Catarina Nogueira, PhD – Academia vs. Industry
Scientist I at Genocea Biosciences
For the past 10 years, I have been engaged in the field of host immunity to bacterial infection. During my doctoral studies at Yale University, I focused on understanding how intracellular pathogens, such as Legionella pneumohila and Coxiella burnetii interact with phagocytic cells and stimulate protective immunity. In 2010, I started my postdoctoral work at Harvard University in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Starnbach where I have expanded my studies to other clinically important pathogens, including Shighella flexneri and Chlamydia trachomatis. I had a particular interest in elucidating the antigen-specific T cell responses required to induce a protective immune response to Chlamydia trachomatis genital infections. I was also interested in the use of toxins (e.g. anthrax toxin) as an antigen delivery platform that can elicit a robust T cell response against intracellular pathogens and certain tumors. Currently I am a scientist I at Genocea Biosciences and I seek to apply my scientific expertise to the creation of new vaccines and therapeutic strategies to address current medical challenges.
Ana Tellechea, PharmD, PhD – Translational Research
Post Doctoral Fellow at Harvard Medical School
Ana received her PharmD degree from the University of Coimbra, Portugal, in 2006. She specialized in pharmaceutical technology and her PharmD thesis projects, conducted at the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, focused on the development of microcapsules and microspheres for drug protection and/or delivery. She then shifted her research focus to cell and molecular biology, and studied neuropeptide signaling pathways in retinal cell proliferation. Prior to enrolling in a PhD program, Ana combined her experience with pharmaceutical technology and cell biology to develop nanoparticles for the treatment of ophthalmological diseases. In 2009, she was awarded a PhD fellowship from the Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal, and began her research projects in diabetic wound healing at the University of Coimbra. In 2010, she joined the laboratory of Professor Veves at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA, to complete her studies. In 2014, she received her PhD degree in cell and molecular biology. Her PhD thesis explored how neuropeptide deficiency and chronic inflammation contribute to wound healing failure in diabetes. Currently, as a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard Medical School, Ana is expanding the results from her PhD studies to develop potential new therapies for diabetic foot ulcers. Her research has always been driven by a desire to positively impact health, and therefore she is very interested in pursuing translational medicine. Her research interests are broad, including diabetes complications, immunology, oncology, and drug delivery. Besides science and education, her interests include acting, dance, photography and traveling.
Nelson Neves – Business and Consulting
Consultant at Simon-Kucher & Partners
Nelson is originally from Porto, Portugal but grew up in Switzerland. He has been living in the Boston Area for the past 4 years and recently graduated with an MBA from Babson College. Nelson has three years of experience of as a Product Manager for Sonae, in Porto Portugal. In Boston, he worked in business development in various startup ventures.
Currently, he works in Management Consulting at Simon-Kucher&Partners. In this role, he helps companies launch and price their products. Nelson also lived in Italy and Chile and speaks fluently 5 languages. He has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Coimbra, Portugal.