MEDICINAL ORGANIC CHEMISTRY GROUP
Group Leader
Maria M. M. Santos
Santos leads a research team of medicinal chemistry and the ultimate goal of her basic research is the development of general synthetic methods and strategies, and their application to the synthesis of bioactive molecules. Main achievements of Santos’s lab include the discovery of highly potent and selective p53 activators (MDM2/X inhibitors and mutant p53 reactivators), and novel indole-based scaffolds with antimalarial activity, as well as the development of heterocycles that act as NMDA receptor antagonists.
Senior Researchers
Alexandra Paulo
Paulo’s research has evolved throughout the years but being always focused on the discovery of novel chemical tools and drug lead small molecules to translate into innovative therapies. Currently, her research aims to develop selective anticancer and anti-infectious drugs by designing and synthesising small molecules with the capacity to modulate transcription and/or translation of genes involved in regulation of human cancer cells proliferation or in survival of human pathogens (e.g., viruses, malaria parasite and M. tuberculosis). She has participated in several international scientific networks, being presently MC member of COST Action ‘International Nucleome Consortium’.
Ana Paula Francisco
My main research interest along the years has been the development of anticancer agents based in the triazene scaffold. Outside this core interest I have been working on a range of other collaborative and translational projects dedicated mostly to the development or usage of diverse delivery systems that can be associated with drugs and by this improve its pharmacological profile. Other research interests are prodrug chemistry, chemical optimization of bioactive molecules either from synthesis or natural origin and stability and metabolic studies of drugs and prodrugs.
Luís Constantino
Constantino’s research interests are the study of xenobiotic metabolism and the development of new drug delivery systems. His PhD was in the mechanism of amide metabolism by CYP 450 and later he studied drug metabolism. From that he got interested in prodrugs, specifically in their activation by metabolic reactions and in the prevention of prodrug inactivation. Currently he is studying ester prodrugs for the treatment of tuberculosis and development of new drugs to treat tuberculosis. He is also an expert in patents in the area of pharmacy and has a deep interest in innovation and entrepreneurship.
