Francisco Olivença Miguel (171D-63E7-8A66)

Curriculum Vitae

Francisco Olivença Miguel

I completed my Master in Pharmaceutical Sciences by the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon in December 2017, with a final classification of 17/20 and two distinction awards by academic merit. Early on my academic education I decided to actively engage in the research conducted at my faculty and had the opportunity to study phage-bacteria interactions and genetics. During this time, I had my first contact with mycobacteria, which fascinated me due to their unique characteristics and complexity, as well as for the pathogenicity of some of its members, namely Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB). In 2018 I was granted a PhD fellowship by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia and I am currently pursuing my doctoral degree in Pharmacy (Microbiology specialty) at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon. I conduct my research work at the Host-Pathogen Interactions group at iMed.ULisboa and my PhD focuses on the potential application of beta-lactams to treat TB, specifically, multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant TB. I intend to identify target mycobacterial genes that can potentiate the use of this class against TB and explore its combined effect with conventional anti-TB-drugs. I additionally aim to contribute to the understanding of mycobacterial peptidoglycan dynamics within the complex cell wall of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the mechanisms used by this pathogen to evade the host¿s surveillance systems. I want to enhance my background in pharmaceutical sciences with advanced microbiology and molecular biology competences to be able to successfully address and solve complex infectious diseases challenges, in particular those regarding antibiotic resistance. Up to this moment, I have participated as a PhD candidate or research fellow in three projects funded by national or community funds. This involvement has allowed me to acquire relevant scientific and technical skills and to start developing an awareness for project and laboratory management. I am driven by a strong sense of responsibility and adapt quickly to new situations. Due to my communicative and collaborative character I take great joy in helping others tackle their own problems. Overall, I consider myself a highly motivated and persistent person, with a deep passion for learning and teaching.

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Identification

Personal identification

Full name: Francisco Olivença Miguel

Citation names

Olivença, Francisco

Author identifiers

Ciência ID: 171D-63E7-8A66
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7973-2631

Email addresses

francisco.olivenca.miguel@gmail.com (Professional)
francisco.olivenca@ff.ulisboa.pt (Professional)

Addresses

Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade de Lisboa. Avenida Professor Gama Pinto, 1649-003, Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal (Professional)

Knowledge fields

Medical and Health Sciences - Health Sciences - Infectious Diseases

Languages

Language	Speaking	Reading	Writing	Listening	Peer-review
Portuguese	Advanced (C1)	Advanced (C1)	Advanced (C1)	Advanced (C1)
English	Advanced (C1)	Advanced (C1)	Advanced (C1)	Advanced (C1)

Education

	Degree	Classification
2019/07/01 - 2023/06/30 Ongoing	Doutoramento em Farmácia (Doutoramento) Major in Microbiology Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Investigação do Medicamento, Portugal "Decoding the peptidoglycan patterns associated with beta-lactams susceptibility and host immune recognition in drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
2017/12/28 Concluded	Mestrado Integrado em Ciências Farmacêuticas (Mestrado integrado) Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Farmácia, Portugal "In Silico Analysis of Mycobacteriophage Ms6" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)	17/20

Affiliation

Others

	Category Host institution	Employer
2019/07/01 - Current	PhD Fellowship - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia	Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Investigação do Medicamento, Portugal
	Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Investigação do Medicamento, Portugal
2018/12/04 - 2019/06/03	Research fellowship (Master) for the project IF/00414/2015	Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Investigação do Medicamento, Portugal

2017/12/04 - 2018/12/03	Research fellowship (Bachelor) for the project IF/00414/2015	Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Investigação do Medicamento, Portugal

2014/09/15 - 2017/11/30	Research Trainee - Collaboration in the research lead by Professor Madalena Pimentel in the Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology group at iMed.ULisboa	Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Investigação do Medicamento, Portugal

2017/09/01 - 2017/10/31	Intern Pharmacist at Hospital Pharmacy	Hospital da Luz Lisboa, Portugal

2017/03/01 - 2017/06/30	Intern Pharmacist at Community Pharmacy	Farmácia Perdigão, Portugal

Projects

Contract

	Designation	Funders
2019/07/01 - Current	Clinical Significance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis cell wall structural diversity: contribution to novel mechanisms of antibiotic resistance and relevance towards tuberculosis progression and treatment PTDC/BIA-MIC/31233/2017 PhD Student Fellow Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Investigação do Medicamento, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Ongoing
2019/09/10 - 2021/01/04	Dissecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex cell wall structure and modifications: contribution to host immune recognition and drug resistance IF/00414/2015 Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Investigação do Medicamento, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Concluded
2019/01/01 - 2019/12/31	Research Institute for Medicines UID/DTP/04138/2019 Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Farmácia, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Concluded
2017/12/04 - 2019/06/03	ESCMID Research Grant 2018: Decoding the peptidoglycan patterns associated with beta-lactams hypersusceptibility in drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis n/a Other	European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Concluded
2014/09 - 2016/12	Estudo da capacidade das proteínas líticas de micobacteriófagos para destruir o envelope celular de micobactérias PTDC/IMI-MIC/0679/2012 Other Unidade dos Retrovírus e Infeções Associadas - Centro de Patogénese Molecular (FFUL), Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Concluded

Outputs

Publications

Conference poster	Olivença, Francisco; Alexandra Nunes; Rita Macedo; David Pires; Silveiro, Cátia; Cláudia Ferreira; Maria Miragaia; et al. "WGS-based Dual Strategy Identifies Lipoproteins with PBP Activity as Potential Targets to Enhance Beta-lactam Activity in Mycobacterium tuberculosis". Paper presented in Young Researcher Day INSA 2022, 2022. Olivença, Francisco; Alexandra Nunes; Rita Macedo; David Pires; Silveiro, Cátia; Cláudia Ferreira; Maria Miragaia; et al. "WGS-based Dual Strategy for the Identification of Key Targets to Enhance Beta-lactam Activity in Mycobacterium tuberculosis". Paper presented in Conference on Drug Development to Meet the Challenge of AMR 2022, 2022. Silveiro, C.; Marques, Mariana; Olivença, Francisco; Pires, David; ANES, ELSA. "The quest for novel targets in TB-therapy: CRISPRi-mediated repression of PG modifications in Mycobacterium smegmatis promotes beta-lactam susceptibility and intracellular killing". Paper presented in EMBO Workshop on Tuberculosis 2022, 2022. Silveiro, C.; Marques, Mariana; Olivença, Francisco; Catalão, Maria João. "CRISPRi-mediated repression of peptidoglycan modifications in Mycobacterium smegmatis leads to ß-lactam hypersusceptibility phenotypes". Paper presented in iMed.ULisboa Meeting 2022, 2022. Silveiro, Cátia; Marques, Mariana; Olivença, Francisco; Catalão, Maria João. "Depletion of peptidoglycan modifications sensitizes Mycobacterium smegmatis to ß-lactam antibiotics". Paper presented in 32nd European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, 2022. Olivença, Francisco; Nunes, Alexandra; Macedo, Rita; Pires, David; Silveiro, Cátia; ANES, ELSA; João Paulo Gomes; Catalão, Maria João. "Decoding Beta-lactam Susceptibility Patterns in Mycobacterium tuberculosis Clinical Strains". Paper presented in 32nd European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, 2022. Olivença, Francisco; Ferreira, Cláudia; Silveiro, Cátia; Nunes, Alexandra; Gomes, João Paulo; Catalão, Maria João. "Anticipating Mycobacterial Beta-lactam Resistance: Do we know the whole story?". Paper presented in 32nd European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, 2022. Olivença, Francisco (171D-63E7-8A66); Alexandra Nunes; Macedo, Rita; David Pires; Silveiro, Cátia; Anes, Elsa; João Paulo Gomes; Maria João Catalão. "Repurposing Beta-lactams in Tuberculosis: a Valuable Therapeutic Alternative Against Drug-Resistant Clinical Isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis". Paper presented in NOVOS DESAFIOS EM SÁUDE NA ULISBOA, 2021. Silveiro, Cátia; Mariana Marques; Olivença, Francisco; Pires, David; ANES, ELSA; Catalão, Maria João. Corresponding author: Catalão, Maria João. "A novel target in TB-therapy: the N-glycolylation of mycobacterial peptidoglycan contributes to antibiotic resistance and intracellular survival". Paper presented in MICROBIOTEC'21 - Congress of Microbiology and Biotechnology 2021, 2021. Olivença, Francisco; Pires, David; Nunes, Alexandra; Macedo, Rita; ANES, ELSA; Gomes, João Paulo. "Finding Key Genomic Markers of Beta-lactam Susceptibility in Clinical Isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis". Paper presented in MICROBIOTEC'21 - Congress of Microbiology and Biotechnology 2021, 2021. Ferreira, Cláudia; Olivença, Francisco; Nunes, Alexandra; Gomes, João Paulo; Catalão, Maria João. "Ascertaining mycobacterial inducible resistance to peptidoglycan synthesis inhibitors". Paper presented in MICROBIOTEC'21 - Congress of Microbiology and Biotechnology 2021, 2021. Silveiro, Cátia; Mariana Marques; Nuno Carmo; Olivença, Francisco; David Pires; Ferreira, Cláudia; Catalão, Maria João. "Relevance of the N-glycolylation of mycobacterial peptidoglycan to antibiotic resistance and to host-pathogen interactions". Paper presented in iMed.ULisboa Meeting 2021, 2021. Olivença, Francisco; Alexandra Nunes; David Pires; Silveiro, Cátia; Ferreira, Cláudia; Rita Macedo; Elsa Anes; João Paulo Gomes; Catalão, Maria João. "The Combination of Carbapenems and Clavulanic Acid Efficiently Inhibits Mycobacterium tuberculosis Clinical Isolates". Paper presented in iMed.ULisboa Meeting 2021, 2021. Gama, Bianca; Olivença, Francisco; Carmo, Nuno; Pires, David; Anes, Elsa; Catalão, Maria João. "Restoring Drug Resistant Mycobacteria Susceptibility to Beta-lactam Antibiotics". Paper presented in II Symposium of Research on Tuberculosis and Nontuberculous Mycobacteria in Portugal, 2020. Marques, Mariana; Silveiro, Cátia; Carmo, Nuno; Olivença, Francisco; Catalão, Maria João. "Significance of the Amidation of Mycobacterial Peptidoglycan in Antibiotic Resistance". Paper presented in II Symposium of Research on Tuberculosis and Nontuberculous Mycobacteria in Portugal, 2020. Silveiro, Cátia; Marques, Mariana; Carmo, Nuno; Olivença, Francisco (171D-63E7-8A66); Catalão, Maria João. "Significance of the N-glycolylation of Mycobacterial Peptidoglycan in Antibiotic Resistance". Paper presented in II Symposium of Research on Tuberculosis and Nontuberculous Mycobacteria in Portugal, 2020. 10.1130/abs/2018am-315997 Olivença, Francisco; Pires, David; Carmo, Nuno; Macedo, Rita; Nunes, Alexandra; Gomes, João Paulo; Anes, Elsa; Catalão, Maria João. "Inhibition of Peptidoglycan Biosynthesis as a Strategy Against Drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis". Paper presented in MICROBIOTEC 19 - Congress of Microbiology and Biotechnology’ 19, 2019. Catalão, Maria João; Olivença, Francisco; Narcisco, Ana Rita; Filipe, Sérgio R.; Pimentel, Madalena. "Efficient targeting of the mycobacterial peptidoglycan: how mycobacteriophage Ms6 peptidoglycan hydrolase compromises this cell barrier". Paper presented in MICROBIOTEC 19 - Congress of Microbiology and Biotechnology’ 19, 2019. Catalão, Maria João; Olivença, Francisco; Narciso, Ana Rita; Filipe, Sérgio R.; Pimentel, Madalena. "Efficient targeting of the mycobacterial peptidoglycan: how mycobacteriophage Ms6 peptidoglycan hydrolase compromises this cell barrier". Paper presented in The Great Wall Symposium 2019, 2019. Olivença, Francisco; Pires, David; Carmo, Nuno; Macedo, Rita; Nunes, Alexandra; Gomes, João Paulo; Anes, Elsa; Catalão, Maria João. "Shifting the Paradigm: Repurposing Beta-lactam Antibiotics Against Drug-Resistant Clinical Isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis". Paper presented in The Great Wall Symposium 2019, 2019. Olivença, Francisco (171D-63E7-8A66); Catalão, Maria João; Moniz-Pereira, José; Pimentel, Madalena. "Ms6 Pin Protein: The Role on a Mycobacteriophage Resistance Mechanism". Paper presented in 10th iMed.ULisboa Postgraduate Students Meeting & 3rd i3DU Meeting, 2018.
Journal article	Silveiro, Cátia; Marques, Mariana; Olivença, Francisco; Pires, David; Mortinho, Diana; Nunes, Alexandra; Pimentel, Madalena; Anes, Elsa; Catalão, Maria João. "CRISPRi-mediated characterization of novel anti-tuberculosis targets: Mycobacterial peptidoglycan modifications promote beta-lactam resistance and intracellular survival". Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology 13 (2023): 1-20. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2023.1089911/full. Published • 10.3389/fcimb.2023.1089911 Olivença, Francisco; Ferreira, Cláudia; Nunes, Alexandra; Silveiro, Cátia; Pimentel, Madalena; Gomes, João Paulo; Catalão, Maria João. "Identification of drivers of mycobacterial resistance to peptidoglycan synthesis inhibitors". Frontiers in Microbiology 13 (2022): 985871. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.985871. Published • 10.3389/fmicb.2022.985871 Francisco Olivença; Alexandra Nunes; Rita Macedo; David Pires; Cátia Silveiro; Elsa Anes; Maria Miragaia; et al. "Uncovering Beta-Lactam Susceptibility Patterns in Clinical Isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis through Whole-Genome Sequencing". Microbiology Spectrum (2022): https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.00674-22. 10.1128/spectrum.00674-22 Adriano M. Gigante; Francisco Olivença; Maria João Catalão; Paula Leandro; José Moniz-Pereira; Sérgio R. Filipe; Madalena Pimentel. "The Mycobacteriophage Ms6 LysB N-Terminus Displays Peptidoglycan Binding Affinity". Viruses 13 7 (2021): 1377-1377. https://doi.org/10.3390/v13071377. 10.3390/v13071377
Magazine article	Olivença, Francisco. "Antibiotics: No Action Today, No Cure Tomorrow", Farmacêutico News, 2017
Preprint	Francisco Olivença; David Pires; Cátia Silveiro; Bianca Gama; Frederico Holtreman; Elsa Anes; Maria João Catalão. "Ethambutol and Meropenem/Clavulanate Synergy Promotes Enhanced Extracellular and Intracellular Killing ofMycobacterium tuberculosis". 2023. https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.10.24.563807. 10.1101/2023.10.24.563807
Report	Silveiro, Cátia; Olivença, Francisco; Catalão, Maria João. 2018. Construction of a deletion mutant of the namH gene in Mycobacterium smegmatis and construction of a plasmid to express the protein NamH. https://drive.google.com/file/d/190LV3TXa2a_Oub8wFuRsMOwCa9oU5Sws/view?usp=sharing.

Activities

Oral presentation

	Presentation title	Event name Host (Event location)
2023/07/06	Uncovering Beta-Lactam Susceptibility Patterns in Clinical Isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis through Whole-Genome Sequencing	University of Coimbra Life Sciences Awards Departamento de Ciências da Vida, Universisdade de Coimbra (Coimbra, Portugal)
2023/04/18	Association of meropenem with ethambutol enhances the exposure of Mycobacterium tuberculosis peptidoglycan and promotes its synergistic killing	33rd European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases European Society of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (Copenhagen, Denmark)
2023/02/02	Association of meropenem with ethambutol enhances the exposure of Mycobacterium tuberculosis peptidoglycan and promotes its synergistic killing	Antimicrobial Chemotherapy Conference 2023 GARDP and the BSAC
2022/04	Ethambutol and Meropenem/Clavulanic Acid Synergy Promotes Extracellular and Intracellular Killing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis	32nd European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (Lisbon, Portugal)
2021/11/26	Mycobacteriophage Ms6 LysB: a lipolytic lysis enzyme with Peptidoglycan Binding Affinity	MICROBIOTEC'21 - Congress of Microbiology and Biotechnology 2021 Nova University of Lisbon (Lisbon, Portugal)
2020/01/31	Inhibition of Peptidoglycan Biosynthesis as a Strategy against Drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis	II Symposium of Reasearch on Tuberculosis and Nontuberculous Mycobacteria in Portugal Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon (Lisbon, Portugal)

Supervision

	Thesis Title Role	Degree Subject (Type) Institution / Organization
2021/09 - 2022/09	Characterization of Mycobacterial Genes with a Predicted Role in Beta-lactam Resistance Co-supervisor of Diana da Costa Mortinho	Mestrado em Microbiologia Aplicada (Master) Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências, Portugal
2021/09 - 2021/12	Purification of a mCherry Fluorescent Fusion of the D29 Mycobacteriophage Endolysin Cell Wall Binding Domain for Peptidoglycan Binding Studies Co-supervisor of Mariana Ruiz Estrela	Mestrado Integrado em Ciências Farmacêuticas (Scientific initiation) Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Farmácia, Portugal
2020/09 - 2021/12	Ascertaining Mycobacterial Inducible Resistance to Peptidoglycan Biossynthesis Inhibitors Co-supervisor of Cláudia Sofia Oliveira Ferreira	Ciências Biomédicas (Master) Universidade Nova de Lisboa Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Portugal
2019/06 - 2019/07	Construction of a fluorescent derivative of human Toll-like receptor 2 for mycobacterial peptidoglycan recognition Co-supervisor of Francisca Bixirão Ferreira Andersen	Biologia Celular e Molecular (Scientific initiation) Universidade Nova de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Portugal
2018/01 - 2018/02	Construção de um mutante namH em Mycobacterium smegmatis e construção de um plasmídeo para expressar a proteína NamH Co-supervisor of Cátia Raquel Lopes Silveiro	Biologia Celular e Molecular (Scientific initiation) Universidade Nova de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Portugal

Course / Discipline taught

	Academic session	Degree Subject (Type)	Institution / Organization
2018/09 - 2018/12	Bacterial Molecular Genetics (Genética Molecular Bacteriana)	Ciências Biofarmacêuticas (Mestrado)	Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Farmácia, Portugal

Mentoring / Tutoring

	Topic	Student name
2021/09 - 2021/12	Uncovering the role of papA1 in the antibiotic susceptibility of Mycobacterium smegmatis	Diogo António da Costa Fevereiro
2021/09 - 2021/12	Uncovering the role of cut3 in the antibiotic susceptibility of Mycobacterium smegmatis	Carolina Sofia de Sousa Pinheiro dos Santos Martins
2020/09 - 2021/08		Joana Margarida Cambé Simões
2019/12 - 2020/11		Frederico Holtreman
2019/09 - 2020/08	Role of the N-glycolylation of mycobacterial peptidoglycan in host immune recognition and antibiotic resistance	Cátia Raquel Lopes Silveiro
2019/09 - 2020/08		Mariana Marques
2018/09 - 2019/08	Restoring Drug Resistant Mycobacteria Susceptibility to ß-lactam Antibiotics	Bianca Carolina Ribeiro Gama
2018/09 - 2019/08		Rafael Santos

Distinctions

Award

2023	University of Coimbra Life Sciences Award - Biology Universidade de Coimbra Departamento de Ciências da Vida, Portugal
2019	Academic Merit Scholarship 2016/2017 Ministério da Educação, Portugal
2018	FFULisboa/CGD 2016-2017 Caixa Geral de Depositos, Portugal Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Farmácia, Portugal
2011	Merit Award from the Ministry of Education and Science Ministério da Educação, Portugal