Inês de Castro Gonçalves de Almada Lobo was born in 1981 in the city of Porto, Portugal, where she lives. She is married, and mother of 3 teenage boys.

Inês C. Gonçalves is Principal Investigator at i3S – Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, and Leader of the Advanced Graphene Biomaterials Group. She is co-founder and CEO of GOTECH Antimicrobial, a MedTech startup dedicated to the development of disinfection systems to solve medical device-related infection. She is also board member of the Iberian Society of Biomechanics and Biomaterials (SIBB). From 2010 to 2021 she was invited professor at University of Porto (FEUP and ICBAS), teaching in Bioengineering (e.g. Interfaces in Biological Systems, Biomaterials, Integrated projects in Biomedical Engineering,…).

Graduated in Microbiology from Escola Superior de Biotecnologia, Universidade Católica Portuguesa in 2003. She got her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto in 2009. Her thesis was based on biomaterials for blood contact, focusing on the development of molecularly engineered self-assembled monolayers and polymers to bind albumin and reduce thrombus formation in cardiovascular devices. The work was developed at INEB (Instituto de Engenharia Biomédica), in Porto, under the supervision of Prof. Mário Barbosa and Dr. Cristina Martins and at UWEB (University of Washington Engineered Biomaterials), in Seattle, under the supervision of Prof. Buddy Ratner.

Between 2010 and 2013 was Post-Doc at INEB and IPATIMUP, focusing her work on biomaterials to prevent gastric cancer, developing glycosylated mucoadhesive microspheres to eliminate gastric infection caused by Helicobacter pylori. In 2013 was hired as researcher by INEB, continuing this line of work, and developing a new area of research using biocompatible and antimicrobial graphene-based biomaterials for different biomedical applications.

Her research is focused on the development of graphene biomaterials and medical devices for antimicrobial and cardiovascular applications, ranging from fundamental science to translational applications. She explores different conjugations of graphene-based materials, polymers/matrices and production techniques according to the desired application, and evaluates the interaction of the developed biomaterials with the main biological systems (proteins, bacteria, mammalian cells and blood components).

Inês C. Gonçalves has raised over 6M€ from competitive funding from prestigious institutions such as the European Innovation Council, the Wellcome Trust, the La Caixa Foundation, and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology. She has been involved in over 20 research projects, of which 13 as principal investigator, and involved in the organization of 26 national/international conferences, 12 as scientific committee and 14 as organizing committee. She is very committed to the dissemination of science to the general public, and between the numerous activities she has been involved in, she coordinated for over 10 years an initiative at i3S that aims to provide primary school children a first contact with science.

Inês C. Gonçalves is the author of 46 papers in peer reviewed international journals (H-index 23, 1952 citations; source: Scopus ID 7006107771) and 4 book chapters, and has 6 filled patents (2 already granted). Her work was presented as over 80 oral communications and over 70 posters in international conferences. She has supervised/co-supervised 7 Post-Docs (3 ongoing), 14 research assistants (1 ongoing), 6 PhD students (1 ongoing) and 20 MSc students (2 ongoing).

Her work has been recognized with over 30 national and international awards, including "Pulido Valente Science Prize”, the "Medal of Honor L'Oreal for women in science 2013", the “Innovator Award” from Wellcome Trust, and “Dona Antónia – Revelação”.

January, 2024

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