Students presented high quality scientific research works at the 13th Workshop “Education for Science”, which was also an occasion to pay tribute to Professor J.F. David- Ferreira.

As it celebrated its 20 years of existence, the Office for the Support of Scientific and Technological Research and Innovation (GAPIC) organized the  13.rd Workshop “Education for Science”, which took place on 14 December 2010, as part of the Celebrations of the Centenary of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (FMUL).
This workshop, which takes place on an annual basis, and where undergraduate students present their research carried out as part of the “Education for Science” Programme, brought together, once more, students, lecturers and researchers interested in scientific research.

Professor Alexandre Ribeiro, Deputy-Director of FMUL, Professor Rui Victorino, President of the Scientific Council of FMUL, Professor João Ferreira, Coordinator of GAPIC, Dra Isabel Fonseca Santos, of Bayer, and student Nuno Gaibino, President of the Students’ Association of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon, attended the opening session. Professor Alexandre Ribeiro stressed the importance of scientific research at postgraduate level, while Professor João Ferreira recalled the mission of GAPIC and underlined the role played by the Merck Foundation, the AstraZeneca Foundation and Bayer – the latter due to the recent scholarship Bayer-AEFML aimed at undergraduate students – in fostering scientific research by FML students and newly graduates.

In the sessions on “Neuroscience and Ophthalmology”, “Cardiovascular, Pneumology, Preventive Medicine” and “Biochemistry, Biology, and Microbiology”, forty scientific research projects  forty scientific research projects were presented as posters, involving 53 undergraduate students.

The members of the evaluation panel unanimously agreed about the high scientific quality of the works. From the 40 posters submitted, they selected 8 to be presented orally. Of these, two works were awarded prizes.

The 1st Prize was awarded to the work titled “Impact of neonatal administration of a neurotrophic factor enriched diet in the development of mice”, which was undertaken at the Institute of Pharmacology and Neurosciences by student António Caetano. The 2nd Prize was given to the work “Study on the absence of Notch signalling in endothelial and vascular smooth muscle differentiation after embrionary stem cells” developed by student Andreia Susana Magalhães at the Institute of Histology and Developmental Biology.

The student who received the 1st Prize is also a candidate to the Bayer-AEFML scholarship, a research scholarship that aims to fund, in the amount of €5.000, scientific work deemed to be of unquestionable merit already started by a FMUL student or students, as part of the research activities fostered by GAPIC.

One of the high moments was the talk “The Scientific Education of Doctors – Tribute to José David-Ferreira“, made by Professor Leonor Parreira, which was attended by FMUL lecturers, some of whom previously associated to GAPIC and responsible for continuing the work started by Professor José David-Ferreira, the founder of this office and the mentor of the “Education for Science” Programme.

The workshop also included the presentation of results of the project ”Evaluation of bone quality in femoral epiphysis and correlation with fracture risk factors in patients with fragility hip fracture”, which was undertaken as part of the 5th AstraZeneca Foundation/FMUL Research Scholarship by Dra Ana Rodrigues at the Rheumatology Research Unit of the Institute of Molecular Medicine and at the Rheumatology and Metabolic Bone Diseases Unit of Santa Maria Hospital.

Following the 100th anniversary of FMUL and the 20th of GAPIC, this was unquestionably a day for celebrating scientific research at FMUL, particularly research carried out by young undergraduate students. The satisfaction of all those involved, including students, lecturers and researchers was clearly perceptible at the end of the day.

Gabinete de Apoio à Investigação Científica, Tecnológica e Inovação (GAPIC)
gapicmail@fm.ul.pt