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Student receives Fulbright grant to study colorectal cancer

Catarina Azevedo, studying under the Doctoral Program in Biomedical Sciences at the i3S, recently received a Fulbright Grant that will allow her to develop part of her PhD in the United States and acquire new skills in the genetic editing of T lymphocytes to study colorectal cancer.
 
Catarina Azevedo will have the opportunity to spend about 12 months at the University of Pittsburgh/UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, in the group led by her co-supervisor, researcher Greg Delgoffe. In this laboratory, she explains that “I will have the opportunity to develop skills and know-how in a key area for my PhD, Immuno-Oncology. I will have access to unique T cell gene editing methodologies in which I will specifically modulate T cell glycosylation and assess their antitumor response”.
 
This technology will then be transferred to the i3S group “Immmunology, Cancer & GlycoMedicine”, led by Salomé Pinho, who is also the supervisor of this PhD together with Ângela Fernandes, also a researcher in the group and co-supervisor of the project.
 
For Catarina Azevedo, the recognition of an institution like Fulbright represents “a great honor”. “It means not only the appreciation of the scientific research that our group at i3S produces, but also the importance and impact of the study on colorectal cancer”, she underlines.
 
As a doctoral student, she adds, the “opportunity to carry out a part of the doctoral project in a US institution and in a laboratory with vast knowledge and prestige in T-cell metabolism and cancer, represents an extremely motivating challenge and booster of the next steps in my scientific career”.
 
Furthermore, underlines Catarina Azevedo, “I will belong to the prestigious Fulbright community, which will allow me to have support and guidance before leaving for the USA and also the opportunity to participate in seminars and scientific events, organized by the Institute of International Education during my stay in the USA”.