Maria Helena Macedo is a Research Fellow in the field of in vitro intestinal models in the Food Processing and Nutrition Group at INL. Her research focuses on the development of in vitro models that simulate the gastrointestinal tract to evaluate the safety and efficiency of nanostructures for food applications. These gut-on-chip models are dynamic microfluidics devices with continuous flow and are cell-based. Helena is also working with organoid technology, aiming at implementing it within the gut-on-chip devices.

Helena holds an Integrated Master in Biomedical Engineering (2016) from Universidade do Minho and a PhD degree (2021) in Biomedical Sciences from ICBAS and i3S. During her PhD, Helena has developed a novel 3D in vitro multicellular intestinal model to perform permeability studies and predict the absorption of compounds in pre-clinical stages of drug development. Since 2018 Helena has authored 14 publications in international peer-reviewed journals, 6 of them as first author and 2 book chapters, 1 of them as the first author. Helena has an entrepreneurship mind, having participated in several start-ups and health innovation contests. She has also participated in several scientific conferences, where she has disseminated her work through diverse oral and poster presentations and she has engaged in the organization of several scientific events.

• Macedo M.H., Barros A.S., Martínez E., Barrias C.C., Sarmento B.
  All layers matter: Innovative three-dimensional epithelium-stroma-endothelium intestinal model for reliable permeability outcomes
  Journal of Controlled Release, 2022

• Macedo M.H., Baião A., Pinto S., Barros A.S., Almeida H., Almeida A., das Neves J., Sarmento B.
  Mucus-producing 3D cell culture models
  Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, 2021.

• Macedo M.H., Martínez H., Barrias C., Sarmento B.
  Development of an improved 3D in vitro intestinal model to perform permeability studies of paracellular compounds
  Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 2020

• Lin K., Zhang D., Macedo M.H., Cui W., Sarmento B., Shen G.
  Advanced Collagen-Based Biomaterials for Regenerative Biomedicine
  Advanced Functional Materials, 2018

• Macedo M.H., Araújo F., Martínez E., Barrias C.C., Sarmento B
  iPSC-Derived Enterocyte-like Cells for Drug Absorption and Metabolism Studies
  Trends in Molecular Medicine, 2018