Flávia Castro

Tumour and Microenvironment Interactions

Junior Researcher

Flávia Castro completed her PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biotechnology in 2019 by Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar, Universidade do Porto in collaboration with Ghent University Hospital, Belgium. She did a MSc in Health Sciences in 2014 by Escola de Mecidina, Universidade do Minho and a Bachelor in Biochemistry in 2012 by Escola de Ciências, Universidade do Minho.

Actually, Flávia is a Junior Researcher at Tumor and Microenvironment Interactions Group. Her scientific interests are related to tumor microenvironment, immune modulation and nanomedicine. She has been focused on targeting immune cells and reprograming them through nanoparticles to test in vitro and in vivo tumor models. Flávia is Ambassador of European Association for Cancer Research since 2017.

Selected Publications

Castro F., Cardoso A.P., Gonçalves R.M., Serre K., Oliveira M.J.,

Interferon-gamma at the crossroads of tumor immune surveillance or evasion. Frontiers in Immunology9(MAY):, 2018. [Journal: Review] [CI: 716] [IF: 4,7]
DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2018.00847 SCOPUS: 85046686322.

Castro F., Pinto M.L., Silva A.M., Pereira C.L., Teixeira G.Q., Gomez-Lazaro M., Santos S.G., Barbosa M.A., Gonçalves R.M., Oliveira M.J.,

Pro-inflammatory chitosan/poly(γ-glutamic acid) nanoparticles modulate human antigen-presenting cells phenotype and revert their pro-invasive capacity. Acta Biomaterialia63:96-109, 2017. [Journal: Article] [CI: 42] [IF: 6,4]
DOI: 10.1016/j.actbio.2017.09.016 SCOPUS: 85030032238.

Castro F., Pinto M.L., Almeida R., Pereira F., Silva A.M., Pereira C.L., Santos S.G., Barbosa M.A., Gonçalves R.M., Oliveira M.J.,

Chitosan/poly(γ-glutamic acid) nanoparticles incorporating IFN-γ for immune response modulation in the context of colorectal cancer. Biomaterials Science7(8):3386-3403, 2019. [Journal: Article] [CI: 32] [IF: 6,2]
DOI: 10.1039/c9bm00393b SCOPUS: 85069760890.

Castro F., Pinto M.L., Pereira C.L., Serre K., Barbosa M.A., Vermaelen K., Gärtner F., Gonçalves R.M., De Wever O., Oliveira M.J.,

Chitosan/γ-PGA nanoparticles-based immunotherapy as adjuvant to radiotherapy in breast cancer. Biomaterials257:, 2020. [Journal: Article] [CI: 57] [IF: 12,5]
DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2020.120218 SCOPUS: 85088642097.

Castro F., Leite Pereira C., Helena Macedo M., Almeida A., José Silveira M., Dias S., Patrícia Cardoso A., José Oliveira M., Sarmento B.,

Advances on colorectal cancer 3D models: The needed translational technology for nanomedicine screening. Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews175:, 2021. [Journal: Review] [CI: 27] [IF: 17,9]
DOI: 10.1016/j.addr.2021.06.001 SCOPUS: 85108070633.

Peirsman A., Blondeel E., Ahmed T., Anckaert J., Audenaert D., Boterberg T., Buzas K., Carragher N., Castellani G., Castro F., Dangles-Marie V., Dawson J., De Tullio P., De Vlieghere E., Dedeyne S., Depypere H., Diosdi A., Dmitriev R.I., Dolznig H., Fischer S., Gespach C., Goossens V., Heino J., Hendrix A., Horvath P., Kunz-Schughart L.A., Maes S., Mangodt C., Mestdagh P., Michlíková S., Oliveira M.J., Pampaloni F., Piccinini F., Pinheiro C., Rahn J., Robbins S.M., Siljamäki E., Steigemann P., Sys G., Takayama S., Tesei A., Tulkens J., Van Waeyenberge M., Vandesompele J., Wagemans G., Weindorfer C., Yigit N., Zablowsky N., Zanoni M., Blondeel P., De Wever O.,

MISpheroID: a knowledgebase and transparency tool for minimum information in spheroid identity. Nature Methods18(11):1294-1303, 2021. [Journal: Article] [CI: 30] [IF: 48]
DOI: 10.1038/s41592-021-01291-4 SCOPUS: 85118431713.

V. Lima B., Oliveira M.J., Barbosa M.A., Gonçalves R.M., Castro F.,

Harnessing chitosan and poly-(γ-glutamic acid)-based biomaterials towards cancer immunotherapy. Materials Today Advances15:, 2022. [Journal: Article] [CI: 7] [IF: 10]
DOI: 10.1016/j.mtadv.2022.100252 SCOPUS: 85130370826.