Flávia Sousa

Driven by a passion for science, Dr Flávia Sousa is developing new biological nanotherapies for brain cancer.

A pharmacist by training, she completed a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Porto, Portugal. She then embarked on postdoctoral studies at Imperial College London followed by a Marie Curie MINDED fellowship at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Genova, Italy.  

As a Senior Researcher at the Adolphe Merkle Institute, her research work in the treatment of brain cancer has shown promising outcomes. Flavia has been awarded with an independent Women in Science (WINS) research fellowship by the NCCR for Bio-Inspired Materials. She has also received renowned international grants such as Fulbright, Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship and Female Science Talents.

Her research work has been pioneering regarding encapsulation of anti-angiogenic monoclonal antibodies and understanding the efficacy in the treatment of glioblastoma.

It has also showed that this bioengineered nanosystem was able to shuttle intratumorally and inhibit protein secretion, being an efficient alternative to deliver intracellularly monoclonal antibodies.