Cláudia S. O. Silva

PhD student

 

Background

Graduation in Chemical Engineering,

(Biotechnology), IST, 2003
Pos-graduation in Food Toxicology and

Quality Control, Faculty of Pharmacy of Lisbon, 2005

 

Research Activities

 

My research project is focused on the synthesis and application of novel, bio-inspired
affinity polymer systems for antibody recognition. These systems are based on the
chemical conjugation of a ‘smart’ thermosensitive polymer (poly(N-isopropylacrylamide))
(PNIPAM) to synthetic affinity ligands (Protein L biomimetics) with high selectivity for
immunoglobulins. Incorporation of functional groups (by co-polymerization with different
monomers) and their effect on the proprieties of PNIPAM particles is addressed. Reactive
PNIPAM particles will be selected and used as heterobifunctional affinity ligands for
antibody capture. Different systems shall be designed and studied in order to implement
mild, cost-effective affinity methodologies for the purification of antibodies and
genetically engineered related molecules.

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