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Zoom-In on Champalimaud: Joana Fontes

My name is Joana Fontes. I'm Portuguese and from Lisbon, but I grew up in Costa da Caparica and have roots in the north, in Braga. I graduated in Multimedia and I trained in computing. At Champalimaud Foundation (CF), I am an Administrative Assistant and I am content in my work. Away from CF, I like to be involved in social projects. In recent years I have been closely linked to Refood in Santo António, and right now I like to put my efforts into projects that need help.

Each year, the Champalimaud Foundation’s Communication, Events and Outreach team comes together to create a Winter Postcard to celebrate the season with our colleagues, friends and followers.

In the case of cancer (as in other diseases) any research study involving human volunteers that is intended to acquire medical knowledge about a potential new drug, vaccine or biological substance against a specific type of cancer – in which these are administered to a group of participants – is called a clinical trial.

To mark this date, we asked Marcelo Mendonça, neurologist and researcher from the Neuropsychiatry Unit and Neural Circuits Dysfunction Lab at the Champalimaud Foundation to provide an overview of Movement Disorders, their symptoms, diagnosis and treatments.

A report, published last week (16 November) in The Lancet Oncology by an expert commission, under the title Key messages from European Groundshot – addressing Europe’s cancer research challenges: a Lancet Oncology Commission, analyses the current state of cancer research in Europe, identifies geographical and gender gaps (among others), and issues recommendations to rethink the priorities of European cancer research.

Fátima Cardoso, director of the Breast Unit at the Champalimaud Clinical Center/Champalimaud Foundation, is among the co-authors of the new report.

Cancers can be detected through the presence, in the tumours or bodily fluids, of so-called molecular biomarkers – in other words, of biological molecules (proteins, genes, etc.) found in blood or tissues that are a sign that a person has cancer. One well-known cancer biomarker is the PSA protein, whose rapid rise in the blood may indicate the presence of prostate cancer. 

For every argument that construes AI as essential, promising and transforming across nearly all industries, there are voiced concerns about this technology. Many people do not trust AI, claiming that intelligent machines will one day dominate humankind. But while this is a remote possibility, the harm that can be done to people (albeit mostly unintentionally) by deep learning algorithms is very tangible – and has already been known to occur in the real world.

After receiving her bachelor's degree in Biochemistry and a master's degree in Health Sciences from the University of Minho, which introduced her to the field of immunology, Cardoso embarked upon a PhD in the laboratory of Henrique Veiga-Fernandes at the Champalimaud Foundation to study the role of neuro-immune interactions in metabolism.