Rita Lourenço
Rita holds a BSc degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology (2016) and an MSc degree in Molecular Genetics and Biomedicine (2018) from NOVA School of Science and Technology—NOVA University of Lisbon (FCT NOVA). She recently completed her PhD in Biology at FCT NOVA, where she explored the role of glycans in cancer development and progression, their influence on immune system responses, and their potential as biomarkers for cancer prognosis and therapeutic targeting.
Her research combined extensive in vitro cellular and molecular techniques and analysing cancer-associated glycans in tumour tissues, clinical datasets, and transcriptomic and glycomic data. Through this work, she developed a foundational skill set in computational biology, particularly in data analysis and visualization, effectively bridging experimental and computational research.
Motivated by her passion for bioinformatics, Rita joined the Computational Multi-Omics Lab (FCT NOVA/UCIBIO, Lisbon), where she continues to refine her computational expertise while contributing to cancer research.