Researcher profile

Ana Margarida Araújo

Ana Margarida Araújo (AMA) has a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Faculty of Pharmacy of University of Porto (FFUP) (2021), MSc in Forensic Sciences from the Faculty of Medicine of University of Porto (FMUP) (2013), a Specialization in Medico-Legal Sciences from Instituto Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS) (2010) and a BSc in Biology Applied from University of Minho (2008). Her master thesis was done at Toxicology Laboratory of Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, under supervision of Prof. Paula Guedes de Pinho, Prof. Dra. Maria de Lourdes Bastos and Prof. Dr. Félix Carvalho and was entitled "Psychoactive substances present in 'legal highs' acquired in 'smartshops' or via Internet - chemical characterization and in vitro cytotoxicity studies of synthetic cathinones" with a final classification of 19 (0-20 scale). After finishing MSc (January 2014 – December 2015), AMA was involved in two projects entitled 'Uncovering the health risks of cathinone derivatives: in vivo and in vitro toxicological studies' and 'Volatile biomarkers in renal cell carcinoma: application to earlier diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic efficacy' both developed in Toxicology Laboratory at FFUP, where she deepened technical skills in several areas, such as animal treatment and manipulation, tissue and cell culture techniques, biochemical determinations of several biomarkers and in gas chromatography-mass spectrometry methodologies. In 2015 she was awarded with a FCT fellowship to carry out her doctoral studies at the Laboratory of Toxicology of the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Porto. Her PhD research work was based on the application of GC-MS metabolomics approach to characterize the intracellular and extracelular metabolome of several matrices in order to better understand the mechanism of action of several amphetaminic derivatives. AMA was author or co-author of 24 articles in international peer-reviewed journals, 16 scientific conference proceedings, 19 oral communications (including one invited lecture), 27 poster communications and 3 awards. Furthermore, she was reviewer for some international journals in the field of Toxicology, Pharmacology and Forensic Sciences. AMA is also accredited as a competent researcher for the practice of animal experimentation by the Portuguese Veterinary Autorities (DGAV).