Magda Correia (MC) is an early-stage postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (i3S), University of Porto, currently working at the Stem Cells in Regenerative Biology and Repair (ScriPT) laboratory. Presently, she develops advanced human 3D models to investigate immune responses to biomaterials and their potential applications in cardiovascular disease therapeutics.

She holds a PhD in Biomedicine from the University of Aveiro (UA) (April 2025), where she conducted her doctoral research at the Institute of Biomedicine (iBiMED) under the supervision of Prof. Bruno Bernardes de Jesus. Her PhD focused on uncovering metabolic and epigenetic mechanisms that limit cardiac regeneration, using direct reprogramming of fibroblasts into induced cardiomyocyte-like cells (iCMs) as a model to study cardiac plasticity. Her work demonstrated that aging-associated metabolic dysfunction and epigenetic remodeling impair cardiac reprogramming efficiency and identified mitophagy activation and lipids modulation as strategies to restore regenerative potential. This work contributed to advancing the understanding of metabolo-epigenetic regulation of cardiac cell fate and regeneration, supporting the development of regenerative strategies for heart disease. Her research outputs include publications in international peer-reviewed journals such as Aging Cell and iScience, where she reported mechanistic insights into cardiac regeneration and stem cell-driven immunotherapeutic responses.

MC holds a MSc in Molecular and Cell Biology from the UA, where she investigated the role of lncRNAs and metabolic signaling during the direct conversion of dermal fibroblasts into iCMs. She previously obtained a BSc in Biotechnology from the Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra. During her undergraduate thesis at the National Health Institute Doutor Ricardo Jorge (INSA), she optimized diagnostic methodologies for botulism detection and contributed to the sequencing of a novel Clostridium botulinum neurotoxin type F strain.

Throughout her career, she has contributed to multiple national and international research projects in cardiovascular regeneration and cancer immunotherapy, including the ERA-CVD international consortium project INNOVATION. 

She has authored six peer-reviewed publications (all as first or co-first author) and has disseminated her work through more than 25 oral and poster presentations at national and international conferences, including Cell Symposia and European Association for Cancer Research congresses.

Her international research training includes a research stay at Hannover Medical School (DE, 2022) under the supervision of Prof. Christian Bär and a competitive short-term research internship at the University of Texas at Austin (USA, 2024) within the UT Austin-Portugal Program (FCT sponsored), where she worked in the laboratory of Prof. Nicholas Peppas on 3D- based stem cell culture systems. 

Beyond research, she is strongly committed to tutoring, mentorship, and scientific outreach. She has technically trained more than 20 undergraduate and master’s students and contributed to teaching activities in the Biomedical Sciences degree at the UA. She has also been actively involved in science communication and community engagement initiatives, including the Pint of Science festival in Aveiro (as Volunteer and Events Coordinator) and IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) Student Chapter at UA (as Representative Member of the Business Relations Department). Additionally,  during the COVID-19 pandemic, she contributed to national diagnostic efforts through frontline laboratory work in SARS-CoV-2 testing, for 7 months.

Overall, her research integrates stem cell biology, metabolism, immunology, mouse models and advanced human in vitro models to address fundamental and translational questions in regenerative medicine, cardiovascular disease and stem cell biology.