UPINTECH’s

Beatriz Oliveira holds a degree in Biotechnology from the University of Aveiro and is currently in the 2nd year of the Master's in Bioengineering, taught at FEUP and ICBAS. Throughout her academic journey, she participated in research projects in the fields of regenerative medicine and disease modeling, initially at CICECO and currently at I3S, where she is working on her master's thesis on the interaction between cancer and the nervous system, using organs-on-a-chip. She also has a strong interest in technology transfer and entrepreneurship.

Maria Beatriz Oliveira has a master's degree in Biotechnology from the University of Minho, having completed her studies in 2023. During her master's degree her thesis focused on the use of cork´s industry by-products and its bioactive compounds to treat skin diseases. Due to her passion in the cosmetics and skin treatment fields, she is currently in the first year of the Biomedical Sciences doctoral program at ICBAS, focusing on developing a treatment for acne through the use of a new natural matrix.

Catarina Costa has a bachelor's degree in Biochemistry, UTAD, having completed her final project - funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation - on the synthesis of new squaraine dyes, evaluating their potential as fluorescent probes for detecting HSA, and in photodynamic therapy against cancer, an application she explored during an internship at CICS, UBI. She is currently in the first year of the Master's degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry at FFUP, aspiring to enter the pharmaceutical industry and to explore new areas of interest, such as Bioengineering and Materials Chemistry.

Duarte Monteiro is a B.Sc. in Computer Science from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto and currently a student of Electrical Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering. He exhibits interest in various scientific areas, such as theory of computation, electronics and energy, while also maintaining a healthy relationship with adventure sports, an area where he worked for some years.

Marta Redondo completed the Integrated Master's Degree in Bioengineering in 2020, with a specialization in Molecular Biotechnology at the Faculty of Engineering of the U.Porto (FEUP) in partnership with the Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences (ICBAS). During her academic career she participated in several research projects in the area of health, biomaterials and tissue engineering. Currently, her work focuses on the development of antimicrobial microparticles to minimize contamination in wastewater treatment processes.

José Pedro Vasconcelos Ligeiro has a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. At the moment, he's enroled in the second year of a Master's Programme in Innovation & Technological Entrepreneurship, in the same instituition. Highly curious and fascinated by his field, Pedro joins U.Porto Inovação to earn experience in the technology transfer world.

Joana Marques holds a Master’s degree in Biochemistry (FCUP) and is a PhD candidate in Pharmaceutical Sciences (FFUP), developing her research work at i3S. Recently she did an 8-month internship at Leiden University Medical Centre (The Netherlands), in the scope of her PhD project. She has worked for almost 2 years in a pharmaceutical company (Bluepharma), having now several years of experience in R&D.

Francisco Alves is a student of the Integrated Masters in Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto. Passionate about creativity supported by theory, he joined the U.Porto Inovação team as a way to be more involved with scientific pioneering. In his spare time he enjoys a good run, a game of chess or the company of a good book.

Tiago holds a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. He is currently in the first year of the Master in Automation, and technology and innovation are the areas that most interest him. With everything open for the dissertation for the year ahead, he is looking for the perfect subject, probably in the field of computation.

Rita Alfenim is a student of the Master in Nanomaterials Science and Technology, at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto. Her bachelor’s degree is in Chemistry, from the same institution. In the third year of her bachelor’s degree, Rita had the opportunity to explore the research environment while developing her project in the Medicinal Chemistry area. Currently, she is developing her master’s dissertation in the Nanomedicine field, by producing nanoparticles for drug delivery in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

Diana Guimarães is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Porto. Her professional experience includes working as a Research Fellow as well as Invited Assistant Lecturer at the University of Porto and the role of Embedded Systems Engineer in the automotive industry. Her main interests are real-time embedded distributed systems and wearable technology.

Maria Grácio is a master’s student in Engineering Physics at the Faculty of Sciences and at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. She has a bachelor's degree in Technological Physics, from the same institution. Currently, she’s finishing her dissertation in magnetic tunnel junctions for energy harvesting. During the master, she had the opportunity to do an internship at the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL), gaining experience in micro and nanofabrication of devices. 

Rui Rachão is a BSc graduate of "Chemistry with Complementary Formation Centered in Chemistry" (2021) by the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto (FCUP). As an undergraduate, he integrated research groups from distinct chemistry-related fields, such as computational biochemistry (protein structure) or organic synthesis (BSc thesis in flavylium chemistry). Currently, Rui is a student of the MSc "Applications in Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology" in the same institution (FCUP).

Faro, 1991. Ph.D. candidate in Biotechnology (ICBAS/FFUP) with a Biochemistry background. 9+ years of research experience in food chemistry, immunology, and genetic engineering of bacteria. Former member of the Biochemistry Students’ Forum. Former Erasmus+ intern at Saarland University, Germany. Actively engaged in events, training, and projects on entrepreneurship and innovation in health (EIT Health, BIP2020 “Biogadgets”). Co-developed and hosts a training course on multidisciplinary experimentation projects (Biolab, ICBAS).

Beatriz is a master’s student in Engineering Physics at the Faculty of Sciences and Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. She has a multidisciplinary knowledge in the fields of mathematics, physics, semiconductors, lasers, technological tools and computing. Beatriz was once a firefighter and a waitress, took part in various international physics conferences and organized activities dedicated to physics students.

Rafaela is a student of the Master´s in Communication and Management of Creative Industries at the University of Porto. She graduated with a Bachelor in Social Communication with a degree in Public Relations from Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS / Brazil) in 2014. 2019 saw her start her MBA in Strategic Business Management at PUCRS and she taught Marketing and Entrepreneurship classes to high school students as a volunteer mentor. She has worked in the Communication and Marketing field for nine years and has experience working in large and diverse companies in Brazil.

João Fonseca is a master student at the Master in Electrical Engineering at the University of Porto and his specialization is multimedia communications. He's currently enrolled in the SMC group at INESC TEC, working on his master's thesis about the multi-channel approaches for musical audio content analysis. He participated in university's student associations namely as Marketing and Sales Consultant at JuniFEUP and as a Resources Coordinator at Engenharia Rádio.,

Engineering Physics student at FCUP that’s involved, since 2016, with ShARE UP an international think tank that develops national and international consulting projects as well as promoting discussion of current issues through talks. In the summer of the same year he got in contact with the startup world during the summer course of EIT Digital in Stockholm about IoT and entrepreneurship. Now he’s finishing his master thesis in the study of multiferroic materials using local probes, having had the chance of researching at CERN.

António has a BSc. and a Master's degree in Theoretical Physics from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto. He will soon start his PhD at the University of Granada in Spain in Particle Cosmology and Physics, namely in Gravitational Waves and Inflation. He has several interests from the exact sciences, as mathematics and physics, to the dynamics of society, history and human development. He is a private tutor to students in secondary and higher education, mostly engineering students, in the basic subjects of Physics and Mathematics.

Internship time: March 2019 - August 2019

Miguel Maia holds a master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto (2013). He worked in the pharmaceutical industry as a Stability and Validation Specialist for 5 years, and in 2019 started to dedicate himself fully to its doctoral degree in Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry at FFUP. His PhD project is focused in the design and synthesis of novel inhibitors for BACE-1, an enzyme essential to the formation of Aβ proteins involved in Alzheimer’s disease.

Internship time: December 2017 - February 2019

Nearly finishing his Communication Design Degree at ESAD, João is currently U.DREAM's Marketing Director, having also developed several design, communication and multimedia projects for national and international clients. Passionate about photography and understanding how things work, he especially enjoys getting things moving

Internship time: January 2017 – September 2018

Sofia Silva has a degree in Clinical and Health Psychology from the Instituto Universitário da Maia and a master's degree in Psychosocial Intervention with Children, Youth and Families from the University of Minho. Currently is attending a PhD program in Clinical and Health Psychology. Since 2005, e has worked in social intervention with children, youth and families in situations of psychosocial vulnerability and has professional experience in the United States of America and Portugal. More recently, has integrate the Research Project IoGeneration - State of iodine in Portugal: role of supplementation in school units, developed by Cintesis.

Internship time: August 2018 - October 2018

Mohamed Adnan Aboulaïch has a Master degree in Environmental Economics and Management from the Faculty of Economics of the University of Porto, Portugal (2017). Earlier, he earned a Bachelor of Science in Engineering and Management Sciences from Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco (2012). Passionate about sustainability and environmental issues, he had three years of professional experience in environmental management and ICT between Morocco, Canada, and India along with a volunteering experience in agroforestry in Bolivia.

Internship time: Janeiro 2017 – July 2018

Lídia Fonseca holds a PhD in Pharmacy, specialty Microbiology, from the University of Lisbon (FF-UL). Previously, she worked for several years in academic research in the field of Virology, both in Portugal (Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência and Instituto de Medicina Molecular) and in the USA (University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute). More recently, she has been working in consulting on national and european R&D projects (FP7 and H2020) and on the translation of scientific manuscripts. Lídia has also a BSc in Applied Chemistry - Biotechnology (FCT-UNL) and a MSc in Clinical Microbiology (FM-UL).

Internship time: October 2017 - March 2018

Carlos is 22 years old and currently a student at MIETE (Master Degree in Innovation and Technological Entrepreneurship). He worked with Uniplaces, as brand ambassador, for more than a year. He also attended the previous Business Ignition Programme, initiative in which U.Porto Innovation is one of the partners, with a project named AWASer. Cláudio is always searching for new opportunities to engage in the portuguese startups and innovation ecossystem.

Internship time: October 2017 - March 2018

Rui Costa has a Master's degree in Engineering Physics at the FCUP since 2016. During his higher education, he developed the interest in entrepreneurship with the participation in contests of business ideas with the business project WEStoreOnTEX. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Physics at FCUP in the area of functional textile for energy storage and external researcher at REQUIMTE and IFIMUP at FCUP. His scientific activity is focused in nanotechnology and production of energy storage systems.

Internship time: June 2017 - December 2017

Cristiana Fernandes was born in Vila Real. Student of Management degree at the Faculty of Economics of Porto (FEP), she is also a member of the Department of External Relations and of the Board of the General Assembly of FEP First Connection, a student organization based in the Faculty of Economics of Porto, whose main mission is to bring the academic world closer to the Portuguese business world. Scout for over 8 years, has been involved in several environmental and social volunteer programs. 

Internship time: July 2017 - October 2017

Since child age, Carlos Ferreira is passionate about health, technology and entrepreneurship. In this way, he started the Bioengineering degree at Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto in the year 2012, ending the same in 2017. During his degree, he had inroads by research groups of I3S and INESC-TEC. He also founded a student branch chapter of the EMBS in UP in the year 2015, being president of the same for two years.

Internship time: February 2017 – October 2017

Patrícia Romeiro (PhD) has a solid academic and professional (consultancy and project management) background and experience in Economic Geography and in Innovation. She started her career as a researcher in Spain (CSIC) and she is currently linked to CEGOT-University of Porto. During this period, she was Visiting Researcher at EURICUR-University of Rotterdam and at Business School-University of Birmingham. In the last few years she has been involved in different research projects related to the Creative Industries in the Northern Portugal (Knowledge and Creative Economy, Design and Industrial Revitalization, Video game Industry).

Internship time: Janeiro 2017 – April 2017

João Moutinho was born in Paris, France, in 1980. He received the B.Sc. degree, the M.Sc. degree and its Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at the University of Porto, Portugal. Since 2005, he has been in the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, as a scholar researcher and as an invited Assistant Professor. He is currently involved in the process of creating a business from scientific and technological knowledge. His interests include signal processing, electroacoustics, indoor Localization and entrepreneurship.

Internship time: October 2015 – February 2017

Marta Almada is a pharmacist and is currently in the last year of her PhD, in the Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Pharmacy U. Porto. Soon began her interest in science, particularly under reproduction. Her PhD project aims to uncover the role of lipid mediators, the (endo)cannabinoids during decidualization process. Reproductive Biology is her passion and understanding the biomolecular mechanisms, signaling pathways and cellular changes that underpin human reproduction and impact women’s health keen her motivation.

Internship time: November 2016 – January 2017

Carolina Pereira holds a degree in Management from the Economics Faculty of Porto and a Master's Degree in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. Has experience in the areas of Marketing, customer management and entrepreneurship. Enjoys reading, learning and doing sports. Was born in Guimarães, lived in Póvoa de Varzim, Porto, Lisbon and Berlin.

Internship time: February 2014 – June 2016

Born and living in Porto, Pedro attended Faculty of Economics of the University of Porto (FEP): first he studied Economics and then International Management. Since 2005, he has worked in five companies: three big ones, on telecoms and advertising; and two smaller, a cork industry and an art gallery. Together with four partners he created, in 2008, 20|21 Conservação e Restauro, a restoration company specialized in contemporary art that works for the Serralves Museum, the European Parliament and four PSI20 companies. Nowadays, he divides himself between commercializing technologies in the University of Porto and launching a project that gathers design, urbanism and local development.

Internship time: October 2015 – April 2016

José Melo is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto.  José started his PhD in September 2010, with the Ocean Systems Group at FEUP, and later on, in 2011 he joined the Robotics and Intelligent Systems unit of INESC TEC as a researcher. Prior to his PhD, José was also working for two years as a Software Engineer, at CERN, in Geneve, Switzerland.

Internship time: March 2015 – June de 2015

 Mariana Leão is graduated in Microbiology through ESB-UCP (2008) and has a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sicences-Microbiology through FFUP (2014). Currently is a researcher in the Serviço de Microbiologia from FFUP. Mariana has been always involved in the microbiology research area. Your PhD was focused in the p53 family, particularly in the development of yeast cell systems for the pharmacological screening of p53 family modulators. Your scientific activity is focused in Health Sciences, particularly in Pharmacology, Microbiology, Biotechnology, and Molecular and Cell Biology.

Internship time: March 2015 - May 2015

Catarina Miranda is a Computer Sciences’ PhD candidate at PIC – FCUP and IT Porto. Holding a Master degree in Biomedical engineering since 2011, she focuses her studies in computer vision and graphics applications and business innovation.  In the past, she worked in companies like Siemens S.A. and Microsoft and was consultant of technology transfer at University of Porto Innovation.  Currently, her pursuit is to deploy on-the-fly facial animation with MoCap systems for Virtual Reality as practical applications dissolving boundaries between academy and industry.

Internship time: May 2014 – December 2014

João Moura graduated in Physics Engineering from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto in 2014. His MSc dissertation focused on the study of optical fiber sensors, in collaboration with INESC TEC. He attended ETH Zürich through the Erasmus Programme and participated in CERN's Summer School, integrating an anti-matter research group. He collaborated with U.Porto Inovação between May and December 2014, providing support in the technical analysis of patentability and in the commercialization of technologies developed at UP.

Internship time: April 2014 – November 2014

Christian Wimmler is a PhD candidate in the Sustainable Energy Systems MIT Portugal Program in Porto. His work focusses on renewable energy technologies, mainly offshore ones, energy planning and management. He graduated from the University of Applied Science Kufstein, Austria, with a BA in European Energy Business in 2010. During his BA he has also studied one year Economics and International Business Relations in Mexico. In 2011 he received a MSc with distinction in Renewable Energy Enterprise and Management from Newcastle University, UK.

Internship time: June 2012 - March 2014

Antonio do Aido works as a technology and energy consultant for multinational companies and NGOs. Leads the PowerMill project - renewable energy, mini power plants. Collaborated with U.Porto Inovação as a technology and intellectual property analyst. At CERN he worked for the CLIC project. Participated in ESA’s Parabolic Flights. ELGRA contest winner: Best European student microgravity experiment. Finalist at the ESA’s Success contest. As a young scientific researcher he worked at the FemtoLab laboratory, where he wrote his graduation thesis: Study of Slow Light effect in a Ruby Crystal. He studied Physics Engineering and Construction Engineering at the University of Porto.

Internship time: May 2013 - October 2013

Bruno Moreira has studied Biomedical Engineering at the University of Minho and has a specialization in Medical Electronics. He developed his master's thesis at Universität Freiburg, under the ERASMUS program. He began his professional career as an assistant researcher at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (INEB), developing a screening tool for Fabry's disease using chromatography images. He is now working at Creative Bitbox as a software engineer in the computer vision and interactive content fields.

Internship time: June 2012 – September 2012

Renato Vasconcelos is an Associate Principal at InnoCentive, a leading organisation in open innovation and crowdsourcing, where he supports organisations from the private and public sectors to source solutions to their most prominent challenges. Previously he worked in technology transfer offices, such as U.Porto Inovação and Imperial Innovations. Renato holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Imperial College (leading to 2 patent fillings) and a degree in Environmental Engineering from Escola Superior de Biotecnologia (Oporto, Portugal).