Biography

"I'm a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it." Thomas Jefferson

I am Associate Professor of Organic and Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. My research strives to develop novel chemical methods to obtain new drug candidates and systems that enable targeted delivery of potent molecules for therapeutics of neurodegenerative diseases.

Maria João Matos was born in Oporto, Portugal. She obtained a degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2006 from the University of Porto (Portugal), a MSc in Organic Chemistry in 2008 from the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain), a PhD cum laude in Pharmaceutical Science and Technology in 2010 from the University of Cagliari (Italy) and a PhD cum laude in Organic Chemistry in 2013 from the University of Santiago de Compostela. She was awarded the Best PhD award 2013 from the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Santiago de Compostela (Premio Extraordinario de Doctorado). Between 2015 and 2018, she worked in Chemical Biology at the University of Cambridge (UK) as a Postdoctoral Fellow. During those years, Maria held a prestigious position as Fellow of the Newnham College.

Maria has been establishing a wide array of fruitful collaborations with both academic and industrial partners. As examples, Maria closely collaborates with the international and national universities: University of Cambridge (UK), University of Porto (Portugal), University of Coimbra (Portugal), Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil), Federal University of Itajubá (Brazil), University Estadual Paulista (Brazil), University of Würzburg (Germany), University of Granada (Spain), University of Vigo (Spain), University of Chile (Chile), University of Cagliari (Italy), amongst others. In addition, Maria has straight collaborations with biotech companies, as Triple Helical Peptides Ltd (UK), Oncostellae (Spain), and Kærtor Foundation (Spain).

Selected lectures

Webinar for the Early Career Scientists from the SEQT, Virtual meeting 2024.
4th Molecules Medicinal Chemistry Symposium – Harnessing the Power of New Drug Modalities (MMCS 2024), Barcelona 2024.
EFMC-ACSMEDI MedChem Frontiers 2024, Utrecht 2024.
EU-OPENSCREEN Autumn Training School – Virtual meeting 2023.
Drug Discovery 2030 A Roadmap for a New Decade – Virtual meeting 2023.
Advanced Course “Principles of Drug Design, Synthesis and Structure-Activity Relationships in Medicinal Chemistry”, Coimbra 2023.
Valencia EU-OPENSCREEN ACADEMIC COMPOUNDS INITIATIVE – CIPF, Valencia 2022.
SDDN2022 Satellite Workshop – Fundación MEDINA, Granada 2022.
EU-OPENSCREEN Autumn Training School – Virtual meeting 2022.
III Encontro Galego da Mocidade Investigadora en Ciencias Farmacéuticas – Santiago de Compostela 2022.
XX National Meeting of the Spanish Society of Medicinal Chemistry – Santiago de Compostela 2022.
EU-OPENSCREEN Autumn Training School – Virtual meeting 2021.
ACS Spring 2021 – Virtual meeting 2021.
Webinar MDPI – Virtual meeting 2021.
11th iMed.ULisboa Postgraduate Students Meeting and 4th i3DU Meeting, Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Lisboa – Lisbon 2019.
Erasmus+ programme at University of Cagliari – Cagliari 2019.
2nd Molecules Medicinal Chemistry Symposium – Barcelona 2019.
6-ECBS/LS-EuChemS – Madrid 2019.
International Course in Medicinal Chemistry, Medical School, University of Chile – Santiago de Chile 2019.
Italian-Spanish-Portuguese Joint Meeting in Medicinal Chemistry, MedChemSicily2018 – Palermo 2018.
VIII Meeting of the Paul Ehrlich EuroPhD Network – Porto 2018.
University College Dublin – Dublin 2018.
Senior Members' Research Forum, Newnham College – Cambridge 2017.
Bioorthogonal & Bioresponsive Symposium – Edinburgh 2017.
Crossing the Barriers: Dinner and talks at Leckhampton, PdOC – Cambridge 2017.
Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute 10th Anniversary symposium – Cambridge 2017.
PdOC Masterclass – Cambridge 2017.
Pudding Seminar at Newnham College – Cambridge 2016.
III Simposio de jóvenes investigadores de la SEQT –Barcelona 2016.
Pfizer Symposium: Chemical and Biological Synthesis and Catalysis Symposium – Cambridge 2016.
V Meeting of the Paul Ehrlich MedChem Euro-PhD Network – Cracow 2015.
22nd Young Research Fellow Meeting – Paris (Biocitech) 2015.
Universidad de Vigo – Vigo 2014.
10th Spanish-Italian Symposium on organic chemistry (SISOC-X) – Florence 2014.
Merimee Joint Meeting: Molecular Basis of Human Disease – Santiago de Compostela 2014.
Universidad de Talca – Talca 2014.
Universidad de Chile – Santiago de Chile 2014.
I meeting of the RSEQ Chemical Biology Group – Santiago de Compostela 2012.
GEN XXXII – Reunión Anual del Grupo Español de Neurotransmisión y Neuroprotección – Santo Estevo 2011.
VIII Simposio Investigadores Jóvenes Real Sociedad Española Química – Torremolinos 2011.
Scientific Fellows Congress – Vigo 2011.
European School of Medicinal Chemistry (ESMEC): Challenges in the synthesis of bioactive compounds – Urbino 2010 – poster selected for oral presentation.