First "Science" ambassador from i3S

Researcher Ana Paula Pêgo was invited to join the Board of Reviewing Editors of the American journal Science, one of the most prestigious scientific publications in the world. The researcher will be the magazine’s Ambassador in the area of biomaterials, tissue engineering, and drug delivery for the next two years.

For Ana Paula Pêgo, this invitation represents “recognition” among the best: “It is a great honor because for me Science is the best scientific journal. Being part of this team means that they value my research and the area of biomaterials”, she underlines.
"Portugal has a tradition of already being recognized at an international level in this area and this invitation reinforces that prestige", says the i3S researcher. In addition, she says, “joining the Board of Reviewing Editors allows me to contribute to highlighting important discoveries in the field of biomaterials and to reinforce regenerative engineering as a new area of research worldwide”.

In addition to Ana Paula Pêgo, immunologist Henrique Veiga-Fernandes, from the Champalimaud Foundation, was also invited to join the Board of Reviewing Editors for Science. For the first time, two Portuguese scientists are advising one of the most prestigious scientific journals.

Researcher Ana Paula Pêgo has developed pioneering work in the area of biomaterials at the nanoscale associated with tissue regeneration and repair, and has won several national and international prizes and projects, namely the Santa Casa Neuroscience Prize / Melo e Castro Prize (2015) and the Albino Aroso Award (2016). She is currently part of four European Marie Curie Innovative Training Networks (ITN) funded by the European Union, and leads a project funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (USA). She is also a member of the Editorial Board of the journal “Biomaterials” (the top journal in the area) and is an elected member and Secretary of the European Society of Biomaterials (ESB). With a degree in Food Engineering from the School of Biotechnology of the Universidade Católica, Ana Paula Pêgo then did her PhD at the University of Twente, in the Netherlands, in the area in which she still works - polymer chemistry and biomaterials, developing a project to prepare guide tubes to promote regeneration of lesions of the peripheral nervous system. After completing her doctorate, she had a short visit to the Brain Institute in Amsterdam, where she started her first postdoc and started doing research in the field of gene therapy for the treatment of spinal cord injuries.

The researcher joined INEB in 2003 and in 2013 became the leader of the group NanoBiomaterials for Targeted Therapies, which is now part of i3S. She is also a member of the i3S Board of i3S where she leads the portfolio of Strategy & Value Creation, as well as an Associate Professor at ICBAS and at the School of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP).