The three projects span very different areas of research. Moita, working in partnership with César Mendes at NOVA Medical School, will investigate how the brain and body produce the rapid defensive reactions that make us jump or flinch when startled. Van Gisbergen will study how certain immune cells establish themselves in the lungs, with the long-term goal of improving vaccines against influenza and other respiratory viruses.

Host

Alfonso Renart, PhD, Circuit Dynamics & Computation Lab

Venue

Seminar Room

Surgery is often the main treatment for pancreatic cancer and for several other pancreatic conditions. It is also one of the most complex surgical operations in medicine. A particularly feared complication afterwards is internal bleeding, known as postpancreatectomy haemorrhage. Since 2007, surgeons worldwide have graded these bleeds with an international system. It combines three factors: when the bleeding starts, where it happens and how severe it seems.

A small “triangle” with a big impact

Behind the pancreas lies a compact, triangle‑shaped area bordered by three major blood vessels that supply the abdomen. Surgeons call it the TRIANGLE compartment. In standard pancreatic cancer surgery, this region is not systematically removed. For years, however, specialists have suspected that microscopic cancer cells may be hiding there, beyond what imaging and the naked eye can detect.

There is a line by British artist David Shrigley that goes: “I had no interest in it then I looked inside and now I'm enchanted by it.” In other words, it is difficult to be genuinely interested in something we know nothing about. First, we need the chance to take a look inside. To get closer. To explore. To ask questions. And sometimes, it is at that very moment, when something that once seemed distant becomes tangible, that fascination begins.
The same is true of science.

 Host

Cristina João, MD, PhD, Myeloma Lymphoma Lab

Venue

Seminar Room

Millions of people living with Breast cancer or depression experience physical, psychological, social and financial burdens that remain unseen or insufficiently addressed in routine care. Although patient-reported outcome measures exist and provide valuable insights, they often reduce complex patient experiences to numerical scores. At the same time, healthcare professionals face fragmented clinical data, increasing documentation demands and digital tools that are not always well integrated into care.

Professors Botond Roska and José-Alain Sahel are among the most creative and prolific researchers worldwide in the development of technologies aimed at restoring vision. Their work is a remarkable example of translational research, linking discoveries in fundamental biology to clinical practice to develop new therapies against vision loss.

Worldwide, 43 million people are blind and 295 million live with visual impairment, many of them as a result of retinal disease and macular degeneration.

Data

22 – 23 Janeiro 2027

Localização

Seminar Room, Fundação Champalimaud, Lisboa