Students recognized for work on Malaria and Leishmaniasis
Filipa Neves and Ricardo Monteiro, two doctoral students conducting research at i3S, won prizes at the “Parasitology in Portugal” 2026 Symposium. The meeting, which brought together around 170 participants and took place at the University of Lisbon, marked the return of the main national meeting dedicated to parasitology after a 12-year hiatus.
The award for Best Oral Presentation was awarded to Filipa Neves, a researcher in the Host-Parasite Interactions group at i3S led by Joana Tavares. The researcher presented the work “Understanding the role of SPATR in malaria sporozoite infectivity,” which focuses on understanding the role of the SPATR protein in the ability of the malaria parasite to infect the mammalian host and the mosquito.
The study, adds Filipa Neves, a doctoral student in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Porto (FFUP), “shows that SPATR is essential for infection and reveals previously unknown details about the first steps of this process.”
For the researcher, “receiving the Best Oral Presentation award represents the recognition of years of work and dedication, but also of the collective effort of the research group in deciphering the mechanisms that this parasite uses to establish infection in the host.”
The Best Poster award was given to Ricardo Monteiro, also a doctoral student in Pharmaceutical Sciences at FFUP and a researcher in the same i3S group. In this work, titled “Pulmonary infection by Leishmania infantum: implications for treatment efficacy,” it is demonstrated that the lungs function as a cellular niche where Leishmania infantum, a common parasite in dogs from countries in the Mediterranean basin, can persist even after treatment with reference drugs.
According to Ricardo Monteiro, the results of the study “reinforce the need to deepen the understanding of parasite-host interactions and to direct research towards the development of more effective therapeutic strategies.”
Both awards were attributed by Chaperone and included an individual session with a career development consultant. Chaperone is a social impact company whose mission is to democratise access to high-quality professional development in the field of science.
