Where Ideas Grow
Soraia Pinto
PhD Student

Soraia Pinto graduated in Pharmaceutical Sciences at Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade do Porto, in 2018. Since 2019, she is a member of Nanomedicines and Translational Drug Delivery group. Soraia started as a researcher grant in the scope of the projects "Development of oral strips containing nanoencapsulated bioactive compounds" and "Structured programme on bioengineering therapies for infectious diseases and tissue regeneration", where she had the opportunity to acquire theoretical and practical skills in the field of in vitro and ex vivo techniques. Currently, Soraia is a PhD candidate in the same research group of i3S, under the supervision of Professor Bruno Sarmento and the co-supervision of Professor Hélder Santos. Her research interests focus on the nanotechnology field, particularly in the development of antidiabetic peptide-loaded nanosystems, surface-functionalized with molecules that target the intestinal receptor, the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn), responsible for the transcellular transport of functionalized nanoparticles through the enterocytes. During her PhD pathway, Soraia had the opportunity to do a period abroad in the Department of Biomaterials & Biomedical Technology at University Medical Center Groningen (Groningen, The Netherlands), where she evaluated the interaction of FcRn-targeted nanoparticles with a 3D in vitro intestinal model (human intestinal organoids). 

Soraia was also involved in the written of four review papers and ten scientific papers. Recently, Soraia was selected as Trainee Representative of the Oral Delivery Focus Group of the Controlled Release Society. Additionally, she was involved in the organization of seminars and conference at i3S and presented her research in several national and international conferences.