Biomolecular Engineering Lab

Name: Biomolecular Engineering Lab
Address: FCT-UNL, Campus de Caparica, Quinta da Torre, Almada, 2829-516CAPARICA, PT
Telephone: +351212949624

Página Inicial
Portugal
Almada
Biomolecular Engineering Lab

Established in 2008 by Prof. Cecília Roque. We are dedicated to minimal biomimetic systems.

We are a multidisciplinary team in Applied and Computational Chemistry, Biotechnology, Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Physics of Materials. The Biomolecular Engineering Group @ UCIBIO, REQUIMTE (FCT/UNL) in interface with iBET, was established in 2008 by Prof. Cecília Roque and is composed by a multidisciplinary team with expertise in Applied and Computational Chemistry, Biotechn

ology, Biomedical Engineering, and Chemical Engineering. Our group is dedicated to the molecular engineering of interaction partners with biological, synthetic and hybrid properties and to combine them with stimuli-responsive platforms to be applied in the Biocatalysis, Bioseparation, Biosensing and Biomedical areas.

13/05/2026

🧪We’re excited to share Carolina Natal’s latest article, "One-pot synthesis of a small ligand for antibody purification", now published in Biotechnology and Bioengineering.

✨The authors report a rapid, one‐pot liquid‐phase chemical synthesis of a synthetic affinity ligand (B1A12A2) displaying affinity for antibody molecules, namely human IgG from plasma and IgY from crude samples, achieving antibody recoveries of 55% and 91%, respectively, with purity exceeding 86%. This streamlined workflow highlights the advantages of liquid‐phase synthesis for ligand characterization and adsorbent optimization, thus providing a versatile platform for advancing affinity purification technologies.

Check out the full article: https://doi.org/10.1002/bit.70226

For more information about the PURE project, go to PURE website: https://pure-fetopen.eu/

European Research Council
UCIBIO
Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
NOVA FCT

11/05/2026

Welcome Likhita! ✨

Likhita Kusampudi holds a bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering from Bharath University, India. She is currently completing her master's in molecular biotechnology from Hochschule Anhalt, Germany. She worked with polymers for bone glue development as her master's thesis at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Galway, Ireland, as an Erasmus student. She will be part of INSPIRE, dedicated to the production of cell-free extracts.

Excited to have you on board, Likhita!

07/05/2026

Aiming to strengthen the connection between doctoral students, BRIDGE- the group of PhD students from UCIBIO- organised the 2nd PhD Day UCIBIO, which took place on the 23rd and 24th April, at Academia de Instrução e Recreio Familiar Almadense, in Almada. This in-person event brought together PhD students from both units of UCIBIO (NOVA FCT and FFUP), where they could share their experiences with fellow colleagues.

The 2nd PhD Day UCIBIO included exciting plenary sessions with highly experienced researchers (Francisco Enguita from FMUL, Ana Pina from ITQB and Nuno Morais from NMS), a workshop on the use of AI in scientific research, poster and oral presentations, and several social activities.

We are looking forward for the 3rd PhD Day! ✨

Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
NOVA FCT
UCIBIO
Universidade do Porto

05/05/2026

From 10th-12st March, Professor Cecília Roque attended the Bioprocessing Summit Europe in Barcelona. Cecília participated in the Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s 9th Annual “Advances in Recovery and Purification Part 1: Optimising Downstream Efficacy and Yield” conference stream, as chairperson of the session on “Downstream Processing of Complex Modalities”. During this 2-day event, speakers shared the most recent research in downstream processing, covering a variety of strategies and applications, such as chromatography, digitalization, bispecifics, next-generation resins and many more.

As part of the “Sustainable Approaches to DSP” session Professor Cecília also gave a lecture on “New DSP Materials and Technologies”, Bioseparation is a critical step in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. It employs polymeric adsorbents decorated with affinity ligands to increase the selective capture of target biological products. The EU-funded PURE project aims to develop precisely functionalised adsorbents. The project has brought together an interdisciplinary team of leading scientists from academia and industry with expertise in biology, chemistry, computational modelling, materials science, bioprocess engineering and applied social sciences.

For more information, go to PURE website: https://pure-fetopen.eu/

European Research Council
UCIBIO
Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
NOVA FCT

27/04/2026

Welcome Susana! ✨

Susana Serrano holds a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Algarve and an MSc in Microbiology from the University of Aveiro and is currently concluding her PhD in Veterinary Sciences (Food Safety and Technology) at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Lisbon. Her multidisciplinary research started with zebrafish models of Paget’s bone disease, shifted to bioinformatics during her master’s, where she combined in vivo and in silico analyses of antimicrobial metabolites from haloarchaea, and progressed in her doctorate to metagenomic and conventional microbiology studies of Portuguese Traditional Protected Designation of Origin PDO cheeses to identify regional biomarkers and industrial strains. An international internship at the University of Basilicata (Italy) strengthened her R-based data analysis. She has now joined the Biomolecular Engineering Lab for the INSPIRE project to develop cross-species tools for monitoring bone diseases and cancer, reconnecting with bone pathology while integrating microbiology, bioinformatics, and bioengineering expertise.

Excited to have you on board, Susana!

Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
NOVA FCT
UCIBIO

24/04/2026

🔬✨EXPO FCT 2026 just concluded this past week!

On April 15th, we had the pleasure of participating in EXPO FCT 2026 and sharing our research projects with high school students from all backgrounds. Through interactive games like "Proteins around the World" (PROSPLIGN, UNMASK Projects), "Sustainable Purification of Biological Medications" (PURE Project) and "From Gelatin to Safety Seals" (SUBTLE Project) the students learned about the science we do here at Biomeng Lab!

It was heartening to see their enthusiasm and vision for the future of bioengineering. Thank you to everyone who stopped by, see you next year! 🙌

Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
NOVA FCT
UCIBIO

22/04/2026

Our researcher Afonso Eva just started his PhD in Biotechnology! Afonso holds a bachelor's degree in Biochemistry from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon and a master’s degree in Biotechnology from NOVA School of Science and Technology. From the PROTEIOS project, he now starts a new chapter. His PhD thesis will be about "Valorization of protein-rich streams from starch extraction into high-added value products” and is a partnership between academia and industry, partnering with Companhia Portuguesa de Amidos - COPAM

We wish you all the luck!

Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
NOVA FCT
UCIBIO

20/04/2026

From 10th-12st March, Professor Cecília Roque attended the Bioprocessing Summit Europe in Barcelona. Professor Cecília participated in the Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s 9th Annual “Advances in Recovery and Purification Part 1: Optimising Downstream Efficacy and Yield” conference stream, as chairperson of the session on “Downstream Processing of Complex Modalities”. During this 2-day event, speakers shared the most recent research in downstream processing, covering a variety of strategies and applications, such as chromatography, digitalization, bispecifics, next-generation resins and many more.

As part of the “Sustainable Approaches to DSP” session Professor Cecília also gave a lecture on “New DSP Materials and Technologies”, Bioseparation is a critical step in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. It employs polymeric adsorbents decorated with affinity ligands to increase the selective capture of target biological products. The EU-funded PURE project aims to develop precisely functionalised adsorbents. The project has brought together an interdisciplinary team of leading scientists from academia and industry with expertise in biology, chemistry, computational modelling, materials science, bioprocess engineering and applied social sciences.

For more information, go to PURE website: https://pure-fetopen.eu/

European Research Council
UCIBIO
Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
NOVA FCT

18/03/2026

Our researcher João Saavedra just started his PhD in Biotechnology! João holds a bachelor and master’s degree in Biological Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico. From the PROSPLIGN project he now starts a new chapter. His PhD thesis will be about "Versatile engineered protein agents for target enrichment and detection”.

We wish you all the luck!

Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
NOVA FCT
UCIBIO

09/03/2026

Welcome, Edanur!✨

Edanur Tekin holds a BSc in Molecular Biology and Genetics and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Molecular Biology from the Faculty of Science at Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University (ZBEU). During her undergraduate studies, she completed an internship at TÜBİTAK, focusing on the treatment of depression and Alzheimer's disease using animal models. Now, she’s joining our Lab as part of Erasmus+ Internship program. Edanur is excited to gain experience in production and purification of recombinant proteins.

Excited to have you on board, Edanur! 🚀

Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
NOVA FCT
UCIBIO

Endereço

FCT-UNL, Campus De Caparica, Quinta Da Torre
Almada
2829-516CAPARICA

Telefone

+351212949624

Website

https://sites.fct.unl.pt/biomolecular_eng/home

Notificações

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