Dr Andreia De Almeida
Wellcome Trust ISSF Fellow
- dealmeidaa@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2068 7342
- Tenovus Building, University Hospital of Wales, Heath Park, Cardiff, CF14 4XN
Overview
You can find the most up to date information on my website: www.craftyscientist.co.uk
Research
My research focuses on identifying the role of small transmembrane water and glycerol channels, Aquaporins, in cancer development using known inhibitors rather than a genetic approach. I aim at mapping the function of glycerol and hydrogen peroxide, via glycerol channels, in cancer development, cell migration, differentiation and metabolism. I am particularly interested in how function, expression and localisation of glycerol channels are affected by the tumour environment and how their expression, in turn, affects cancer progression. I am also interested in the mechanism of action of metal-based drugs, as potential anti-cancer therapies.
Public Engagement
Science Stitches - Communicating Science through Fashion
With this project, I want to bring cancer research to deprived communities, by engaging with Textile's pupils (years 9/10), with the aim of increasing awareness for cancer screenings and prevention. The project also focusses on sustainable fashion, as this is a major contributor to socio-economical and health factors nationally, and worldwide. I am currently working on bringing this project to other communities in a digital form.
Native Scientist Coordinator for the Portuguese Language in Wales
Organising science workshops in Portuguese, to promote science and language integrated learning for migrant or second-generation Portuguese-speaking children.
Biography
You can find the most up to date information on my website: www.craftyscientist.co.uk
I graduated in Portugal, where I did both my BSc and MSc in Biochemistry, at Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, which I concluded in 2011. During my studies, I did several internships, where I worked in molecular biology, mathematical modelling, microbiology and biophysics. Afterwards, I moved to The Netherlands, where I was awarded a PhD cum laude, in April 2016. My PhD work was focused on metallodrugs as protein modulators, especially on metal-based compounds as possible anticancer agents. I then moved to Cardiff, working as a postodctoral research associate at the School of Chemistry.
Honours and awards
Funding as Principal Investigator
- 2019 - Wellcome Trust ISSF Public Engagement Proof-of-Concept Award (£7.2k)
- 2018 - Wellcome Trust ISSF Fellowship (£75k)
- 2018 - Aspiring Fellows fellowship as a part of Future Leaders in Cancer Research (FLiCR) initiative (£5000)
Funding as Co-Investigator
- 2019 - Co-Investigator in GW4 Initiator Grant (GW4 NanoMedicine) (£14k)
- 2018 - Co-Investigator in a project awarded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Portugal (220k €)
Travel grants and awards
- 2018 - Best Poster Presentation at Chemical Tools for Systems Biology III (RSC Conference), London, U.K.
- 2018 - Best Oral presentation at EUROBIC14 (European Biological Inorganic Chemistry Conference), Birmingham, U.K.
- 2018 - RSC Travel grant (Chemistry-Biology interface division), to attend Gordon Research conference in June 2018 (£400)
- 2017 - Selected Participant for the 67th annual Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting (5000€)
- 2014 - Short-Term Scientific Mission (STSM) fellowship in the Scope of COST Action CM1106 “Chemical Approaches to Targeting Drug Resistance in Cancer Stem Cells“ (1800€)
- 2013 - Short-Term Scientific Mission (STSM) fellowship in the Scope of COST Action CM0902 “Translocation of metallic ions across the biomembrane and their fate after uptake” (1800€)
- 2012 - Best Presenter, Pharmacy Day of Groningen Institute of Pharmacy, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, The Netherlands
Professional memberships
- Member of the Biochemical Society
- Member of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS)
- Ambassador and Member of the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR)
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Member of the Portuguese Cancer Research Society (ASPIC)
Academic positions
- 2020 - Present - Postdoctoral Research Associate (British Lung Foundation), School of Medicine, Cardiff University
- 2018 - 2020 - Wellcome Trust ISSF Fellow, School of Medicine, Cardiff University
- 2016 - 2018 - Postdoctoral Research Associate, School of Chemistry, Cardiff University
- 2012 - 2016 - PhD candidate, Groningen Institute of Pharmacy, Groningen University, The Netherlands
Speaking engagements
- 14th European Biological Inorganic Chemistry Conference (EUROBIC14), 26-30 August 2018, Birmingham, U.K.
- South West structural Biology Consortium, June 2018, Exeter, U.K.
- South West structural Biology Consortium, July 2017, Cardiff, U.K.
- 1st International Symposium on Clinical and Experimental Metallodrugs in Medicine: Cancer Chemotherapy (CEMM), 12th-15th December 2015, Honolulu, USA
- 6th European Conference of Chemistry in Life Sciences, 10th-12th June 2015, Lisbon, Portugal
- Medicinal Chemistry and Bioanalysis (MCB) Symposium, 25th August 2014, Groningen, The Netherlands
- 15th edition of the FIGON Dutch Medicines Days, 30 September - 2 October 2013, Ede, The Netherlands
- Whole Action Meeting of the COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) Action CM1105 “Functional metal complexes that bind to biomolecules”, 9-10th September 2013, Barcelona, Spain
- Molecular Machinery COST Training School, 15-18th May 2013, Lisbon, Portugal
- WG1+ WG5 Joint Meeting COST Action CM1105 “Functional metal complexes that bind to biomolecules”, 25-26 February 2013, Groningen, The Netherlands
Committees and reviewing
- 2020 - Present - DCG NeRD committee member: a committee from the Division of Cancer and Genetics, run by ECRs, dedicated to the training and development of fellow ECRs across the division
- 2017 - 2018- Athena Swan committee member, School of Chemistry, Cardiff University
Reviewer for Chemical Communications (1), ChemMedChem (1), Chemistry - A European Journal (1), International Journal of Molecular Sciences (6), Amino Acids (1), Cells (3), Molecules (2), Inorganica Chimica Acta (1)
Publications
2019
- Wragg, D.et al. 2019. Unveiling the mechanisms of aquaglyceroporin-3 water and glycerol permeation by metadynamics. Chemistry - A European Journal 25(37), pp. 8713-8718. (10.1002/chem.201902121)
- Wenzel, M. N.et al. 2019. Insights into the mechanisms of aquaporin-3 inhibition by gold(III) complexes: the importance of non-coordinative adduct formation. Inorganic Chemistry 58(3), pp. -. (10.1021/acs.inorgchem.8b03233)
2018
- Aikman, B.et al. 2018. Gold(III) pyridine-benzimidazole complexes as aquaglyceroporin inhibitors and antiproliferative agents. Inorganics 6(4), article number: 123. (10.3390/inorganics6040123)
- Mósca, A. F.et al. 2018. Molecular basis of Aquaporin-7 permeability regulation by pH. Cells 7(11), article number: 207. (10.3390/cells7110207)
- Wragg, D.et al. 2018. On the mechanism of Gold/NHC compounds binding to DNA G-quadruplexes: combined metadynamics and biophysical methods. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 57(44), pp. 14524-14528. (10.1002/anie.201805727)
- Aikman, B.et al. 2018. Aquaporins in cancer development: opportunities for bioinorganic chemistry to contribute novel chemical probes and therapeutic agents. Metallomics 10(5), pp. 696-712. (10.1039/C8MT00072G)
2017
- Boorsma, C. E.et al. 2017. A potent tartrate resistant acid phosphatase inhibitor to study the function of TRAP in alveolar macrophages. Scientific Reports 7(1), article number: 12570. (10.1038/s41598-017-12623-w)
- De Almeida, A.et al. 2017. The mechanism of aquaporin inhibition by gold compounds elucidated by biophysical and computational methods. Chemical Communications 53(27), pp. 3830-3833. (10.1039/C7CC00318H)
2016
- Khan, R. A.et al. 2016. Transition-metal norharmane compounds as possible cytotoxic agents: new insights based on a coordination chemistry perspective. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry 165, pp. 128-135. (10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2016.07.001)
- Spinello, A.et al. 2016. The inhibition of glycerol permeation through aquaglyceroporin-3 induced by mercury (II): A molecular dynamics study. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry 160, pp. 78-84. (10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2015.11.027)
- De Almeida, A.et al. 2016. Exploring the gating mechanisms of aquaporin-3: new clues for the design of inhibitors?. Molecular BioSystems 12, pp. 1564-1573. (10.1039/C6MB00013D)
- Wenzel, M.et al. 2016. New luminescent polynuclear metal complexes with anticancer properties: toward structure-activity relationships. Inorganic Chemistry 55(5), pp. 2544-2557. (10.1021/acs.inorgchem.5b02910)
- Tsitsa, I.et al. 2016. Structure and biological activities of metal complexes of flumequine. RSC Advances 6(23), pp. 19555-19570. (10.1039/C5RA25776J)
2014
- Khan, R. A.et al. 2014. Light-stable bis(norharmane)silver(I) compounds: synthesis, characterization and antiproliferative effects in cancer cells. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry 140, pp. 1-5. (10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2014.06.019)
- De Almeida, A., Soveral, G. and Casini, A. 2014. Gold compounds as aquaporin inhibitors: new opportunities for therapy and imaging. MedChemComm 5, pp. 1444-1453. (10.1039/C4MD00265B)
- Bertrand, B.et al. 2014. Fluorescent organometallic gold(I) N-heterocyclic carbene complexes: synthesis and biological activities. Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry 19, pp. S792.
- Khan, R. A.et al. 2014. Silver(I) bis(norharmane) compounds: synthesis, 3D structures and cytostatic properties. Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry 19, pp. S799.
- Madeira, A.et al. 2014. A gold coordination compound as a chemical probe to unravel aquaporin-7 function. ChemBioChem 15(10), pp. 1487-1494. (10.1002/cbic.201402103)
- Rubbiani, R.et al. 2014. Cytotoxic gold(I) N-heterocyclic carbene complexes with phosphane ligands as potent enzyme inhibitors. ChemMedChem 9(6), pp. 1205-1210. (10.1002/cmdc.201400056)
- Frik, M.et al. 2014. Luminescent iminophosphorane gold, palladium and platinum complexes as potential anticancer agents. Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers 1(3), pp. 231-241. (10.1039/c4qi00003j)
2013
- De Almeida, A.et al. 2013. Emerging protein targets for metal-based pharmaceutical agents: an update. Coordination Chemistry Reviews 257(19-20), pp. 2689-2704. (10.1016/j.ccr.2013.01.031)
- Martins, A. P.et al. 2013. Aquaporin inhibition by gold(III) compounds: new insights. ChemMedChem 8(7), pp. 1086-1092. (10.1002/cmdc.201300107)
- Lease, N.et al. 2013. Potential anticancer heterometallic Fe-Au and Fe-Pd agents: initial mechanistic insights. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 56(14), pp. 5806-5818. (10.1021/jm4007615)
- Contel, M.et al. 2013. Iminophosphorane d(8) transition metal complexes as potential anticancer agents via a non-cisplatin mode of action. Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society 245
You can find the most up to date information on my website: www.craftyscientist.co.uk
Aquaporins in cancer development
My research focuses on identifying the role of small transmembrane water and glycerol channels, named Aquaglyceroporins, in cancer development. For this, I use known inhibitors rather than genetically altering cells, in order to determine their function and effects when inhibited. I aim at mapping the function of glycerol and hydrogen peroxide, via glycerol channels, in cancer development, cell migration, differentiation and metabolism. I am particularly interested in how function, expression and localisation of glycerol channels are affected by the tumour environment and how their expression, in turn, affects cancer progression.
Currently, I am focused on understanding the Spatio-temporal patterns of aquaglyceroporin expression in prostate cancer, under hypoxia and how this contributes to prostate cancer metastasis.
Metal-based drugs as anticancer agents
I am also interested in the mechanism of action of metal-based drugs, as potential anti-cancer therapies. More specifically, my work focuses on metal-based drugs with fluorescence properties, that can be used as probes or trackers, for various cell functions, as well as have anti-cancer properties.
