Tissue preservation & Bio-banking

Biography

Ana Colette Mauricio has a degree on Veterinary Medicine since 1995, a PhD on Veterinary Sciences since 1999 from Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária (FMV) - Universidade Técnica de Lisboa (UTL) and Habilitation in Veterinary Sciences (ICBAS-UP) since 2011. The PhD experimental work was developed at Instituto Gulbenkian Ciência (IGC) in Oeiras, Portugal, at Freiburg Medicine Faculty in Germany and at Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (FCT) from Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UNL). At the present, she is an Associated Professor with Habilitation, from the Veterinary Clinics of do Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas de Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Universidade do Porto (UP), and she is the vice-President of the Pedagogic Council of ICBAS – UP. She also belongs to the Scientific Council of ICBAS-UP and to the Ethic Comission for Health Sciences from University of Porto (UP). She belongs to the Scientific Committee of the Veterinary Sciences Doctoral Program at ICBAS – UP. She is the Scientific Coordinator of Regenerative Medicine and Experimental Surgery sub-unit from Centro de Estudos de Ciência Animal (CECA) of Instituto de Ciências e Tecnologias Agrárias e Agro-Alimentares (ICETA), Universidade do Porto (UP). She is one of the founding shareholders of Biosckin, Molecular and Cell Therapies, S.A since 2007 with established scientific protocol with UP for development of new cell therapies and medical devices. Biosckin, Molecular and Cell Therapies, S.A. is a biotech company operating in the area of healthcare, whose main activity is the cryopreservation of stem cells from umbilical cord blood and umbilical cord tissue, with more than 25.000 samples cryopreserved, approved by the National Authorities (Direcção Geral de Saúde, DGS), and following the Netcord recommendations. Within the strategic technological framework defined by Biosckin, in 2008, the company proposed the creation of a centre for Research, Development and Innovation (RDI), known as BioMat&Cell, coordinated by Ana Colette Maurício, and for this purpose a project was submitted to QREN (the National Strategic Reference Framework) under the auspices of the System of Incentives for Technological Research and Development, which received financial support. The RDI centre is well adjusted to the company’s innovation policy with respect to these two areas of intervention. The first area performs work in relation to the development of new Biomaterials, and the second in relation to Cellular Therapies using stem cells from umbilical cord blood and umbilical cord tissue. In April 2012, the RDI centre was certified according to NP4457. For the past 12 years she coordinates a multidisciplinary research group of Experimental Surgery and Regenerative Medicine, working with several biomaterials and cellular therapies. She started working with embryonic stem cells obtained by somatic nuclear transfer for therapeutic use; with Ian Wilmut´s group (Dolly’s cloned sheep). Several relevant publications had been produced and conducted to a PhD thesis that she co-supervised together with Ian Wilmut and to the first Portuguese cloned animal (R Ribas, B Oback, W Ritchie, T Chebotareva, J Taylor, AC Maurício, M Sousa, I Wilmut, 2006. Cloning and Stem Cells 8(1): 10; R Ribas, J Taylor, C McCorquodale, AC Maurício, M Sousa, I Wilmut, 2006. Biology of Reproduction 74: 307; R Ribas, B Oback, W Ritchie, T Chebotareva, T Ferrier, C Clarke, J Taylor, E Gallagher, AC Maurício, M Sousa, I Wilmut, 2005. Cloning and Stem Cells 7(2): 126). But ethical issues related to the collection and manipulation of human embryonic stem cells, even for therapeutic use is very controversial and understandable. So, more recently the potential of fetal stem cells derived from extra-embryonic tissues has been deeply investigated by her research group. Therefore, a continued effort to identify and characterize novel stem cell populations appears critical for widespread clinical success. This effort implies in vitro studies, experimental surgery and in vivo testing, before the clinical trials and the compassive treatment in such clinical cases where the traditional and standard treatments failed. Her research groups works exactly in this direction, so she created a multidisciplinary team, including Veterinaries, Engineers, Medical Doctors that through Experimental Surgery have a crucial role in the development of biomaterials and cellular therapies, allowing a close share of knowledge between biomaterials design, development of cellular systems, and surgeons needs when related to specific clinical cases. This group has several recent relevant publications in the research areas of nerve, bone, musculoskeletal and vascular tissue regeneration. In her laboratory have been working several PhD and Post-Doctoral students from various countries who have acquired a high level of competence in the study of tissue regeneration. She is the supervisor of several PhD, Post- Doctoral and Master students (12 PhD thesis already concluded with success and 6 PhD thesis on going), she is the co-author of a large number of scientific articles published in Indexed Journals (she publishes as Maurício AC) and of several scientific book chapters. She was the principal researcher of several national and international scientific projects.

Research Interest

For the past 12 years she coordinates a multidisciplinary research group of Experimental Surgery and Regenerative Medicine, working with several biomaterials and cellular therapies. She started working with embryonic stem cells obtained by somatic nuclear transfer for therapeutic use; with Ian Wilmut´s group (Dolly’s cloned sheep).