Dr Vilma Sardão, Assistant Researcher, Nuno Raimundo Group, MIA Portugal – Multidisciplinary Institute of Ageing

Vilma Sardão holds an MA in Biochemistry (since 2002) and a Ph.D. in Cell Biology (since 2008) from the University of Coimbra. Since 2002, she has developed her career focusing on the role of mitochondria in different pathologies, as well as in the development of therapies that act on mitochondria to slow or revert disease progression. During her Ph.D. and Postdoc, she has gathered robust technical laboratory know-how in mitochondrial physiology and respirometry, cell culture, western blot, microscopy, and other cellular and molecular biology methods. In April 2022, Sardão joined MIA-Portugal. Her research focuses on the interactions between mitochondria and lysosomes and how the crosstalk between those two organelles relates to the mitochondrial theory of aging. Sardão’s current scientific interests focus on the role of mitochondrial physiology and dynamics during the aging process, particularly in women after menopause, when a drop in estrogens occurs. Specifically, I’m interested in the role of estrogens in regulating mitochondrial aging, physiology, and dynamics. Professional or scientific prospects/ambitions at MIA-Portugal? My main interest would be to contribute to increasing the group’s funding and increase the excellence of MIA by producing very good science in top journals within the interests of the Raimundo lab My scientific ambitions at MIA-Portugal are: 1) develop an effective and competent research activity in the field of mitochondrial physiology in aging-related diseases, 2) build strong research that will secure competitive national and international funding as well as high-impact publications, contributing to the promotion of MIA-Portugal as a reference Aging Research Center; 3) contribute to advanced teaching and training in the field of aging biology at University of Coimbra; 4) create a strong science outreach participation.