Ana Melo, Invited Assistant Professor at Técnico (Department of Bioengineering) was one of the five winners of the 2022 edition of the “Maria de Sousa” Award, promoted by the Bial Foundation and the Portuguese Medical Association.

Ana Melo, who is also a researcher at the Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences (iBB), received the award for her work on monitoring unconventionally secreted species of tau protein and its implications in the progression of tauopathies.

The Técnico professor has a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in Biochemistry from the Faculty of Sciences (Universidade de Lisboa), and obtained her PhD in Chemistry (2014) from Instituto Superior Técnico, under the supervision of professors Manuel Prieto and Ana Coutinho.

Ana Melo will carry out the award-winning work in collaboration with professor Martin Hof, from the J. Heyrovsky Institute of Physical Chemistry, Prague, Czech Republic, where she will spend four months.

“Receiving the ‘Maria de Sousa’ Award means a huge recognition of my work and a stimulus for the future of my scientific career by the Bial Foundation, the Portuguese Medical Association and the Jury of the Award. Additionally, this funding will allow me to implement a new line of research at iBB and strengthen my scientific independence.”

The award ceremony will take place on 14th November at 6 p.m., in the Thalia Theatre, and will be live-streamed on Público’s Facebook and YouTube. The Público newspaper is the media partner of this event.