Joana Barros (JB) obtained a degree in Genetics and Biotechnology (2009) and an MSc in Biotechnology for Health Sciences (2011), both at Univ. Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD). Part of the experimental MSc work was performed at Univ. La Rioja (UR), under an Erasmus grant. In 2019, JB concluded PhD (Cum Laude) in Biomedical Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), in collaboration with the Institute for Biomedical Engineering (INEB)/Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (i3S), and Univ. Minho (UM).
Besides, she has worked as an R&D scientist on several projects involving national and foreign universities, institutes, and companies, contributing to increasing her scientific independence, management, leadership, and networking competencies. Additionally, she acted as the main external examiner in graduation degree juries and as a reviewer for several international scientific journals (5). She served on the organizing, scientific, and chairing committees of several events and in international/national Working Group (WG) and Management Committee (MC) meetings and science dissemination programs for schools.
She published 27 peer-reviewed papers in international journals (h-index = 17, 851 citations, Scopus), 3 peer-reviewed proceedings, 1 book chapter, and several peer-reviewed abstracts in the lecture library.
She has been involved in the annotation and registration of 2 phage genomic sequences (GenBank, 2018) and the development of two commercial products. JB presented her work at several national and international conferences through oral and poster communications and invited lectures to post-graduation students. She has mentored and supervised PhD, MSc, and BSc students.
As a result, her research has been highlighted by the media and she was distinguished with 8 awards. Currently, she is a Junior Researcher (CEECIND, 5th edition) at i3S, and her research has been focused on the development of multifunctional approaches, based on anti-infective biomaterials and drug-delivery systems, as biological and bioactive platforms, for efficient human infection treatment.
Selected Publications
Vancomycin-loaded chitosan aerogel particles for chronic wound applications. Carbohydrate Polymers204:223-231, 2019. [Journal: Article] [CI: 167] [IF: 7,2]
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.10.012 SCOPUS: 85054721321
Barros J.A.R., Melo L.D.R.d., Silva R.A.R.d., Ferraz M.P., Azeredo J.C.V.d.R., Pinheiro V.M.d.C., Colaço B.J.A., Fernandes M.H.R., Gomes P.d.S., Monteiro F.J.
Encapsulated bacteriophages in alginate-nanohydroxyapatite hydrogel as a novel delivery system to prevent orthopedic implant-associated infections. Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology, and Medicine24:, 2020. [Journal: Article] [CI: 76] [IF: 6,5]
DOI: 10.1016/j.nano.2019.102145 SCOPUS: 85077500728
Barros J., Ferraz M.P., Azeredo J., Fernandes M.H., Gomes P.S., Monteiro F.J.
Alginate-nanohydroxyapatite hydrogel system: Optimizing the formulation for enhanced bone regeneration. Materials Science and Engineering C105:, 2019. [Journal: Article] [CI: 74] [IF: 5,9]
DOI: 10.1016/j.msec.2019.109985 SCOPUS: 85070098816
Barros J., Melo L.D.R., Poeta P., Igrejas G., Ferraz M.P., Azeredo J., Monteiro F.J.
Lytic bacteriophages against multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis and Escherichia coli isolates from orthopaedic implant-associated infections. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents54(3):329-337, 2019. [Journal: Article] [CI: 62] [IF: 4,6]
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2019.06.007 SCOPUS: 85069824931
García-González C.A., Barros J., Rey-Rico A., Redondo P., Gómez-Amoza J.L., Concheiro A., Alvarez-Lorenzo C., Monteiro F.J.
Antimicrobial Properties and Osteogenicity of Vancomycin-Loaded Synthetic Scaffolds Obtained by Supercritical Foaming. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces10(4):3349-3360, 2018. [Journal: Article] [CI: 53] [IF: 8,5]
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.7b17375 SCOPUS: 85041364600
Duong T., López-Iglesias C., Szewczyk P.K., Stachewicz U., Barros J., Alvarez-Lorenzo C., Alnaief M., García-González C.A.
A Pathway From Porous Particle Technology Toward Tailoring Aerogels for Pulmonary Drug Administration. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology9:, 2021. [Journal: Review] [CI: 33] [IF: 6,1]
DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2021.671381 SCOPUS: 85105984618
Barros J., Monteiro F.J., Ferraz M.P.
Bioengineering Approaches to Fight against Orthopedic Biomaterials Related-Infections. International Journal of Molecular Sciences23(19):, 2022. [Journal: Review] [CI: 20] [IF: 5,6]
DOI: 10.3390/ijms231911658 SCOPUS: 85140141078
Skwira A., Szewczyk A., Barros J., Laranjeira M., Monteiro F.J., Sądej R., Prokopowicz M.
Biocompatible antibiotic-loaded mesoporous silica/bioglass/collagen-based scaffolds as bone drug delivery systems. International Journal of Pharmaceutics645:, 2023. [Journal: Article] [CI: 13] [IF: 5.3]
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2023.123408 SCOPUS: 85172027917
Zegre M., Barros J., Ribeiro I.A.C., Santos C., Caetano L.A., Gonçalves L., Monteiro F.J., Ferraz M.P., Bettencourt A.
Poly(DL-lactic acid) scaffolds as a bone targeting platform for the co-delivery of antimicrobial agents against S. aureus-C.albicans mixed biofilms. International Journal of Pharmaceutics622:, 2022. [Journal: Article] [CI: 12] [IF: 5,8]
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2022.121832 SCOPUS: 85132453603
García-González C.A., Blanco-Vales M., Barros J., Boccia A.C., Budtova T., Durães L., Erkey C., Gallo M., Herman P., Kalmár J., Iglesias-Mejuto A., Malfait W.J., Zhao S., Manzocco L., Plazzotta S., Milovanovic S., Neagu M., Nita L.E., Paraskevopoulou P., Roig A., Simón-Vázquez R., Smirnova I., Tomović Z., López-Iglesias C.
Review and Perspectives on the Sustainability of Organic Aerogels. ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering13(18):6469-6492, 2025. [Journal: Review] [CI: 2] [IF: 7.3 (*)]
DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.4c09747 SCOPUS: 105003719279
Zegre M., Barros J., David A.B., Fialho L., Ferraz M.P., Monteiro F.J., Caetano L.A., Gonçalves L., Bettencourt A.
Dual-Loaded Chitosan-Based Nanoparticles: A Novel approach for treating polymicrobial osteomyelitis. International Journal of Pharmaceutics674:, 2025. [Journal: Article] [CI: 1] [IF: 5.2 (*)]
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2025.125480 SCOPUS: 105000478621