Ana Olival holds a master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering, with a specialization in Biomaterials, Rehabilitation, and Biomechanics from the University of Minho (2020). During her MSc, she completed a Summer Internship at INL – International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (Portugal), where she worked on transdermal delivery of rapamycin using dissolving microneedles and hydrogel-based skin models. In parallel, she contributed as corresponding author to the project “Portable bathing system for bedridden people”, presented at the International Conference Innovation in Engineering (2021, University of Minho) and later published as a book chapter (DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-79168-1_36).

In 2018, Ana joined Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium, Erasmus+ program), where she worked under the supervision of Prof. Harry van Lenthe on optimizing micro‑computed tomography setups for the visualization of bone and cartilage. This experience provided her with solid skills in preclinical imaging, mouse models, and medical instrumentation, while also reinforcing her ability to work effectively in multicultural and interdisciplinary research environments. She subsequently integrated the 3B’s Research Group (University of Minho) in 2019 to develop her master’s thesis, “Erythrocyte‑derived liposomes for the treatment of inflammatory diseases”, which resulted in a first‑author Q1 publication (DOI: 10.1080/1061186X.2022.2066107).

Ana has actively disseminated her work in several national and international scientific meetings, including the “First Achilles Conference” (2019, Porto), “FoReCaST 2nd Workshop” (2019, Porto), and “TERMSTEM 2019” (2019, Porto), highlighting her commitment to scientific communication and collaboration. Throughout her career, she has developed strong know‑how in hydrogel manufacturing, production of micro‑ and nanoparticulate systems, physicochemical and structural characterization of biomaterials, as well as in vitro and in vivo testing workflows for biomedical applications.

Currently, Ana is a PhD student at Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS), University of Porto, enrolled in the Doctoral Programme in Molecular and Cellular Biotechnology Applied to Health Sciences. She is working under the FCT‑funded project LOCALISE – “Loco‑radiolysed multi‑modal treatment for glioblastoma self‑enhanced chemotherapy and targeted RNA delivery”, where she focuses on the design of radiotherapy‑responsive hydrogels for local, multimodal treatment of glioblastoma, integrating controlled chemotherapy release, MGMT inhibition, and targeted RNA delivery to improve therapeutic outcomes and patient quality of life.