Luísa Peixe, leader of the BactDrugs Research Lab at UCIBIO-Porto has been awarded the Maratona da Saúde Prize for Research in Infectious Diseases, in the Senior Category, for her research project on “A new weapon for fighting the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance: characterization of a potential antibiotic obtain from a soil extract” (“Uma nova arma para combater a ameaça crescente da resistência antimicrobiana: caracterização de um potencial antibiótico obtido de um isolado do solo”). The research work is developed in collaboration with Filipa Grosso, researcher in the same lab and Nelson Gonçalo Gomes from LAQV-Porto.
The 2022 edition of the Maratona da Saúde Prizes was dedicated to Research in Infectious Diseases. This award of 20 000€ will support the characterization of a bacterial isolate producing new compounds with antimicrobial activity against the main species responsible for antimicrobial-resistant infections worldwide. This bacterium was discovered in the scope of the MicroMundo@UPorto experimental educational project, which involves university and basic/secondary schools’ students, aiming to increase the knowledge on Antimicrobial Resistance and to discover antimicrobial-producing microorganisms from soil.
This prize represents the recognition of the important contribution to the global effort to stop antimicrobial resistance (AMR) by Luísa Peixe and her research team. The awardees explain that “this project will bring also an important social impact if we consider that the discovery of an antibiotic candidate within a citizen project will contribute to give more visibility to AMR problem among the public and will stimulate the interest in science and research of students from various educational levels, in particular those involved in the MicroMundo@UPorto”.
The award ceremony will be on September 28, 2022 at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, in Lisbon, during the Final Seminar of the Maratona da Saúde. In this edition the Janssen Junior Category was attributed to Pedro Matos Pereira, from ITQB, and three scientists of the junior category also received honourable mentions: Cristina Cunha, ICVS; Manuela Ferreira, CNC and Katharina Willmann, IGC.
News at Maratona da Saúde website here