Functional interplay between immune-driven resistance mechanisms, stress and damage responses acting in parenchyma tissues

Lab's research themes:

The central hypothesis tested in our laboratory is that a functional interplay between immune-driven resistance mechanisms, and stress and damage responses acting in parenchyma tissues, exists, to counter and repair the pathogenic effects of infection.
Immunity limits the fitness costs imposed by continuous interaction of multicellular organisms with microbes. Innate and adaptive components of the immune system sense and target pathogenic microorganisms for containment, destruction or expulsion, as the means to preserve host organismal homeostasis and fitness. Resistance to infection refers to the output of these immune functions.
Multicellular organisms deploy an additional defence strategy that while essential to limit the fitness costs imposed by microbes does not exert a direct negative impact on microorganisms. This defence strategy, known as disease tolerance, supports host homeostasis via different mechanism(s) that rely on evolutionarily conserved stress and damage responses. These stress and damage responses are essential to limit the extent of metabolic dysfunction imposed by infections, either directly by pathogenic microorganisms or indirectly by immune-driven resistance mechanisms.
See: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/335/6071/936
and
https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-immunol-042718-041739

Merits of the lab:

Main original scientific contributions:
2020/21. Loss of the α-gal glycan during primate evolution enhanced antibody-effector function and shaped microbiota composition/pathogenicity (Cell Host & Microbes, Elife, 2020).
2019. Reprogramming of renal iron metabolism establishes disease tolerance to malaria (PNAS, 116, 5681-5686).
2017: Cross-regulation of iron and glucose metabolism establishes disease tolerance to sepsis (Cell 169, 7, 1263-1275).
2014: Gut microbiota bacteria confer resistance to malaria (Cell 159, 6, 1277-1289).
2012: Metabolic adaptation to tissue iron overload confers disease tolerance to malaria (Cell Host & Microbe 12; 5, 693-704).
2011: Sickle hemoglobin establishes disease tolerance to malaria (Cell, 2011, 145, 3, 398-409, 29).
2007-12: Stress-responses support the survival of an infected host irrespectively of pathogen load, a mechanistic basis for disease tolerance to malaria (Nat. Med., 2007, 13: 703-10 and PNAS. 2009, 106; 37: 15837-42) and sepsis (Science TM, 2010. 2: 51; Science, 2012, 335, 936).
2007-10: The gasotransmitter carbon monoxide (CO) prevents the pathogenic effects of heme (Nat. Med., 2007, 13:703-10 and Annu. Rev. Pharmacol. Toxicol. 2010. 50:323–54).
2001-7: The gasotransmitter carbon monoxide (CO) is protective against a broad range of immune mediated inflammatory conditions, including graft rejection (J. Immunol., 2001, 166, 4185-4194, Nat. Med., 2003, 9, 183-190), arteriosclerosis (Nat. Med., 2003, 9, 183-190), ischemia & reperfusion injury (FASEB Journal. 2004; 18:771-772), autoimmune neuroinflammation (J. Clin. Invest. 2007, 117, 438-447) and malaria (Nat. Med., 2007, 13: 703-10).
1998-2001: The gasotransmitter carbon monoxide (CO) is cytoprotective (J. Exp. Med., 2001, 192, 1015-25) and immunoregulatory (Nat. Med., 2000, 6, 4, 422-428).
1998: Protective genes prevent graft rejection (Nat. Med., 1998; 4, 91-8).

Why do we want medical doctors?

The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, a Portuguese philanthropic institution with the main purpose of improving the quality of life through art, charity, science and education, owns the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência. As Principal Investigators the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, we are fully committed to equality, diversity and inclusion in biomedical research and innovative training towards the higher aim of transforming society through science. As an illustrative example we are active players in international programs of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, supporting the development of scientific careers in health sciences of junior researchers from Portuguese-speaking African Countries. The aim of such programs is to consolidate the scientific careers of junior researchers, in their countries of origin, strengthening the scientific and institutional links between Europe and Africa.
In line with the values of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation our research team strives and achieves gender, ethnic and religious equality, diversity and inclusion, as perhaps best illustrated by the unbiased, multicultural, multinational and gender balanced research team, currently composed of researchers from Nigeria, Angola, Brazil, Germany, China and Portugal.
As a Principal Investigator of the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, I am an active public advocate for Science policies and for aforementioned core values of the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, with several public interventions over the years. These include interviews at high audience television shows (RTP, SIC, TVI), radio shows, interviews in national (e.g. Público, Expresso, Visão, etc) and international (New York Times) newspapers as well as through social media (e.g. BBC). I wrote an influential opinion article on Science Policy (e.g. Público; over 2000 shares). I lecture in average 1-2 times per month nationally and internationally to academic and non-academic (High Schools, Art School, etc.) audiences, for the past 15 years.

The position