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Ana Rita da Silva Santos completed her PhD in Biotechnology and Biosciences on March 1, 2023, at the University of Lisbon, Instituto Superior Técnico, her Master's degree in Biological Engineering in 2015 at the same institution, and her Bachelor's degree in Engineering Sciences - Biological Engineering in 2013, also at the University of Lisbon, Instituto Superior Técnico. She is a Contracted Researcher at the Association of Instituto Superior Técnico for Research and Development. She has published 10 articles in specialized journals, contributed to 2 book chapters, and organized 1 event. She has participated in 6 events, supervised 5 master's theses, and co-supervised 2 others. Additionally, she supervised 4 undergraduate/bachelor’s final projects. She has received 2 awards and/or honors. She has been involved as a Principal Investigator in 1 project and as a collaborator in another. Her work focuses on Engineering and Technology Sciences, with an emphasis on Industrial Biotechnology, particularly in Fermentation and Bioprocessing Technologies. In her professional activities, she has collaborated with 65 co-authors on scientific works.
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Identification

Personal identification

Full name
Ana Rita da Silva Santos

Citation names

  • A. Rita Silva-Santos
  • Ana R. Silva-Santos

Author identifiers

Ciência ID
5816-8DC2-2397
ORCID iD
0000-0001-6025-0114
Google Scholar ID
_ikilPcAAAAJ&hl
Researcher Id
ABO-0490-2022
Scopus Author Id
57189006884

Knowledge fields

  • Engineering and Technology - Industrial Biotechnology
  • Engineering and Technology - Industrial Biotechnology - Fermentation
  • Engineering and Technology - Industrial Biotechnology - Bioprocessing Technologies

Languages

Language Speaking Reading Writing Listening Peer-review
English Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1)
Education
Degree Classification
2017/09/01 - 2023/03/01
Concluded
 Biotecnologia e Biociências (Doutoramento)
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
"Biomanufacturing of DNA-origami nanostructures for bio-imaging" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
2015
Concluded
 Engenharia Biológica (Mestrado)
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
"A multimodal approach in the downstream processing of plasmid DNA" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
 17
2013
Concluded
 Ciências da Engenharia - Engenharia Biológica (Licenciatura)
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
"n/a" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
 15
Affiliation

Science

Category
Host institution 		Employer
2023/04/01 - Current Contracted Researcher (Research) Associação do Instituto Superior Técnico para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento, Portugal
iBB - Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
2016/04/15 - 2017/08/31 Research Trainee (Research) iBB - Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
Projects

Contract

Designation Funders
2025/01/01 - Current Biomanufacturing of DNA-origami nanostructures for image-guided drug delivery
2023.11117.PEX
Principal investigator
iBB - Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
2024 - Current DIG4BIO - Digitalization of Biomanufacturing of Plasmids for the development of Advanced Therapy Modalities
101159993
 European Research Executive Agency
Ongoing
2023/01 - Current Enabling worldwide vaccination by improving the mRNA quality in the manufacturing process
FE174/012023/47901
Fellow
ModernaTX
Ongoing
2023/03/01 - 2026/02/28 A Gold Nanosensor for Single-Molecule Detection of RNA Biomarkers in a Miniaturized Microscope
2022.04076.PTDC
Associação do Instituto Superior Técnico para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento, Portugal
 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Ongoing
2018/09/01 - 2021/08/31 Funcionalização de Materiais à Base de Celulose com Biomoléculas e Nanoestruturas Utilizando Estratégias de Reconhecimento Biomolecular
PTDC/CTM-CTM/30790/2017
Associação do Instituto Superior Técnico para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento, Portugal
 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Concluded
2019/01/01 - 2019/12/31 Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences
UID/BIO/04565/2019
Associação do Instituto Superior Técnico para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento, Portugal

Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Bioengenharia e Biociências, Portugal
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Concluded
Outputs

Publications

Book chapter
  1. Wagner, A.; Silva-Santos, A.R.; Rosa, S.S.; Gierak, S.; Azevedo, A.M.; Prazeres, D.M.F.. "Primary Purification of Plasmid DNA Using Differential Isopropanol Precipitation". 151-165. 2021.
    10.1007/978-1-0716-0872-2_8
  2. Silva-Santos, A.R.; Rosa, S.S.; Prazeres, D.M.F.; Azevedo, A.M.. "Purification of Plasmid DNA by Multimodal Chromatography". 193-205. 2021.
    10.1007/978-1-0716-0872-2_10
Conference paper
  1. Ulpiano, C.; Alves, C.A.P.; Silva-Santos, A.R.; Serra, J.; Da Silva, C.L.; Monteiro, G.A.; Santos, Ana. "RNAi as a tool to inhibit the angiogenic potential of human Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells in malignancy". 2019.
    10.1109/ENBENG.2019.8692558
Conference poster
  1. José Santos; A. Rita Silva-Santos; Serra, Vanda Vaz; Duarte Miguel F Prazeres; Zijlstra, Peter; Sílvia M B Costa; Pedro M.R. Paulo. "Single-molecule fluorescence enabled by nanogap gold antennas toward imaging and biosensing". Paper presented in S3IC 2024 – Single-Molecule Sensors and nanoSystems International Conference, 2024.
  2. José Santos; Serra, Vanda Vaz; A. Rita Silva-Santos; Prazeres, Duarte Miguel F.; Zijlstra, Peter; Silvia MB Costa; Pedro Miguel Neves Ribeiro Paulo. "Single-molecule fluorescence enabled by nanogap gold antennas toward imaging and biosensing". Paper presented in NanoSeries2024 – 3rd Edition NanoSeries Conference on Global Nanotechnology, 2024.
  3. A. Rita Silva-Santos; Oliveira-Silva, Rui; Pedro Miguel Neves Ribeiro Paulo; Prazeres, Duarte Miguel F.. "Single-step purification of ssDNA scaffolds using affinity magnetic beads for DNA-origami biomanufacturing". Paper presented in ISPPP 2021, 2021.
  4. A. Rita Silva-Santos; Cláudia P. A. Alves; Michaela Šimciková; Gabriel A. Monteiro; Ana M. Azevedo; Duarte Miguel F. Prazeres. "Multimodal chromatography of supercoiled minicircles: a closer look into DNA-ligand interactions". Paper presented in ESBES2018, 2018.
  5. Emanuel V. Capela; A. Rita Silva-Santos; Isabel Campos-Pinto; Miguel A. Rodríguez; Poondi R. Gavara; Marcelo Fernandez-Lahore; M Raquel Aires-Barros; Ana M. Azevedo. "LYTAG- driven purification strategies as a key to integrate and intensify the downstream processing of monoclonal antibodies". Paper presented in MicroBiotec'17, 2017.
  6. A. Rita Silva-Santos; Cláudia P. A. Alves; Ana M. Azevedo; Duarte Miguel F Prazeres. "Separation of plasmid DNA topoisomers by multimodal chromatography". Paper presented in MicroBiotec'15, 2015.
Journal article
  1. Coutinho, Gonçalo; Warlitz, Philipp; Silva-Santos, Ana R.; Prazeres, Duarte M.; Moita, Ana; Kriegseis, Jochen; Moreira, António; Rossi, Massimiliano. "Enhanced three-dimensional particle detection in microcirculation experiments with defocus particle tracking and ghost red blood cells". Experiments in Fluids 65 11 (2024): http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00348-024-03897-8.
    10.1007/s00348-024-03897-8
  2. Coutinho, Gonçalo; Warlitz, Philipp; Silva-Santos, A. Rita; Silva, Ricardo M.; Moita, Ana; Prazeres, Duarte Miguel F.; Kriegseis, Jochen; Moreira, António L. N.; Rossi, Massimiliano. "Ghost Red Blood Cells For Enhanced Particle Detection With Defocusing PTV In Microcirculation Experiments". Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Application of Laser and Imaging Techniques to Fluid Mechanics 21 (2024): 1-11. http://dx.doi.org/10.55037/lxlaser.21st.114.
    10.55037/lxlaser.21st.114
  3. Silva-Santos, A. Rita; Rosa, Sara Sousa; Marques, Marco P. C.; Azevedo, Ana M.; Prazeres, Duarte Miguel F.. "Quantification of ssDNA Scaffold Production by Ion-Pair Reverse Phase Chromatography". ACS Omega (2024): https://publons.com/wos-op/publon/68364837/.
    10.1021/ACSOMEGA.3C10533
  4. Silva-Santos, A. Rita; Paulo, Pedro M.R.; F. Prazeres, Duarte Miguel. "Scalable purification of single stranded DNA scaffolds for biomanufacturing DNA-origami nanostructures: Exploring anion-exchange and multimodal chromatography". Separation and Purification Technology 298 (2022): 121623. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2022.121623.
    10.1016/j.seppur.2022.121623
  5. Behler, Karl L.; Honemann, Maximilian N.; Silva-Santos, Ana R.; Dietz, Hendrik; Weuster-Botz, Dirk. "Phage-free production of artificial ssDNA with Escherichia coli". Biotechnology and Bioengineering 119 10 (2022): 2878-2889. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bit.28171.
    10.1002/bit.28171
  6. A. Rita Silva-Santos; Oliveira-Silva, Rui; Rosa, Sara; Pedro Miguel Neves Ribeiro Paulo; Prazeres, Duarte Miguel F.. Corresponding author: Prazeres, Duarte Miguel F.. "Affinity-Based Magnetic Particles for the Purification of Single-Stranded DNA Scaffolds for Biomanufacturing DNA-Origami Nanostructures". ACS Applied Nano Materials 4 12 (2021): 14169-14177. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.1c03623.
    10.1021/acsanm.1c03623
  7. Silva-Santos, A. Rita; Alves, Cláudia P.A.; Monteiro, Gabriel; Azevedo, Ana M.; Prazeres, Duarte Miguel F.. "Multimodal chromatography of supercoiled minicircles: A closer look into DNA-ligand interactions". Separation and Purification Technology 212 (2019): 161-170. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2018.11.015.
    10.1016/j.seppur.2018.11.015
  8. Campos-Pinto, Isabel; Capela, Emanuel V; Silva-Santos, A Rita; Rodríguez, Miguel Arévalo; Gavara, Poondi Rajesh; Fernandez-Lahore, Marcelo; Aires-Barros, M Raquel; Azevedo, Ana M. "LYTAG-driven purification strategies for monoclonal antibodies using quaternary amine ligands as affinity matrices". Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology 93 7 (2017): 1966-1974. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jctb.5460.
    10.1002/jctb.5460
  9. Silva-Santos, A.R.; Alves, C.P.A.; Prazeres, D.M.F.; Azevedo, A.M.. "A process for supercoiled plasmid DNA purification based on multimodal chromatography". Separation and Purification Technology 182 (2017): 94-100. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85016519878&partnerID=MN8TOARS.
    10.1016/j.seppur.2017.03.042
  10. Silva-Santos, A.R.; Alves, C.P.A.; Prazeres, D.M.F.; Azevedo, A.M.. "Separation of plasmid DNA topoisomers by multimodal chromatography". Analytical Biochemistry 503 (2016): 68-70. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84964681172&partnerID=MN8TOARS.
    10.1016/j.ab.2016.03.012
Thesis / Dissertation
  1. "Biomanufacturing of DNA-origami nanostructures for bio-imaging". PhD, Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, 2024.
  2. Santos, Ana. "A multimodal approach in the downstream processing of plasmid DNA". Master, Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, 2015.
Activities

Oral presentation

Presentation title Event name
Host (Event location)
2024/11 Improving mRNA stability and expression: 5’ UTR optimization in vaccine development Biomanufacturing Without Borders (BMWB) 2024
(Lisbon, Portugal)
2024/10 Enhancement of mRNA quality for improved vaccine development ESBES 2024
(Copenhaga, Denmark)
2024/06 3-D printed matrices for the purification of plasmid DNA via steric exclusion chromatography RXX – Recovery of Biological Products XX
(Sunriver, Oregon, United States)
2023/09 Towards industrial manufacturing of DNA-origami nanostructures: scalling up ssDNA scaffold purification ISPPP 2023
(Viena, Austria)
2022/09 Quantification of ssDNA scaffold production by ion-pair reverse phase chromatography BPP2022 - Biopartitioning & Purification Conference
(Aveiro, Portugal)
2021/11 DNA-origami nanostructures: exploring chromatography for the purification of single stranded DNA scaffolds ISPPP 2021
(Porto, Portugal)
2021/09 Chromatographic isolation of single stranded DNA scaffolds for biomanufacturing scale-up of DNA-origami nanostructures ECAB 2021
2021/09 Magnetic particles as affinity-based ligands: purification of single stranded DNA scaffolds for biomanufacturing DNA-origami nanostructures ECAB 2021
2021/06 Magnetic particles as affinity-based ligands: purification of single stranded DNA scaffolds for biomanufacturing DNA-origami nanostructures Affinity 2021
2021/05 Magnetic particles as affinity-based ligands for the purification of single stranded DNA scaffolds for biomanufacturing DNA-origami nanostructures ESBES2021
2021/05 Chromatographic isolation of single stranded DNA scaffolds for biomanufacturing of DNA-origami nanostructures SBCN 2021
2019/12 Chromatographic purification of single stranded DNA scaffolds for biomanufacturing DNA-origami nanostructures MicroBiotec'19
(Coimbra, Portugal)
2017/12 Multimodal chromatography of supercoiled minicircles: a closer look into DNA-ligand interactions MicroBiotec'17
(Porto, Portugal)
2017/11 Tandem precipitation and enzymatic digestion for intermediate recovery of nucleic acids ABC2 – Anything But Conventional Chromatography Workshop
(Lisboa, Portugal)
2017/05 Combining enzymatic topology modification and multimodal chromatography for minicircle purification II International Congress in Health Sciences Research
(Covilhã, Portugal)
2017/03 Purification of Minicircles by Combined Enzymatic Modification of Miniplasmid Topology and Multimodal Chromatography ECI Separation Technology IX: New Frontiers in Media, Techniques, and Technologies
(Albufeira, Portugal)

Supervision

Thesis Title
Role 		Degree Subject (Type)
Institution / Organization
2024/09/01 - Current Obtenção de vacinas de RNA mensageiro por tecnologias emergentes de produção e purificação
Co-supervisor of Alice Aline Lima Fermino
 Biotecnologia (Master)
Universidade da Beira Interior, Portugal
2023/09 - Current Development of a downstream platform for the purification of mRNA vaccines
Supervisor of Dalila Margarida Tiago Pedro
 Biotecnologia (Master)
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
2024/02 - 2024/11 Continuous alkaline lysis of plasmid-containing E. coli cells using an oscillatory flow reactor
Supervisor of Carla Cristina dos Reis Lopes
 Engenharia Farmacêutica (Master)
Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Farmácia, Portugal
2024/02 - 2024/06 An eventual role of using the peptide apitoxin as anti-Candida agent
Supervisor of Maria de Almeida Rodrigues Miguens
 Engenharia Biológica (Degree)
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
2024/02 - 2024/06 Steric exclusion chromatography of plasmid DNA: effect of plasmid size
Supervisor of Diogo Jorge Cardoso Pereira Beirão Oneto
 Engenharia Biológica (Degree)
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
2024/02 - 2024/06 Towards industrial manufacturing of DNA-origami nanostructures: scalling-up scaffold production
Supervisor of Gonçalo Nuno Parreira Ribeiro
 Engenharia Biológica (Degree)
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
2024/02 - 2024/06 Enhancing product quality of monoclonal antibody streams by multimodal chromatography
Supervisor of Rita Bastos de Albuquerque
 Engenharia Biológica (Degree)
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
2023/09 - 2024/02 Linearization and Purification of Plasmid DNA for in vitro transcription reactions
Co-supervisor of Alessandro Abbate
 Sustainable Technologies and Biotechnologies for Energy and Materials (Master)
Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna, Italy
2023/02 - 2024/01 Enhancement of mRNA quality for improved vaccine development
Supervisor of Vanessa Xinyi Ji
 Engenharia Biológica (Master)
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
2023/03 - 2023/11 3D-Printed Matrices for the Purification of Plasmid DNA
Supervisor of Joana da Costa Silva
 Engenharia Farmacêutica (Master)
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
2023/02 - 2023/11 Scalling-up ssDNA scaffold purification for DNA-origami nanostructures assembly
Supervisor of Joana Silva Mendes
 Engenharia Farmacêutica (Master)
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal

Event organisation

Event name
Type of event (Role) 		Institution / Organization
2017/09 - 2018/10 12TH SYMPOSIUM OF THE EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF BIOCHEMICAL ENGINEERING SCIENCES - ESBES 2018 (2018/09)
Conference (Member of the Organising Committee)
 Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Bioengenharia e Biociências, Portugal

Event participation

Activity description
Type of event 		Event name
Institution / Organization
2024/10/21 - 2024/10/24 Model-based techniques (DIG4BIO project)
Workshop
Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, Denmark
2024/09/10 - 2024/09/12 Introduction to Python (DIG4BIO Project)
Workshop
iBB - Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
2023/10/10 - 2023/10/10 Global Fellowship Meeting
Meeting
ModernaTX, United States
2018/09/30 - 2018/10/03 Drug Development course - 3rd edition
Workshop
European Society for Animal Cell Technology, Germany
2018/09/18 - 2018/09/22 Cell Culture-based Viral Vaccines Course, 4th Edition
Workshop
European Society for Animal Cell Technology, Germany
2018/08/15 - 2018/08/25 BIOPRO World Talent Campus
Workshop
Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, Denmark

Novo Nordisk Fonden, Denmark

Jury of academic degree

Topic
Role 		Candidate name (Type of degree)
Institution / Organization
2024/11 Production and purification of tagged proteins
(Thesis) Arguer
 Mariana Gonçalves Tomé Fidalgo (Master)
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
2024/11 Optimization of microfluidic systems for chromatography applications in PDMS and COC structures
(Thesis) Arguer
 Rafael Santos Batista (Master)
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
2024/07 Strategies to integrate and intensify the manufacturing of biological products
(Thesis) Arguer
 Diogo Filipe Frazão Ferreira Faria (PhD)
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
2023/12 RNA Binding of the MYC oncoproteins
(Thesis) Arguer
 Rita Videira Tomás (Master)
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
2023/12 Exploring the anti-Candida properties of recombinant and purified melittin
(Thesis) Arguer
 Ana Luísa Louro de Oliveira (Master)
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
2023/11 Scalable production of bacteriophages preparations
(Thesis) Arguer
 João Pedro Prinas de Almeida Saavedra (Master)
Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal

Ad Hoc journal article review

Journal title (ISSN) Publisher
2023 - Current Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal Elsevier
2023 - Current Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences Frontiers
2023 - Current Journal of Chromatography A Elsevier
2022 - Current Journal of Chromatography B Elsevier

Course / Discipline taught

Academic session Degree Subject (Type) Institution / Organization
2023/11 - 2024/01 Integrated Biological Engineering Laboratory (supervision of 2 Independent Laboratory Projects) Engenharia Biológica (Mestrado integrado) Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
2023/12/05 - 2023/12/05 Biomolecular Engineering (Teaching an invited seminar on DNA-origami technology) Master in Bioengineering and Nanosystems (MBioNano); Master in Biotechnology; Biological Engineering; Biomedical Engineering (Mestrado) (Mestrado) Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
2022/12/20 - 2022/12/20 Biomolecular Engineering (Teaching an invited seminar on DNA-origami technology) Master in Bioengineering and Nanosystems (MBioNano); Master in Biotechnology; Biological Engineering; Biomedical Engineering (Mestrado) (Mestrado) Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
2022/01/19 - 2022/01/19 Biomolecular Engineering (Teaching an invited seminar on DNA-origami technology) Master in Bioengineering and Nanosystems (MBioNano); Master in Biotechnology; Biological Engineering; Biomedical Engineering (Mestrado) (Mestrado) Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
2021/05/25 - 2021/05/25 Biomolecular Engineering (Teaching an invited seminar on DNA-origami technology) Master in Bioengineering and Nanosystems (MBioNano); Master in Biotechnology; Biological Engineering; Biomedical Engineering (Mestrado) Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
2020/05/19 - 2020/05/19 Biomolecular Engineering (Teaching an invited seminar on DNA-origami technology) Master in Bioengineering and Nanosystems (MBioNano); Master in Biotechnology; Biological Engineering; Biomedical Engineering (Mestrado) (Mestrado) Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
Distinctions

Award

2021 Bronze VIJI award at SBCN 2021
2021 Best Poster Prize at ISPPP 2021