UP groundbreaking research helps fight cancer

CIIMAR - Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, is the leading research and advanced training institution of the University of Porto, working in the field of charting the open ocean and creating synergy between research and innovation.

The Brown alga found in the Portuguese shores, the 'Laminaria ochroleuca', can result in anticancer drug development and new antibiotics capable of combating multi-drug resistant infections. This was the main conclusion on a study conducted by Maria de Fátima Carvalho, which was published in the scientific magazine Fronteiras em Microbiologia.

"This is a groundbreaking study", declared the main researcher, Maria de Fátima Carvalho, to News Agency Lusa, as "it enabled the discovery of two compounds produced by bacteria, which are not known yet, and can really be new molecules".

This research is ongoing as the scientific research can inhibit cancer-causing cell lines.

Maria de Fátima Carvalho, researcher at CIIMAR, holds a degree in Microbiology and a PhD in Biotechnology from the Portuguese Catholic University and her research focus on the isolation of actinobacteria from diverse sources (from terrestrial to marine environments) and exploration of their potential to produce bioactive molecules with relevant biotechnological applications.

"CIIMAR fosters an integrated approach to Ocean and coastal areas promoting the understanding and knowledge of Biological, Physical and Chemical dynamics of these environments and the impact of natural and human activities, aiming to unravel the links between these processes, grasp Ocean and ecosystems functioning and responses to Global Changes", as stated in the institution's website.