Sandra Nunes

Sandra CC Nunes was graduated in Industrial Chemistry in 1998 from the University of Coimbra (UC). In 2003 she obtained a Masters degree in Chemistry specializing in Quality Control and, in 2008 she obtained her PhD in Chemistry in Chemical Thermodynamics. In the meantime, she worked as assistant professor at UC (2003/2004) and as high school teacher in Coimbra in 2002-2003 and 2009–2010. She was a grant holder in FCT projects, in 2008/2009 (PTDC/QUI/64565/2006) and in 2010/2011 (PTDC/QUI-QUI/101442/2008). She had been postdoctoral researcher since 2011 at the Coimbra Chemistry Center, in the group of Macromolecules, Colloids and Photochemistry. During the past 5 years she has been developing coarse-grained models of polyelectrolyte systems, but her research interests include also ab initio methods and molecular dynamics simulation, applied to complex systems of chemical and biomedical interest. These include nucleic acids melting, compaction and confinement including crowding situations, host-guest interactions, modelling of reaction-pathways and relevant aspects governing the interactions between drugs/biomolecules and membranes in normal and pathological situations, particularly those related to cancer. Regarding her scientific networking, the researcher integrates the research team of the project PTDC/MHC-CED/2658/2014 focusing in the development of nanocarriers as a multifunctional platform for the treatment of brain tumors developed at the Centre for Neuroscience and Cell Biology and the Faculty of Pharmacy of UC. At the international level, she collaborates with recognized researchers, RS Dias at the Biological Polymers Group of the NTNU Norwegian University, and M. Skepo at the Swedish Lund University. RS Dias is expert in coarse-grain models of colloidal systems, highly recognized for her studies in DNA condensation. M. Skepo is an expert in coarse-grain simulation of Surface Chemistry and Physical Chemistry. Sandra CC Nunes published 41 papers in international peer-reviewed journals, 1 book chapter, 1 peer-reviewed conference proceeding and has 40 communications in scientific meetings. She has been reviewer in international scientific journals and has participated as researcher in the Program CoHiteC 2014: Turning Science into Business with the project “Co-encapsulating Lipid Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery”.