Rita Pombinho (9811-3FA6-7F4F)

Curriculum Vitae

Rita Pombinho

I finished my degree in Microbiology in 2009 and my Master in Applied Microbiology in 2011. Since then, I became interested to explore pathogen lifestyle and host response mechanisms. I finished my PhD in Biomedical Sciences in April 2018. I contributed to understand the host/pathogen interplay, unveiling and characterizing novel bacterial and host cell factors involved in infection. During my first experience as a Post-Doctoral Researcher, I explored the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying cell intoxication by different bacterial toxins. I was recently granted with the Individual Call to Scientific Employment Stimulus and I am interested to characterize the spatiotemporal virulence gene expression patterns in individual bacteria that succeed to establish infection and further explore new candidates for innovative therapeutic interventions against Gram-positive pathogens.

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Identification

Personal identification

Full name: Rita Pombinho

Citation names

Pombinho R.

Author identifiers

Ciência ID: 9811-3FA6-7F4F
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7654-2568
Scopus Author Id: 56108305900

Email addresses

rita_pombinho@ibmc.up.pt (Professional)
rita_pombinho@hotmail.com (Personal)

Telephones

Telephone

220408800 (Professional)

Addresses

IBMC - I3S. Rua Alfredo Allen, 4200-135 , Porto, Porto, Portugal (Professional)

Websites

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/ (Professional)

Knowledge fields

Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Microbiology

Languages

Language	Speaking	Reading	Writing	Listening	Peer-review
English	Advanced (C1)	Advanced (C1)	Advanced (C1)	Advanced (C1)	Advanced (C1)
Portuguese	Proficiency (C2)	Proficiency (C2)	Proficiency (C2)	Proficiency (C2)	Proficiency (C2)
Spanish; Castilian	Elementary (A2)	Upper intermediate (B2)	Beginner (A1)	Advanced (C1)	Advanced (C1)

Education

	Degree	Classification
2013 - 2018 Concluded	Biomedical Sciences (Doutoramento) Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Portugal "Unravelling new innate immune response to Listeria monocytogenes infection" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
2009 - 2011 Concluded	Applied Microbiology (Mestrado) Universidade Católica Portuguesa Escola Superior de Biotecnologia, Portugal "Identification and characterization of new Listeria monocytogenes virulence factors" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)	17
2006 - 2009 Concluded	Microbiology (Licenciatura) Universidade Católica Portuguesa Escola Superior de Biotecnologia, Portugal "The effect of wine consumption on Lactobacillus acidophilus" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)	15

Affiliation

Others

	Category Host institution	Employer
2022/05/01 - Current	Junior Research (CEEC 4th edition) - Single-cell spatiotemporal analysis of Listeria monocytogenes virulence gene expression during infection	Associação para a Inovação e Desenvolvimento da FCT, Portugal

2021/11/01 - 2022/04/30	Junior Research - Assessing SARS-CoV-2 co-infections, seasonality and infectiveness along the COVID-19 pandemic while implementing faster diagnosis	PORTUGAL2020, Portugal

2019/02/01 - 2021/10/31	Junior Research - New targets for anti-virulence strategies	Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Portugal

2018/06/01 - 2018/11/30	Post Doctoral fellowship - Host cell factors and molecular mechanisms implicated in intoxication by AIP56, a bacterial toxin targeting NF-kB	Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Portugal

2017/04/01 - 2017/12/31	Master fellowship - Unravelling new innate immune response to Listeria monocytogenes infection	Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Portugal

2013/03/01 - 2017/03/01	PhD fellowship - Unravelling new innate immune response to Listeria monocytogenes infection	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal

2012/01/01 - 2013/02/28	Master fellowship - Identification and characterization of new Listeria monocytogenes virulence factors	Universidade do Porto Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Portugal

2009/09/15 - 2011/11/30	Research fellowship - Identification and characterization of new Listeria monocytogenes virulence factors	Universidade do Porto Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Portugal

2009/02/01 - 2009/07/31	Degree thesis - The effect of wine consumption on Lactobacillus acidophilus	Universidade Católica Portuguesa Escola Superior de Biotecnologia, Portugal

Projects

Grant

	Designation	Funders
2022 - Current	Single-cell spatiotemporal analysis of Listeria monocytogenes virulence gene expression during infection 2021.02924.CEECIND Researcher	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
2021 - Current	GlyTarget CI21-00035	Caixabank SA Ongoing
2024 - 2025	Single-cell spatiotemporal analysis of Listeria monocytogenes virulence gene expression during infection ESCMID Principal investigator
2021/11 - 2022/04	Assessing SARS-CoV-2 co-infections, seasonality and infectiveness along the COVID-19 pandemic while implementing faster diagnosis NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-072535 Researcher	European Commission Ongoing
2019/02 - 2021/10	Cell Wall glycosylation: an original target for innovative antimicrobial strategies against Gram-positive pathogens PTDC/SAU-INF/30020/2017-030020	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
2016/01 - 2018/12	Host cell factors and molecular mechanisms implicated in intoxication by AIP56, a bacterial toxin targeting NF-kB Provided by PTCRIS: 140633 PTDC/BIA-MIC/2007/2014	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
2014/09 - 2017/08	Subversive pro- and anti-inflammation trade-offs promote infection by Listeria monocytogenes Provided by PTCRIS: 137216	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
2013/03 - 2017/03	Unraveling the role of Scavenger Receptors in Listeria infection SFRH/BD/89542/2012	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
2011/08 - 2015/02	Characterization of two new Listeria monocytogenes virulence genes up-regulated during in vivo infection: role of cadmium efflux system and teichoic acid decoration in Listeria pathogenicity Provided by PTCRIS: 111581	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
2011/04 - 2014/09	Unraveling the interplay between Listeria monocytogenes infection and the host cell cycle Provided by PTCRIS: 111215	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
2011/03 - 2014/08	LISTRESS. Analysis of the cellular mechanisms underlying the early response of the host to stress induced by Listeria infection: Teichoic acid modifications, surface protein anchoring and virulence. Provided by PTCRIS: 116472	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Contract

	Designation	Funders
2022/01/01 - 2024/12/31	Características genotípicas e fenotípicas que contribuem para a persistência de Listeria monocytogenes em ambiente de processamento alimentar PTDC/BAA-AGR/4194/2021 Universidade Católica Portuguesa Portuguesa Centro de Biotecnologia e Química Fina, Portugal Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária, Portugal Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Portugal Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Ongoing
2019/01/01 - 2019/12/31	Institute for Research and Innovation in Health Sciences UID/BIM/04293/2019 LA/P/0070/2020 10.54499/LA/P/0070/2020 Instituto Nacional de Engenharia Biomédica, Portugal Universidade do Porto, Portugal Universidade do Porto Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Portugal Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Portugal Universidade do Porto Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Concluded
2014/09/01 - 2017/08/31	A subversão do equilíbrio da resposta pro- e anti-inflamatória promove a infecção por Listeria monocytogenes Infect-ERA/0001/2013 Universidade do Porto Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Concluded
2011/04/01 - 2014/09/30	Estudo da influência da infecção por Listeria monocytogenes no ciclo celular da célula hospedeira PTDC/BIA-BCM/111215/2009 Universidade do Porto Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Concluded
2011/01/01 - 2012/12/31	Projecto Estratégico - LA 2 - 2011-2012 PEst-C/SAU/LA0002/2011 Universidade do Porto Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Portugal Instituto Nacional de Engenharia Biomédica, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Concluded

Outputs

Publications

Conference poster	Meireles, Diana; Pombinho R.; Lisboa, Johnny; Sousa, Sandra; Morais-Cabral, João; Cabanes, Didier. "Biochemical characterization of CadC: a key transcriptional regulator of Listeria monocytogenes virulence factors". Paper presented in 21st International Symposium on Problems of Listeria and Listeriosis (ISOPOL), 2024. Meireles, Diana; Pombinho R.; Lisboa, Johnny; Sousa, Sandra; Morais-Cabral, João; Cabanes, Didier. "Unveiling the biochemical mechanisms of the Listeria monocytogenes transcriptional repressor CadC". Paper presented in One Health PhD Forum, 2024. Meireles, Diana; Pombinho R.; Lisboa, Johnny; Monteiro, Ricardo; Sousa, Sandra; Morais-Cabral, João; Cabanes, Didier. "Unravelling signals underlying Listeria monocytogenes cadC regulation". Paper presented in European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, 2024. Meireles, Diana; Pombinho R.; Lisboa, Johnny; Monteiro, Ricardo; Sousa, Sandra; Morais-Cabral, João; Cabanes, Didier. "Uncovering the signals behind the expression of the Listeria monocytogenes regulator CadC". Paper presented in 10th Molecular and Cell Biology Symposium, 2024. Alves, Ângela; Pombinho R.; Sousa, Sandra; Cabanes, Didier. "PurA, an adenylosuccinate synthetase required for Listeria monocytogenes intracellular lifecycle". Paper presented in EMBO \| EMBL Symposium: New approaches and concepts in microbiology, 2023. Pombinho, R.; Meireles, D.; Pombinho, A.; Maia, A.; Sousa, S.; Cabanes, D.. "Automated high-throughput microscopy screen for Listeria monocytogenes factors required for intracellular infection". Paper presented in 32nd ECCMID, 2022. Pombinho, R.; Meireles, D.; Maia, A.; Pombinho, A.; Sousa, S.; Cabanes, D.. "New targets for anti-virulence strategies.". Paper presented in I3S Scientific Retreat, 2019. Pombinho, R.; Pinheiro J.; Jalkanen S.; Sousa S.; Cabanes D. "Unraveling the role of Scavenger Receptors in Listeria infection". Paper presented in 100 years of Phagocytes, Giardini Naxos, Sicily, Italy, 2016. Pombinho, R.; Sousa, S.; Cabanes, D. "Unraveling the role of Scavenger Receptors in Listeria infection". Paper presented in I3S Scientific Retreat, 2014. Pombinho, R.; Camejo, A.; Vieira, A.; Reis, O.; Carvalho, F.; Archambaud, C.; Cossart, P.; Sousa, S.; Cabanes, D. "Listeria monocytogenes CadC regulates cadmium efflux and virulence genes". Paper presented in Host-Microbes Interactions, Spetses, Greece, 2013. Pombinho, R.; Henriques, A.; Carvalho, F.; Reis, O.; Vieira, A.; Sousa, S.; Cabanes, D. "Lmo0463, a new Listeria monocytogenes virulence factor identified by Targeted Signature Mutagenesis and PCR Screening". Paper presented in I3S Scientific Retreat, 2012. Pombinho, R.; Camejo, A.; Reis, O.; Sousa, S; Cabanes, D. "Identification and characterization of novel virulence factors implicated in Listeria monocytogenes virulence". Paper presented in I3S Scientific Retreat, 2011. Pombinho, R.; Ferreira, P.; Camejo, A.; Carvalho, F.; Sousa, S.; Cabanes, D. "Characterization of the role of the multifunctional glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in Listeria monocytogenes virulence". Paper presented in Microbiotec, 2011.
Journal article	Diana Meireles; Rita Pombinho; Didier Cabanes. "Signals behind Listeria monocytogenes virulence mechanisms". Gut Microbes (2024): http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19490976.2024.2369564. 10.1080/19490976.2024.2369564 Pedro M. Rodrigues; Laura G. Sousa; Chiara Perrod; Ana R. Maceiras; Pedro Ferreirinha; Rita Pombinho; Gema Romera-Cárdenas; et al. "LAMP2 regulates autophagy in the thymic epithelium and thymic stroma-dependent CD4 T cell development". Autophagy 19 2 (2023): 426-439. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15548627.2022.2074105. 10.1080/15548627.2022.2074105 Pombinho, Rita; Pinheiro, Jorge; Resende, Mariana; Meireles, Diana; Jalkanen, Sirpa; Sousa, Sandra; Cabanes, Didier. "Stabilin-1 plays a protective role against Listeria monocytogenes infection through the regulation of cytokine and chemokine production and immune cell recruitment". Virulence 12 1 (2021): 2088-2103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21505594.2021.1958606. 10.1080/21505594.2021.1958606 Meireles, Diana; Pombinho, Rita; Carvalho, Filipe; Sousa, Sandra; Cabanes, Didier. "Listeria monocytogenes Wall Teichoic Acid Glycosylation Promotes Surface Anchoring of Virulence Factors, Resistance to Antimicrobial Peptides, and Decreased Susceptibility to Antibiotics". Pathogens 9 4 (2020): 290. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens9040290. 10.3390/pathogens9040290 Pombinho, Rita; Vieira, Ana; Camejo, Ana; Archambaud, Cristel; Cossart, Pascale; Sousa, Sandra; Cabanes, Didier. "Virulence gene repression promotes Listeria monocytogenes systemic infection". Gut Microbes (2020): 1-14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19490976.2020.1712983. 10.1080/19490976.2020.1712983 Pombinho, R.; Sousa, S.; Cabanes, D. "Scavenger Receptors: Promiscuous Players during Microbial Pathogenesis". Critical Reviews in Microbiology 44 6 (2018): 685-700. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1040841x.2018.1493716. 10.1080/1040841x.2018.1493716 Pinheiro, J.; Lisboa, J.; Pombinho, R.; Carvalho, F.; Carreaux, A.; Brito, C.; Pöntinen, A.; et al. "MouR controls the expression of the Listeria monocytogenes Agr system and mediates virulence". Nucleic acids research 46 18 (2018): 9338-9352. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85054896319&partnerID=MN8TOARS. 10.1093/nar/gky624 Pombinho, R.; Camejo, A.; Vieira, A.; Reis, O.; Carvalho, F.; Almeida, M.T.; Pinheiro, J.C.; Sousa, S.; Cabanes, D. "Listeria monocytogenes CadC regulates cadmium efflux and fine-tunes lipoprotein localization to escape the host immune response and promote infection". Journal of Infectious Diseases 215 9 (2017): 1468-1479. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85021919420&partnerID=MN8TOARS. 10.1093/infdis/jix118 Carvalho, F.; Atilano, M.; Pombinho, R.; Covas, G.; Gallo, R.; Filipe, S.; Sousa, S.; Cabanes, D. "L-Rhamnosylation of Listeria monocytogenes Wall Teichoic Acids Promotes Resistance to Antimicrobial Peptides by Delaying Interaction with the Membrane". PLOS Pathogens 11 5 (2015): e1004919. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1004919. 10.1371/journal.ppat.1004919 Leitão, Elsa; Catarina Costa, A.; Brito, C.; Costa, L.; Pombinho, R.; Cabanes, D.; Sousa, S. "Listeria monocytogenes induces host DNA damage and delays the host cell cycle to promote infection". Cell Cycle 13 6 (2014): 928-940. http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/cc.27780. 10.4161/cc.27780 Henriques, A.; Carvalho, F.; Pombinho, R.; Reis, O.; Sousa, S.; Cabanes, D. "PCR-based screening of targeted mutants for the fast and simultaneous identification of bacterial virulence factors". BioTechniques (2012): http://dx.doi.org/10.2144/000113906. 10.2144/000113906
Preprint	Ricardo Monteiro; Tatiana B. Cereija; Rita Pombinho; Sandra Sousa; João H. Morais-Cabral; Didier Cabanes. "Molecular properties of RmlT, a wall teichoic acid rhamnosyltransferase that modulatesListeria monocytogenesvirulence and antibiotic resistance". 2024. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.01.23.574818. 10.1101/2024.01.23.574818

Activities

Oral presentation

	Presentation title	Event name Host (Event location)
2021/11	Virulence gene repression promotes Listeria monocytogenes systemic infection	Microbiotec 2021 (Portugal)
2019/05	Bacterial regulators repurposed during infection to evade host immune system	i3s ImmunoHub (Portugal)
2018/02	Unravelling new innate immune responses to Listeria monocytogenes infection	i3s ImmunoHub (Portugal)
2016/11	Stabilin-1 is a new scavenger receptor involved in Listeria infection	I3S Scientific Retreat (Portugal)

Supervision

	Thesis Title Role	Degree Subject (Type) Institution / Organization
2022/01 - Current	Signals controlling Listeria monocytogenes virulence Co-supervisor of Diana Meireles
2021/01 - Current	Single-cell spatiotemporal analysis of Listeria monocytogenes virulence gene expression during infection Co-supervisor of Ângela Alves
2021/10 - 2022/06	Genome wide identification and characterization of new Listeria monocytogenes virulence factors Co-supervisor of Érica Pisco
2020/10 - 2021/07	New targets for anti-virulence strategies Co-supervisor of Chiara Suriano	Master
2020/09 - 2021/06	Characterization and spatiotemporal analysis of Listeria monocytogenes gene expression during infection Co-supervisor of Mariana Sousa
2019/01 - 2020/02	Characterization of new Listeria monocytogenes virulence genes up-regulated during in vivo infection: role of teichoic acid decoration in Listeria pathogenicity Co-supervisor of Diana Meireles	Master
2019/01 - 2019/12	Characterization of new Listeria monocytogenes virulence genes up-regulated during in vivo infection Co-supervisor of Ana Gonçalves

Event participation

	Activity description Type of event	Event name Institution / Organization
2024/02/02 - 2024/02/02	MSc Open Day i3S Exhibition
2022/02 - 2022/02	MSc Open Day i3S Exhibition
2019 - 2020	UPrise Talent Academy networking events: professionals of different areas guide student´s professional careers Round table	Usucceed; UPrise Talent Academy

Consulting

	Activity description	Institution / Organization
2021/01 - Current	Peer revision of manuscripts (Foods; Pathogens; Pharmaceutics)
2014 - 2017	Participation in peer revision of manuscripts (Frontiers in Microbiology / Research in Microbiology)

Course / Discipline taught

	Academic session	Institution / Organization
2019/05/27 - 2019/05/31	Course on High Throughput Screening and Image Analysis for Biosciences	Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Portugal
2019/02 - 2019/03	Zebra Fish and Sea Bass \| Introductory Lab Animal Course	Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Portugal
2013/08/30 - 2013/09/07	EMBO-FEBS Lecture Course: Host-Microbes Interactions	Federation of European Biochemical Societies, United Kingdom
2011/10/19 - 2011/10/21	FRAME Reduction Steering Committee Training School in the Experimental Design and Statistical Analysis of Biomedical Experiments	Universidade do Porto Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Portugal
2010/09/01 - 2010/09/14	Course in Laboratory Animal Science – Category C, accredited by FELASA	Universidade do Porto Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Portugal

Evaluation committee

	Activity description Role	Institution / Organization	Funding entity
2022/03 - 2022/03	Poster evaluation committee of the Molecular and Cell Biology Symposium Evaluator

Mentoring / Tutoring

	Topic	Student name
2014 - 2015	Identification and characterization of new Listeria monocytogenes virulence factors	Inês Moranguinho (Master student)
2011 - 2013	Characterization of new Listeria monocytogenes virulence genes up-regulated during in vivo infection: role of cadmium efflux system in Listeria pathogenicity	Ana Vieira (Master student)

Other jury / evaluation

	Activity description	Institution / Organization
2023/12/14 - Current	Juri member of the Master Thesis of Maria Carolina Almeida da Silva	Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal
2023/10/26 - Current	Evaluation of the thesis project presentations of the MCbiology students 2022/2023

Distinctions

Award

2013	Youth Travel Fund (YTF) by Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) - course of Host-Microbes Interactions, Spetses, Greece