Catarina Botelho, Catarina Pinto, Inês Cardoso, and Rui Infante are the four students from Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, who were honoured at the ULisboa – redeSAÚDE Award 2025. This award recognises the best doctoral and master’s theses completed at ULisboa in health-related fields. The ceremony took place during the 9th Annual Conference of ULisboa redeSAÚDE on 26 November, under the theme “People and Planet: How the Environment Shapes Human Health”, where the work of Inês Cardoso (MSc) and Catarina Pinto (PhD) in the field of Oncology/Precision Medicine, and Rui Infante (MSc) and Catarina Botelho (PhD) in the field of Health Systems/Entrepreneurship/Digital Transition was highlighted.
According to Inês Cardoso, a master’s student in Biomedical Engineering whose thesis was titled “Design and manufacturing of a microfluidic system towards evaluating the interaction between gut microbiota and colorectal cancer cells”, the award “represents an important recognition, not only for the work developed within the scope of this thesis, but also for the effort and dedication throughout the entire academic journey”, and highlights “the scientific relevance of the project, as well as the potential of microfluidic technology in oncology and precision medicine research”.
The project focused on the development of a potential microfluidic model of colorectal cancer, known as “colorectal cancer-on-a-chip”. “This model would allow for the controlled study of the interaction between colorectal cancer cells and the gut microbiota, recognised as a relevant factor in the progression of this disease”, she explains.
Catarina Pinto, a PhD student in Biomedical Engineering, author of the thesis “Biological evaluation of copper-64 chloride as a promising tool for cancer theranostic”, says that “it is very gratifying to see that [her] work can contribute to new strategies for cancer diagnosis and treatment”.
The research focused on copper-64 chloride, a radioactive isotope of a metal that is essential to human cells and used in greater quantities by tumour cells. The researcher evaluated its potential as a tool capable of combining diagnostic imaging (through PET tomography) with therapeutic capacity, destroying cancer cells thanks to the radiation emitted.
“Copper is a fundamental element for cellular metabolism, but tumours absorb it much more intensely. This difference can be exploited to create new, more effective and selective radiopharmaceuticals”, she explains.
The research also used three-dimensional cell culture models, which more realistically mimic the behaviour of human tumours, allowing for a more accurate study of copper-64.
Rui Infante, a master’s student in Biomedical Engineering, was awarded for his master’s thesis “Enhancing Argumentative Delphi processes with Dialogue Mapping: Setting discharge criteria for Day Hospital patients with Follicular Lymphoma”. He considers the distinction “a validation of the collaborative effort between researchers and health professionals, and a clear incentive to continue developing methods that make clinical decision-making more transparent, participatory and evidence-based, without losing sight of the reality of local clinical contexts and the well-being of patients”.
The research involved collaborative approaches, health and artificial intelligence (AI). It is the result of a collaboration between the Centre for Management Studies of Instituto Superior Técnico (CEGIST) and the Haematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation Service at the ULS Santa Maria. The study focuses on the application of a new methodology to assist the Haematology Service in creating discharge criteria for patients diagnosed with follicular lymphoma. “After a long process, which involved extensive analysis of qualitative data by the research team, it was possible to successfully build a consensual set of criteria that has been in force in the Haematology Service since November 2024”, he says.
Catarina Botelho, a PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering, was awarded for her doctoral thesis “Speech as Biomarker for Multidisease Screening”, which represents “a very important validation of [her] work by the healthcare community, especially in a multidisciplinary context”.
Her research focused on using speech as a biomarker for detecting various diseases, particularly Alzheimer’s. She explored an approach that involves employing large-scale language models (LLMs) to analyze interpretable aspects of speech, such as coherence and lexical diversity. This method suggests that diseases affecting the systems involved in speech production leave specific clues in a person’s voice, which can be analyzed to aid in medical diagnosis. According to her, automatic techniques based on speech analysis can support the early diagnosis of neurological diseases in a non-invasive and accessible manner.
The Award is given annually and consists of a cash prize of €1,000 for the best doctoral thesis and €250 for the best master’s thesis, with the aim of stimulating the interest of ULisboa students in health-related issues, encouraging research into new approaches and solutions for the development of the sector, encouraging the dissemination of studies and work which, due to their characteristics, can serve as a reference in promoting best practices or supporting public policies in the health sector, and also fostering the exchange of knowledge and practices between the health sector and the science and technology sector.
