FARDILHA'S
LAB

Mariana Belchior obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Aveiro in 2022. During her undergraduate studies, she conducted a research project entitled “The impact of aging on the expression of LAMP1 and LYZL1 in human sperm”, in collaboration with the Institute of Biomedicine of the University of Aveiro (iBiMED). She also participated in a COIL project (Collaborative Online International Learning) entitled “Building Transatlantic Bridges in Basic and Applied Research in Human Reproduction”, a joint initiative between the University of Aveiro and Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” (Brazil). This work, integrated into the curricular unit Human Reproduction and Associated Diseases, culminated in the development of a report and a video addressing “The role of kisspeptin in reproduction and its implications for infertility management”.

 

She subsequently completed her Master’s degree in Embryology and Human Reproduction at Lusófona University of Humanities and Technologies, Lisbon. As part of this programme, she undertook a seven-month curricular internship at IERA QuironSalud Clinic (Badajoz, Spain), where she developed her Master’s thesis entitled “Analysis of exosomes in the culture medium of human blastocysts recovered after invasive biopsy of the trophectoderm: potential use as biomarkers of embryonic viability”.

 

In parallel, she gained practical laboratory experience through an extracurricular internship at the National Institute for Agricultural and Veterinary Research (INIAV, Santarém), where she dedicated a month to the study and manipulation of bovine gametes and embryos (July 2023).

 

She is currently pursuing her Doctoral studies in Pathology and Molecular Genetics at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar (ICBAS), University of Porto, in collaboration with Prof. Margarida Fardilha at iBiMED, University of Aveiro.