Scientific networking

The University of Porto is home to skilled scientists from converging fields like molecular and chemical biology, pharmacy, pharmacology and clinical pharmacology. Their collaborative work showcases the synergistic bonds that emerge at institutions like the Faculty of Medicine, the Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences, the Faculty of Pharmacy and the Faculty of Medical Dentistry. Researchers in health and pharmaceutical sciences have partnered with colleagues in the past to promote interdisciplinary collaborations and common research projects. Investigators in cardiovascular disease, cancer and neurosciences for example, are joining together to study inflammation and oxidative stress. Inflammation and signalling are particularly important areas of biology for drug discovery, as signalling problems often underlie cancer. Inflammation is additionally emerging as a crucial target for discovery, as it plays a role in heart disease, arthritis, stroke and Alzheimer's disease. Imaging biophysicists have also teamed up with UP's molecular and cellular pharmacologists. The biophysicists use sophisticated computer models to help the pharmacologists determine which new potential agents (chemicals and biological) to make and test next. The computers help develop cutting-edge new chemical and biological entities faster than with pure chemistry and biochemistry because thousands of compounds can be tested in silico in a fraction of the time it takes to synthesize them.