Mariana Mesquita

About

Mariana Mesquita holds a Bachelor degree in Biochemistry from Catholic University of Portugal - Faculty of Biotechnology, Portugal (2011). During her academic endeavors of the Biochemistry course, she became highly motivated to continue the studies and, two years later, she achieved the master’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of Aveiro. During her Master degree studies she had the possibility to do her thesis at the organic chemistry research unit (QOPNA), Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro. This research has focused in the investigation of photoactive materials impregnated by cationic chlorin derivatives in the photoinactivation of bioluminescent Escherichia coli and these results gave rise to two scientific publications.

Currently, she is a PhD student at University of Aveiro (QOPNA and Instituto de Biomedicina- iBiMED) under the guidance of Profs. M.A.F. Faustino and M. Fardilha. The project is focused on the functionalization of tetrapyrrolic macrocycles with biologically active molecules. These compounds possess some important features that bring essential properties for a potential photosensitizer in photodynamic therapy (PDT) of cancer cells.

Publications

Mesquita, M. Q,; Menezes, J. C. J. M. D. S.; Neves, M. G. P. M. S.; Tomé, A. C.; Cavaleiro, J. A. S.; Cunha, A.; Almeida, A.; Hackbarth, S.; Röder, B.; Faustino, M. A. F. Photodynamic inactivation of bioluminescent Escherichia coli by neutral and cationic pyrrolidine-fused chlorin and isobacteriochlorin, Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2014, 24, 808-812. (Doi: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2013.12.097).

Mesquita M. Q, Menezes, J. C. J. M. D. S.; Pires, S. M. G.; Neves, M. G. P. M. S.; Simões, M. M.; Tomé, A. C.; Cavaleiro, J. A. S.; Cunha, A.; Almeida, A.; Daniel-da-Silva, A. L.; Faustino M. A. F. Pyrrolidine-fused chlorin photosensitizer immobilized on solid supports for the photoinactivation of Gram-negative bacteria, Dyes Pigments, 2014, 110, 123-133. (Doi: 10.1016/j.dyepig.2014.04.025).

Mesquita, M. Q.; Dias, C. J.; Gamelas, S.; Fardilha, M.; Neves, M. G. P. M. S.; Faustino, M. A. F. An insight on the role of photosensitizer nanocarriers for Photodynamic Therapy. Ann. Brazilian Acad. Sci. 2018, 90, 1101-1130. (Doi: 10.1590/0001-3765201820170800)

Mesquita, M. Q.; Dias, C. J.; Neves, M. G. P. M. S.; Almeida, A.; Faustino, M. A. Revisiting Current Photoactive Materials for Antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy. Molecules. 2018, 23, 2424. (Doi: 10.3390/molecules23102424)