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Diogo Maia e Silva – GAPIC David Ferreira Award

By Joana Ferreira de Sousa On 25 January, 2018 2018 | Research and Advanced Education Comments Off on Diogo Maia e Silva – GAPIC David Ferreira Award Tags: tile

It was his Master’s degree thesis on intratumour heterogeneity that earned 24-year-old Diogo Maia e Silva the 2017 GAPIC David Ferreira Award. He began studying at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon in 2011 and finished his degree six years later. He has been living in the USA since August 2017, working on his PhD in biological sciences at the Watson School of Biological Sciences, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. He has another four and a half years to develop his research work.

“Cancer is a generic term that encompasses many different diseases whose main manifestation is the growth of a group of abnormal cells, which form a mass (tumour) and often invade other organs. Tumours formed by cancer cells are not homogeneous: these cells have a wide variety of characteristics. For example, a certain subpopulation may show higher levels of a gene that promotes cell replication, while another may contain a genetic mutation that renders them resistant to the action of a specific pharmacology. We are interested in understanding how this heterogeneity determines their resistance to therapeutics against acute myeloid leukaemia, a type of blood cancer, and subsequent relapses.

Studying this problem in patients is very difficult. To work around this limitation, we use cell lines (tumour cells obtained from patients) that can be easily manipulated and maintained in cultures at the laboratory. Using acute myeloid leukaemia cell lines, we studied the response to various drugs and found that the mechanism of relapse differs depending on the therapies that are used. Specifically, the results we obtained seem to indicate that different therapies select recurrent tumour cells, responsible for cancer recurrence after an initial period of remission, in fundamentally different ways. While some chemotherapeutic regimens seem to select cells with permanent resistance “characteristics” (e.g., a mutation that lingers on daughter cells), predictable even before treatment, other agents seem to fail in a less deterministic way, making it harder to predict which cells will escape the treatment and relapse. These results, although far from any real clinical application, explain key aspects about the dynamics of leukaemia recurrence in response to several treatments. Simultaneously, by studying different therapeutic agents, we find that the combination of two regimens that are frequently used separately in the treatment of patients with acute myeloid leukaemia can prevent the malignant cells that survive the treatment from acquiring a permanent resistance, enabling the effective treatment of recurrent leukaemia, hitherto untreatable. If confirmed in other models, this result could form the basis for testing this combination in patients with leukaemia. We should note that, despite the fact that our observations are robust in cell lines, it is essential to validate them in other, more complex models, such as animal models.”

I wonder if, because of this heterogeneity, we run the risk of having “personalized cancers” and no effective collective treatments.

You are entirely right. No two tumours are alike, with exactly the same composition and genetic mutations. That is precisely the reason why the response to drugs is variable even in apparently homogeneous patient groups. To overcome this difficulty, the medical community is making a great effort to develop a “personalized medicine”, in which each patient is treated according to tumor-specific information, rather than with classical generic chemotherapies.

We came to know you because there is a Research Day on which the Faculty promotes the works of its best students. Initially, you intended to become a physician, but you are becoming a researcher instead. How important has GAPIC been in your career?

I feel a great sense of respect and gratitude for the group that works to offer FML students the opportunity to join a laboratory, experiment and, who knows, maybe fall in love with the world of scientific research. As the main responsible for fostering the critical spirit of scientific and medical research across the faculty, GAPIC plays a key role in supporting students and in liaising with FML-affiliated laboratories. Future physicians are often curious, and stimulating their scientific spirit is equally or even more important than the massive acquisition of knowledge inherent to their academic career.

Joana Sousa

Editorial Team

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Index – News # 75 | jan. 2018
 Novo ano e mais Investigação
 Cooperation between the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon and the Faculty of Medicine of Eduardo Mondlane University
 FMUL Activity Plan | 2018
 Bruno Silva Santos – The Researcher Who Turns T Lymphocytes into Poetry
 63rd Anniversary of Santa Maria Hospital
 Launch of the Handbook on AIDS
 E-book Health in Winter helps prevent influenza
 Heart and Vessels Department of the Lisboa Norte Hospital Center announces extension works
 Seasonal Health Contingency Plan: 2017-2018 Winter Module
 The sweetest enemy in the world
 The sweetest enemy in the world – a conversation with the experts
 ESPAÇO S – There is a space where students can be exactly who they are
 European Research Council – For those who are thirsty for the world
 Promovendo a Ciência – resultados dos concursos GAPIC 2017
 Publicações Científicas (FMUL/HSM/IMM) dezembro 2017 – janeiro 2018
 Research Day aroused the interest of the FMUL community
 Sistema Watson – o software que faz investigação
 Diogo Maia e Silva – GAPIC David Ferreira Award
 Alexandra Santos – The search for the best path
 AIMS – A gateway to the future
 David Berhanu – The Poster that was born in the USA
 D. Manuel de Mello Grant
 The molecule that can catch aging
 Notícias do Pedagógico
 New year, new luncheon and one more cycle
 Symposium on Intensive Care Medicine – 2nd edition
 New Frontiers in Cardiology – 8th Congress
 Foundation for Science and Technology – Awards, Grants and Contests
 Mourning – 13th Postgraduate Updating Course
 XXIV Jornadas da Pediatria, Santa Maria Hospital
 Bial Prize for Clinical Medicine 2018
 Multiple Myeloma – 2018 Research Grant
 Francisco Belo receives sports scholarship
 2018 Clinical Pharmacology Meetings
 Professor João Manuel Ruas Ribeiro da Silva (1929-2018)
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100 AnosPropriedade e Edição: Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa NIPC: 502662875  Periodicidade: Mensal  Diretor: Prof. Doutor Fausto J. Pinto Conselho Editorial: Prof. Doutor Fausto J. Pinto, Profª. Doutora Ana Sebastião, Prof. Doutor Mamede de Carvalho, Prof. Doutor António Vaz Carneiro, Prof. Doutor Miguel Castanho, Dr. Luís Pereira  Equipa Editorial:  Ana Raquel Moreira, Cristina Bastos, Isabel Varela, Joana Sousa, Maria de Lurdes Barata, Rui Gomes, Sónia Teixeira  Colaboração:  Gabinete de Relações Públicas, Internacionais e Comunicação  Versão Inglesa: AP|PORTUGAL- Language Services  Conceção: Metatexto, Lda. e-mail: news@medicina.ulisboa.pt  Sede do Editor e Sede da Redação: Avenida Prof. Egas Moniz, 1649-028 Lisboa Estatuto Editorial Anotado na ERC 

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