DrLisete Silva

Lisete M. Silva obtained her BSc and MSc degrees in Chemistry at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto (FCUP, Portugal). Her PhD degree in Biochemistry at University of Aveiro (Portugal) was under the supervision of Professor Manuel A. Coimbra with co-supervisors Dr. Angelina S. Palma (NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal) and Dr. José A. Ferreira (Portuguese Institute of Oncology Porto).

Lisete’s first experience in the Glycosciences Laboratory, directed by Professor Ten Feizi at Imperial College London, was in 2014 as a visiting student during her PhD studies, funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology. Her work was on the structural analysis of lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) isolated from clinical Helicobacter pylori strains by GC-MS and ESI-MSn, and development of microarrays of the LPSs for interaction studies with carbohydrate recognising proteins (lectins and proteins of the immune system) and human sera, aimed at distinguishing H. pylori-infected and non-infected individuals.

Lisete started her Research Associate post in the Glycosciences Laboratory in March 2015; and in November 2015 she was named Deputy Microarray Project Leader with responsibility for (a) running and maintaining the group’s microarray equipment and (b) performing glycan array analyses of proteins received from national and international collaborators. She carried out investigations of different liposomal formulations for lipid-linked glycan probes in neoglycolipid (NGL)-based microarrays with respect to the binding signals they elicit in microarray analyses. These studies led to the construction of a new version of a broad spectrum microarray of 896 glycan probes, one of the two largest resources in the world, for the Wellcome-Trust supported Carbohydrate Microarray Facility to apply in high throughput analyses of proteins of biological and medical impact.

In 2019, Lisete rejoined the Chemistry Department at University of Aveiro, Portugal, to work on the development of glycan-based microparticles for pulmonary drug delivery. Since 2023, Lisete is a Researcher at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at FCUP, and a team member of the Mobilizing Agenda for Business Innovation “InsectERA - The ERA of the insect industry”. Aiming to use insects as a healthy and sustainable alternative nutritional source in new product lines for human consumption, Lisete is focused on the extraction and characterization of the protein profile from different insect-derived flours, and on the evaluation of the insect protein digestibility, their potential allergenicity and immunogenicity.

As an Honorary Research Associate in the Glycosciences Laboratory since then, Lisete is promptly providing consultancy advice to the group regarding microarray equipment and training to the new staff members, assisting them with glycan microarray experiments and binding data analysis; and she is also being involved in collaborative discussions and preparation of manuscripts.

Lisete's main research interests in the Biochemistry and Glycobiology fields include: 1) glycan structural features and bioactivity relationship; 2) designer and construction of microarrays of natural and/or synthetic glycans; 3) to use glycan microarrays for new ligands discovery and to explore glycan-protein interactions in various biological systems, such as pathogen- and microbiota-host interactions that trigger disease or metabolic processes; 4) development of natural glycan-based products and glycan-based microparticles for drug delivery.

As an enthusiastic and skilled researcher, Lisete is also interested to establish industrial contacts for translational research collaborations in Biomedicine.