BEYOND THE LAB COAT: Daniela Sousa

Daniela Sousa is one of the most recent post doctoral investigator at INEB, being almost like “a daughter” to the Institute. Indeed, INEB knows this very active girl since her first child steps walking around the science corridors, as a PhD Student, to her confident steps after graduation.

 

Born in 13th August 1983, in Porto, Daniela soon was attracted to the biological sciences field. She started her academic career as a bachelor in Biology and, after her masters in Toxicology and Ecotoxicology, she engaged with the Biomedical field, enrolling the doctoral program in Biomedical Engineering at FEUP (Porto) in 2007. By then she became a member of INEB’s family, where she still remains.

 

During her PhD thesis work, Daniela had the opportunity to go to Australia, moving to Sidney for 1 year, where she worked at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, an institution of medical scientific research renowned worldwide.

Daniela’s commitment with science was revealed not only in her work but also in the activities she always was involved with. In 2009, she was the responsible for the organization of the journal club sessions at INEB, and she didn’t stop there! Since 2007 she has been actively participating in several events to spread science among the general public, from children at public schools to adults in different INEB-IBMC initiatives.

 

 

 

 

Main Challenge(s):
My work has been focused on the identification and evaluation of novel pharmacological targets that are able to modulate bone regeneration and repair processes. Hopefully my scientific achievements will contribute for the development of new regenerative therapies and help to reduce the impact of public health diseases, such as bone-related disorders, in our society.

 

INEB in one word:
Regenerative.
Because it summarizes one of the main scientific goals of all research groups of INEB.

 

Beyond the lab coat...
Indeed I’m a scientist, but still an ordinary person.
I enjoy playing sports, travelling, reading and watching documentaries, TV series and movies.

 

The Movie:
Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)

 

The Book:
It’s a hard choice. I would say:
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1967)

 

The Trip:
My dream trip would be to visit the beautiful landscapes of Iceland and Greenland. I enjoy nature as it is!

 

If I wasn’t a scientist, I would be…
a sports’ physiotherapist, or something related to health versus sports.