
João Encarnação
Nationality:
Portugal
Institution:
Supervision:
Dr. Karl Andersson (RV), Prof. Helena Danielson (UU), Dr. Marika Nestor (UU)
Research Topic:
Characterization of intracellular molecular interactions in living cells.
About the project:
Uncontrolled drug-resistant tuberculosis is increasing in EU, as malaria and trypanosomiases in the southern hemisphere. AEGIS efforts focus on the development of effective novel drugs against these rare/neglected diseases, which are major threats for human health and of urgent biomedical relevance. Within this project, the role of Ridgeview Instruments AB relates to the study of the binding capacity of the novel molecules in living bacteria cells. The use of bacteria as model system is a balance between clean data and closeness to target environment. Although this system is clearly closer to target organisms than purified/recombinant proteins in vitro, it has traditionally challenged the scientific community with large variance in assays. Recently, automated mammalian cell based assays with improved repeatability have changed the landscape to that data cleanliness is a smaller drawback today. This project aims at transferring the experiences from mammalian cells into a novel assay format suitable for prokaryotic cells.
Personal information:
Born in the unique city of Coimbra, sooner I got interested in studying at this 727 years old University, where I had the first contact with science during my B.Sc. in Biochemistry. During my MSc, I explored new therapeutic approaches against colon cancer at the laboratory of Prof. Filomena Botelho and thereafter I explored the field of communication of science at Research Trial in Peniche. Currently, I am glad to embrace the AEGIS challenge of develop new solutions against neglected diseases.
Secondments:
Helmholtz Zentrum München (6 months)
List of publications:
Impact of assay temperature on antibody binding characteristics in living cells: A case study; Encarnação JC, Barta P, Fornstedt T and Andersson K; Biomedical Reports, 2017, published online Sep 14, 2017; DOI: 10.3892/br.2017.982
Detecting ligand interactions in real time on living bacterial cells; Encarnação JC, Schulte T, Achour A, Björkelund H and Andersson K; Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 2018, published online Mar 17, 2018; DOI: 10.1007/s00253-018-8919-3
List of posters:
Real-time cell based assays: Exploring LigandTracer beyond living mammalian cells. Encarnação JC,Björkelund H and Andersson K; HDDC 2018, Apr 26/27, Munich, Germany
List of presentations:
Kinetic characterization of therapeutic antibodies binding to adherent tumor cells. IPSCON, October 21, Chandigarh, India.
PhD Thesis:
Towards time-resolved molecular interaction assays in living bacteria
Uppsala University & Ridgeview Instruments AB, Jan 24, 2020
João Encarnação
Ridgeview Instruments AB
Rudbeck Laboratory/BMS
Dag Hammarskjölds väg 20
75185 Uppsala
Sweden
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