC/IC/82735/2007

 

Contributed to prevalence determination of major (Factor V Leiden, Prothrombin) and minor (Factor V HR2/HR3 haplotypes, Factor V Cambridge, MTHFR variants, Factor VIII and PAI-1) thrombotic risk factors (structural variants and SNP’s) in Portuguese patients with different manifestation of thrombotic events. From the beginning, promoted the organization of a structure and the maintenance of cohort with all specific laboratory material and samples, clinical data from prospective and retrospective patients/families collected. Identified and selected individuals and/or families of reference, through the analysis of clinic, laboratory, and molecular data, to establish different study groups. To assess the importance of genomic alterations in the molecular bases of venous thromboembolism (VTE), the hereditary and sporadic VTE groups were analyzed. Supported and created the inclusion of a new group of subjects (blood donors), with samples of DNA, RNA, plasma, and cell lines (LCL’s), in the control population of thrombosis pathologies, to better evaluate the data with that of VTE Portuguese population.

​

Research supervised by Dr. Dezsö David

Thrombosis and Haemostasis Research Group

Department of Genetics

National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, I.P.

Lisbon - PORTUGAL

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

September 2007 – November 2008

MSc in Genetics and Molecular Biology

• Master Dissertation, Project: “Characterization of mutations in kinetochore-proteins codifying genes in Drosophila melanogaster.”

​

My project was to examine the components and regulatory mechanisms of the mitotic machinery and explore means, by which errors in chromosome segregation would be avoided, or lead to disease, using Drosophila melanogaster as a model. Level 16 (sixteen) (out of 20) in the Portuguese Framework of Qualifications

​

Research supervised by Prof. Dr. Álvaro Tavares

Cell Division Research Group

Gulbenkian Science Institute, Oeiras - PORTUGAL

Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, Lisbon - PORTUGAL

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​