Sara Sá

Sara completed her bachelor’s degree in biomedical laboratory sciences at the Polytechnic of Porto, Portugal, specializing as a Health, Diagnostic, and Therapeutic Professional in Clinical Analysis, Public Health, Pathological Anatomy, Cytological Anatomy, and Thanatological Anatomy. During her graduation, she undertook curricular internships at São João Hospital, Santo António Hospital, the Oncology Institute of Porto (IPO), and IPATIMUP. 

Her graduation thesis, titled "Antifungal Activity of Environmental Fungi," was scored 18 out of 20 and published as a Poster Communication at the III National Congress of Laboratory Biomedical Sciences.

Additionally, she was invited as a research tutor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto (FMUP), where she taught various histological and staining procedures to incoming college students used in pathological anatomy in research.

While pursuing her master’s degree in clinical Analysis and Public Health in Polytechnic of Porto, with a focus on Microbiology and Public Health, she was selected to join the anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody screening task team for the entire Polytechnic community at the Laboratory of Medical and Industrial Biotechnology (LaBMI), during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. As part of this team, she became responsible for the laboratory of microbiology in LaBMI and one of the designed technicians for the collect of nasopharyngeal samples for SARS-CoV-2 detection. During this time, she worked under a grant “Prevention and Sustainable Optimization of the Diagnosis of COVID-19 on a Large Scale (IPP4COVID)”, but also as volunteer in other projects such as "IPP4AVSS Support for SARS-CoV-2 molecular diagnosis in the ACES Tâmega II Vale do Sousa Sul" and "IPP4AFA Support for SARS-CoV-2 molecular diagnosis in the ACES Entre Douro e Vouga Feira Arouca".

Under the supervision of Professors Rúben Fernandes and Pilar Baylina, she explored microbiology at an industrial level, determining viral loads of SARS-CoV-2 on antiviral manufactured surfaces, concluding her master's thesis on the "Determination of the Antiviral Activity of Surface Coating Laminates using the ISO 21702 standard for SARS-CoV-2” with 19 out of 20 values. She authored eight articles, including two as the first author, and co-authored six others. She also sent four posters to scientific conferences. Some of the research articles she participated were issued to overcome bacterial antibiotic resistance “Virulence-Linked Mutations in Rubredoxin Reductase and Glutaredoxin: Impact on Antibiotic Susceptibility and Phage Therapy in Pseudomonas aeruginosa” (J. Applied Sciences, 2023, IF= 2.7; 2nd Quartile) and as therapy for tumours such as prostatic cancer “Harvesting the Power of Green Synthesis: Gold Nanoparticles Tailored for Prostate Cancer Therapy” (J. Molecular Sciences, 2024, IF= 5.6; 1st Quartile). 

She also finished successfully the Advanced Course in Laboratory Animal Science - FELASA accredited course in I3S, functions (A), (B) and (D) according to Directive 2010/63/EU, through the theoretical and practical training components.

Currently, she is PhD student in the Doctoral Program in Metabolism - Clinic, and Experimentation at FMUP, a full-time Specialist Technician at CECLIN, the Center of Clinical Studies, at Fernando Pessoa Hospital and an active member of the accepted project “Use of Aptarmers towards Theranostics and Precision Medicine in Prostate Carcinoma”.