Inês Paiva is a PhD student in Sustainable Chemistry in the laboratory of Dr. Rita Ventura at ITQB NOVA – Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier and at NIMBS – NOVA Institute for Medical Systems. She holds a BSc in Biochemistry from NOVA School of Science and Technology (2018) and an MSc in Biochemistry for Health from NOVA Medical School (2021), where she studied the neurotrophic effects of carbon monoxide in microglia-neuron communication. Her current research focuses on the development of novel neuroprotective strategies targeting neuroinflammation, a central feature of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Specifically, she investigates the biological activity of (poly)phenol metabolites. Her project involves the synthesis of new analogues of the most active compounds for structure–activity relationship (SAR) studies, as well as the development of 13C-labelled (poly)phenols and fluorescent poly(phenol) probes to uncover their intracellular fate and mechanisms of action. These studies aim to guide the rational design of (poly)phenolic compounds with improved neuroprotective properties.
