Mariana Gomes

PhD Candidate in Chemical & Biological Engineering

Developing nucleic acid-based strategies to combat antibiotic resistance

About me

I am a PhD researcher working on nucleic acid-based strategies to tackle antibiotic resistance.
I enjoy working across disciplines, with a focus on research and development, and communicating my work clearly through writing and visual formats.
I see myself as something of a "jack of all trades", often bridging different areas within a team.

Experience

  • PhD Candidate | FEUP in Porto, PT | since 2022

  • Researcher | LEPABE in Porto, PT | since 2019

  • Internship | Continental ITA in Lousado, PT | 2018 - 2019

  • Internship | Continental AG in Hannover, DE | 2018

  • Integrated Master's Degree in Chemical Engineering with a specialisation in Biotechnology | FEUP in Porto, PT | 2013-2018

Outside the lab

  • 📚 Reading, from sci-fi to romance

  • 🌍 Casually learning languages

  • 🧩 Playing board games and D&D

  • 🎬Binge-watching movies and series

  • ✈️ Travelling, from countryside road trips to international destinations

  • 🐾 Spending time with pets and in nature

Key highlights

  • 📄 First-author publication in a Q1 journal (2025), selected as journal cover

  • 🤝 Co-author on multiple publications (liposomes, vitamin B12 delivery systems)

  • 🎤 6 oral presentations and 🖼️ 16 posters at national and international conferences

  • 👩‍🔬 Supervised 7 MSc students in laboratory research

  • 📅 Organised 7 international scientific events (workshops, summer schools, conferences)

Skills

Technical:

  • Nucleic acid delivery systems

  • Microbiology and bacterial assays

  • Nanomaterials and characterisation

  • Advanced imaging techniques

  • Data analysis (including Excel, GraphPad Prism and Python)

  • Data presentation and scientific writing (including PowerPoint, Blender, Inkscape and LaTeX)

Transferable:

  • Data interpretation and critical thinking

  • Scientific communication

  • Scientific writing and reporting

  • Cross-disciplinary collaboration

  • Project management and supervision

  • Event planning and logistics

Selected work

Gomes M et al., Amphiphilic dendrimers as delivery vectors for antisense NAMs in E. coli, Journal of Controlled Release, August 2025, Volume 384, 113850

Key results:

  • Amphiphilic dendrimers (ADs) as delivery vectors

  • Peptide nucleic acid (PNA) as antisense therapeutics

  • Effective envelope permeabilisation

  • PNA translocation across the envelope

  • Antimicrobial synergy of PNA with the ADs

  • Specific activity against E. coli

  • No signs of toxicity in an animal model

Main methods:

  • Nanomaterial characterisation - Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Dynamic light scattering (DLS), Size exclusion chromatography (SEC)

  • Bacterial envelope characterisation - TEM, Flow cytometry (FC), Fluorescence microscopy (FM)

  • Bacterial assays - Turbidity reduction assay (TRA), Time-kill assay (TKA)

  • In vivo studies - Galleria mellonella model