Isabel Sá Correia, professor at the IST Department of Bioengineering (DBE) and researcher at the Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences (iBB) won the Professor Nicolau Van Uden Prize, awarded by the Portuguese Society of Microbiology (SPM). The award ceremony took place on November 26.
“I couldn’t be happier about this honour” said the Técnico professor. “This is the most important prize in the field of Microbiology at national level”, she added.
This award was established in 2011, at a time when professor Isabel Sá Correia was the President of SPM. “This prize pays tribute to professor Nicolau van Uden, and is awarded every two years, during the SPM National Congress, to a microbiologist of international and national reputation, who has a stellar record of research accomplishments, a high capacity to supervise young microbiologists and whose work had a high impact in the development of Microbiology in Portugal”, says the Técnico professor.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of professor Nicolau Van Uden, which makes this distinction even more special for professor Isabel Sá Correia. “He was director of the Microbiology Laboratory at Instituto Gulbenkian Ciência and my PhD thesis supervisor. He has profoundly influenced the Portuguese academic and scientific community in the fields of Microbiology, Life Sciences and Biotechnology in general”, she says.
During professor Isabel Sá Correia’s presidency at SPM, this prize was awarded 5 times. “I remember the pleasure and satisfaction I had in awarding this prize, on behalf of the SPM, to 5 colleagues from different scientific areas and institutions”. Ten years later, it’s her turn. “I am deeply honoured to receive this prize”, says the Técnico professor.
Professor Isabel Sá Correia graduated in Chemical Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico, in 1975. After a postgraduation in Biological Engineering (Molecular Biology) by Universidade Nova de Lisboa/IGC- Instituto Gulbenkian Ciência (1980), she got a PhD degree defended at IST (Chemical Engineering, 1984). As Fulbright Visiting Assistant Professor, she carried out post-doctoral studies at the University of Illinois, Medical Center, Chicago (1985/86). The “Agregação/Habilitation” title was obtained in 1992 at IST.
She began her academic career in 1975 as an assistant professor at Técnico. She obtained her PhD and became an associate professor in 1984. In less than 10 years she became full professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering (DEQ).
Professor Isabel Sá Correia founded and coordinates the Biological Sciences scientific area at Técnico. She is Board member and Head of the Biological Sciences Research Group of Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences (iBB). She also coordinates the DBE’s Biological Sciences Research Group and the PhD programme in Biotechnology and Biosciences. She is member of ULisboa General Council.
With current h indexes 49-WOS, 66-Google Scholar, professor Sá-Correia integrates the lists of the most cited scientists´ worldwide (Stanford Univ, 2020, 2021). She co-authored over 300 peer-reviewed articles, 2 books, 2 conference abstracts, 26 book chapters and 2 patents.
She coordinated the molecular biology component of the open-access YEASTRACT/YEASTRACT+ database. She published several microbial genome sequences.
The iBB researcher was a FEMS council delegate, vice president of the Portuguese Society of Biotechnology (1993-2003), of which she is an honorary member, and director of the Biotechnology Bulletin (1993-2011). In 2017, she was a co-founder of the International Microorganism Day in Portugal.
She is a member of the editorial boards of FEMS Yeast Research, Microbial Cell and OMICS: Journal Integrative Biology. She was part of several evaluation panels of international funding agencies, including ERC advanced grants.
From 1997 to 2006, she was member of the editorial board of the ASM journal – Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
Professor Isabel Sá Correia was awarded several times during her intense and fruitful career, namely: “Prémio Estímulo à Excelência” (2004), “Prémio Científico (Bioquímica) Universidade Técnica de Lisboa/Santander Totta” (2009). In 2015, she was elected a corresponding member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences.
In 2018, she was awarded the title of “Distinguished Professor of Instituto Superior Técnico”.
