2021 Awards granted

Portuguese Award for Best Young Organic Chemist 2021

Jaime Coelho

Jaime A. S. Coelho is an Assistant Researcher at Centro de Química Estrutural (CQE) and an Invited Assistant Professor at Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon (FCUL, Portugal). He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Chemistry from Instituto Superior Técnico (IST, Portugal) prior to completing his Ph.D. at Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Lisbon (2014, FFUL, Portugal), where he worked with Carlos A. M. Afonso. During his doctoral studies he joined Nuno Maulide group as a visiting student at Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung (MPI-KOFO, Germany). He pursed postdoctoral experiences at University of California–Berkeley (F. Dean Toste and Matthew S. Sigman, Utah) and independent researcher positions at iMed.ULisboa/FFUL and CBIOS/Lusofona University. Dr. Coelho co-authored 35 publications and co-edited 1 book. Dr. Coelho’s current research interests span across organic synthesis and computational chemistry, with a focus on the development of sustainable methodologies for the transformation of biomass-derived starting materials. Dr. Jaime currently teaches organic chemistry in the Faculty of Sciences. He received the Thieme Chemistry Journal Award 2022, Individual Support to Scientific Employment Stimulus for 2021-2026 and was the Portuguese representative at the Young Investigator Workshop YIW2020 of the EuChemS Organic Chemistry Division.

Portuguese Award for Best Young Medicinal Chemist 2021

The jury decided not to atribute the 2021 award.

Portuguese Award for Best PhD Thesis in Organic Chemistry 2021

Fausto Queda

Fausto Queda is a Senior Researcher at AlmaScience on Chemistry/Biochemistry. He has a BSc in Biochemistry a MSc in Bioorganic chemistry and a PhD in Sustainable Chemistry. His PhD topic was chemical modification of chitin and chitosan. After PhD, he worked as a Post-Doc Researcher at the University of Lisbon, Faculty of Pharmacy, developing new synthetical methods to functionalize biopolymers. His research has been pioneering at the interface of sustainable chemistry, organic chemistry and material chemistry. He has published several articles in important journal across his academic pathway

Portuguese Award for Best PhD Thesis in Medicinal Chemistry 2021

Margarida Espadinha

Margarida Espadinha graduated in Applied Chemistry (Organic Chemistry field) in 2013 from the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the New University of Lisbon and, in 2015, obtained her MSc degree in Bioorganic Chemistry at the same University.

After a short stay at the Institute of chemistry CNRS (Nice, France), under a STSM-CM1106 supported by the Cost Action, she started a research grant funded by pharmaceutical company Hovione in colaboration with Santos’ group at the Faculty of Pharmacy of University of Lisbon.

In October 2021, Dr. Margarida Espadinha completed a PhD in Pharmacy at the Faculty of Pharmacy of University of Lisbon. During her PhD, she worked on the development of novel p53 activators by targeting p53 protein-protein interactions as an anticancer approach, under the supervision of Prof. Maria M. M. Santos, Prof. Stuart J. Conway and Prof. Cecília Rodrigues. As part of her PhD project, she spent 6 months in the Conway Lab at the University of Oxford, UK, where she worked on the targeted protein degradation field.

In November 2021, she joined the Medicinal Chemistry group at the University of Antwerp, in Belgium, as Postdoctoral Research Fellow. The current focus of her work is to investigate and develop selective serine dipeptidyl peptidase inhibitors and bivalent chemical degraders for cancer therapy, under the supervision of Prof. Pieter Van Der Veken.

Portuguese Award for Best Master Thesis in Organic Chemistry 2021

Nuno Viduedo

Nuno Viduedo was born in 1998, in Lisbon, Portugal. He obtained his bachelor's degree in Applied Chemistry, from NOVA School of Science and Technology (FCT/UNL), in 2019. Since then, he continued his studies in the same institution and, in 2021, completed his master's degree in Bioorganic Chemistry, after finishing his thesis, entitled "Sustainable and Efficient Manganese-Catalyzed Imine Formation: a Step Further to One-Pot Bimetallic Synthesis of N-Heterocycles", with a 20 (out of 20) evaluation. His main scientific interests are focused on the development of new and sustainable approaches for the synthesis of N-heterocycles, such as indoles and azaindoles, being currently working as research fellow in 1Pot2Cat project, under the supervision of Prof. Maria Manuel Marques and Prof. Beatriz Royo.

Portuguese Award for Best Master Thesis in Medicinal Chemistry 2021

Daniela Malafaia

Daniela Malafaia was born in 1997 in Aveiro, Portugal. In 2018, she graduated in Biochemistry, at University of Aveiro (UA) and in 2021, she obtained her MSc degree in Biochemistry (specialization in Clinical Biochemistry), at the same Institution. Later in the same year, she also started her professional career in the chemical industry, as a Quality Control Technician. Currently, she is an FCT-funded PhD student at LAQV/REQUIMTE (UA), working on the development of an integrated multi-target theranostic strategy for neurodegenerative disorders, grounded on the design of smart multi-functional compounds targeting Aβ and tau aggregation synergistic processes (under the scientific supervision of Prof. Dr. Artur Silva and Dr. Hélio Albuquerque). She is also involved in the mentoring of undergraduate students for their graduating projects. So far, she published 3 articles in peer-review SCI international journals, 1 oral communication and 2 poster communications, both in national scientific meetings. Throughout her academic journey, she was involved in multiple extracurricular projects, as a member and team leader of a junior company (Scientific Junior Value), students nuclei and voluntary associations (Movimento Transformers and MAD Panda).

Award for best oral communication in Organic Chemistry

This prize was awarded by the Organic Chemistry Division of the Portuguese Chemical Society (SPQ) to Rafael Gomes with the oral communication OC43 | “Preparation of (±)-Agelastatin A from furfural”.

Award for best oral communication in Medicinal Chemistry

This prize was awarded by the Medicinal Chemistry Division of the Portuguese Chemical Society (SPQ) to Ana Matos with the oral communication OC68 “Reverting the membrane-interfering behaviour of polyphenols via C-glucosylation: a new molecular design tool in drug discovery”

Honourable mention for oral communication in Medicinal Chemistry

Honourable mention awarded by the Medicinal Chemistry Division of the Portuguese Chemical Society (SPQ) to Patrícia Correia with with the oral communication OC6 “Antimicrobial activity of flavylium-derived compounds”.

Award for best poster in Organic Chemistry

This prize was awarded by the Organic Chemistry Division of the Portuguese Chemical Society (SPQ) to Carla Grosso with PC21 “Exploring the reactivity of tetrazolyl-2H-azirines towards arynes: selective synthesis of indole derivatives”.

Award for best poster in Medicinal Chemistry

This prize was awarded by the Medicinal Chemistry Division of the Portuguese Chemical Society (SPQ) to Eurico Lima with PC7 “Photodynamic antitumor effects evaluation of a picolylamine-bearing benz[e]indole-based squaraine dye against HeLa cells”.

Award for best Flash communication in 90’ in Organic Chemistry

This prize was awarded by the Organic Chemistry Division of the Portuguese Chemical Society (SPQ) to Raquel Eustáquio with FC13 “New Red-Shifted 4-Styryl Coumarins as Potential Fluorescent Labels for Biomolecules”.

Award for best Flash communication in 90’ in Medicinal Chemistry

This prize was awarded by the Medicinal Chemistry Division of the Portuguese Chemical Society (SPQ) to Francisco Faisca with FC3 “Pharmaceutical Organic Salts and Ionic Liquids based on Hydroxy- chloroquine and Remdesivir as efficient drugs against SARS-CoV-2”.