Adriana O. Santos holds a degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences (2003) and a Ph.D. in Pharmacy (2009), specializing in Pharmaceutical Technology, from the University of Coimbra. Her doctoral thesis focused on targeted liposomes containing siRNA for the treatment of small cell lung cancer. Adriana was a postdoctoral researcher at Institut Curie in Paris (2009-2012), where she studied the intracellular signaling of Ral and RalGEFs in lung cancer cells.
In 2012, Adriana O. Santos became Assistant Professor at the University of Beira Interior, Department of Medical Sciences, and a researcher at RISE-Health, UBI. Since 2015, Adriana has been a member of the scientific and pedagogical coordination committees of the Integrated Master’s Degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences and was recently appointed as its mobility coordinator. Adriana also coordinated the research group "Drug Discovery, Development, and Safety" (3DS) at CICS-UBI (2022-2024) and was a member of the research center’s executive committee
Adriana has (co)supervised two Ph.D. theses: one in Pharmaceutical Sciences (UBI, March 2021) and another in Chemical and Biological Sciences (UTAD, October 2024). Additionally, she has (co)supervised 46 master''s dissertations and 6 undergraduate projects. Her current research primarily focuses on intranasal drug delivery targeting brain-related conditions and other formulation strategies to increase or improve drug delivery.
Adriana O. Santos has co-authored 45 peer-reviewed articles, with 24 published since 2021. She has also contributed to 2 book chapters and over 80 communications at scientific conferences. Furthermore, she is listed as an inventor on a pending international patent
Adriana was the principal investigator of the project Intranasal Delivery of Simvastatin in Stroke awarded the "CICS-UBI Collaborative Project Awards" in 2021 and the proof-of-concept project funded by PO Centro titled Segesterone Acetate Innovative Nanoemulsion (SAIN) and participated in over other 9 funded projects. She has participated in 5 doctoral examination boards —3 times as an examiner and 2 as a committee member—and in scientific committees of international meetings.