The research work carried out by the BB group resulted in 2022 in a total of 7 book chapters, 1 edited book, 1 international patent granted, 2 national patents granted, and 48 papers published in WoS-indexed international journals, with an average impact factor of 6.158. From these, 23% and 73% were published in 1st decile and 1st quartile of JCR journal rankings, respectively.
Five main publications:
1) Faria R, Paul M, Biswas S, Vivès E, Boisguérin P, Sousa Â, Costa D. Peptides vs. Polymers: Searching for the Most Efficient Delivery System for Mitochondrial Gene Therapy. Pharmaceutics 2022; 14(4): 757. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics14040757
Justification: This article represents a great achievement in mitochondrial gene therapy field, as it presents the design/development of the most suitable and effective mitochondrial gene delivery system reported so far.
2) Ventura C, Eusébio D, Gonçalves AM, Barroca-Ferreira J, Costa D, Cui Z, Passarinha LA, Sousa Â. Maximization of the Minicircle DNA Vaccine Production Expressing SARS-CoV-2 RBD. Biomedicines 2022; 10(5): 990. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines10050990
Justification: The results reported in this article strongly contributed to improve Minicircle DNA (mcDNA)-receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the S protein (from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) biosynthesis to make the scale-up of mcDNA manufacture simpler, cost-effective, and attractive for the biotechnology industry.
3) Alexandre D, Teixeira B, Rico A, Valente S, Craveiro A, Baptista PV, Cruz C. Molecular Beacon for Detection miRNA-21 as a Biomarker of Lung Cancer. Int J Mol Sci. 2022; 23(6): 3330. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23063330.
Justification: We did the screening of the expression profile of a panel of miRNA by RT-qPCR, and we designed a molecular beacon to detect up-regulated miR-21-5p in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of lung cancer patients.
4) Melo BL, Lima-Sousa R, Alves CG, Moreira AF, Correia IJ, de Melo-Diogo D. Chitosan-based injectable in situ forming hydrogels containing dopamine-reduced graphene oxide and resveratrol for breast cancer chemo-photothermal therapy. Biochem Engineering J. 2022; 185: 108529. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bej.2022.108529.
Justification: An innovative nanomaterial of ionotropically crosslinked chitosan-based injectable in situ was prepared forming hydrogels incorporating dopamine-reduced graphene oxide and resveratrol for application in cancer chemo-photothermal therapy.
5) Valente JFA, Carreira TS, Dias JR, Sousa F, Alves N. Arginine-Modified 3D-Printed Chromatographic Supports. Pharmaceutics 2022; 14(11): 2266. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics14112266.
Justification: We prepared arginine on 3D-printed chromatographic supports and we evaluated the stability of the ligand/chromatographic support linkage under different chromatographic conditions to determine the robustness of these new prototypes. Moreover, we also applied plasmid DNA samples to these supports to observe the practical behaviour of the developed arginine 3DP chromatographic structures.