Daniela Ribeiro
group leader
Daniela Ribeiro graduated in Biochemistry (University of Porto, Portugal) and obtained a PhD at Wageningen University, The Netherlands. After two postdocs (Spain and Portugal), in 2015 she became the group leader of the Virus Host-Cell Interactions Laboratory at the Institute of Biomedicine (iBiMED), University of Aveiro (UA). She was awarded (FCT call CEEC-IND-2017) an Assistant Researcher position (2019-2023), and currently holds a tenured Assistant Researcher position.
In the last years she contributed to major advances in the knowledge of peroxisome biology and demonstrated that peroxisomes play a role on the malignant transformation in prostate cancer. Recently, her team has developed an interest on the interplay between viruses and the host translation machinery, and have also demonstrated that influenza A virus propagation requires the activation of the UPR and the accumulation of insoluble protein aggregates.
Her team has significantly contributed to highlight the importance of peroxisomes for the establishment of a robust cellular response against viral infections, and have demonstrated that two distinct viruses, the human cytomegalovirus and the hepatitis C virus, have developed specific mechanisms to counteract the peroxisome-dependent antiviral response.
Daniela teaches different courses at the University of Aveiro, being currently the main responsible lecturer for the Virology course (BSc in Biomedical Sciences), the Scientific Writing and Communication course (PhD program on Rehabilitation Sciences) and the Scientific Communication in Biomedicine course (PhD program in Biomedicine).
Daniela currently leads a team of 1 Post-doc, 5 PhD students and 5 MSc students. In the past she has supervised 3 postdocs, 7 PhD students and 27 MSc students.
Daniela obtained over €5M funding as Principal Investigator/Coordinator from national (FCT) and international (Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe) sources.
Daniela is the Director of the PhD program on Biomedicine, and the Coordinator of the Biosafety-level 2 Cell Culture Facility at the iBiMED, UA. Daniela also belongs to the Council of the University of Aveiro Graduate School, to the Scientific Council of the Institute of Biomedicine, and to the Scientific Council of the Department of Medical Sciences of the University of Aveiro.