Neptune Seminar Series - 12 APR

NEPTUNE SEMINAR SERIES | ANA CATARINA FONSECA | 12 APR | 11:30

Title: Uncovering the Bioactive Potential of Cyanobacterial Compounds for Appetite Suppression

Enhanced food consumption promotes obesity, a critical public health problem with increasing prevalence worldwide. Selective modulators of appetite can be used as therapeutic intervention. However, nowadays the appetite suppressant drugs prompted severe side effects, as anxiety and depression. For that reason, there is a priority to discover new drugs. In this study, a library of 138 cyanobacterial fractions from marine and freshwater environments belonging to The Blue Biotechnology and Ecotoxicology Culture Collection (LEGE-CC) of CIIMAR (Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research) was screened for their capability to alter the food intake behavior of zebrafish larvae – a whole small animal model.

Name: Ana Catarina Fonseca

Ana Fonseca holds a BSc in Environmental Health at the School of Health – Polytechnic Institute of Porto and a MSc in Environmental Toxicology and Contamination at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar of the University of Porto. She is currently PhD student in Marine Biotechnology and Aquaculture in the Faculty of Sciences – University of Porto, integrating the Blue Young Talent PhD program of CIIMAR. Her research interests focus on finding novel pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals for human metabolic diseases and appetite control.

The seminar will take place at CIIMAR headquarters (Boca da Baleia Auditorium ).

External members of CIIMAR should send an email to divulgacao@ciimar.up.pt, requesting authorization to enter the Leixões Terminal area

f you are a CIIMAR member you can also access last seminars recordings through the LINK.