CICS-UBI Universidade Beira Interior  ―  Covilha – Portugal

“Exploring the potential of peptide-plasmid DNA vectors for gene delivery in cancer therapy”

Diana Costa studied Chemistry at the Chemistry Department from the Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Coimbra, Portugal. She completed her PhD on the development of covalent DNA gels for delivery purposes, in 2009 at the University of Coimbra, Portugal. During her PhD studies, she also works at the Physical Chemistry Department from Lund University, Sweden and at the Karl-Franzens Institute from Graz University, Austria. She is currently a Principal Researcher at Health Sciences Research Centre, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã Portugal (CICS-UBI). Her research focus in the area of Biotechnology/Biomaterials Engineering, mainly on the Biomolecular and Biomaterials research for the development of novel therapeutic systems (micro, nanoparticulated or others) for targeted and controlled drug and/or gene delivery on nuclear and mitochondrial gene therapies field. In this context, currently, her research area covers the development of cell-penetrating peptide based delivery systems to operate therapeutically in a broad range of clinical applications.

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Laboratoire des Biophysique des Membranes et RMN Université de Strasbourg  ―  Strasbourg- France

“The LAH4 system for DNA delivery: The metamorphosis of a model peptide to a medical tool”

He studied physics in Freiburg im Breisgau, Brighton and Heidelberg and finished 1999 with a master degree at the German cancer research center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg. He did his PhD studies at the Max Planck Institut for Biochemistry in Martinsried and the University of Strasbourg under the supervision of Burkhard Bechinger and received 2003 the PhD degree from the University of Strasbourg. He broadened his expertise in PostDoc position at the Startup Company AC Immune, the University of Umeå and the University of Srasbourg. In 2014 he was recruted as chargé de recherche at CNRS (UMR 7177 university of Strasbourg/CNRS).

His main interst is the investigation of membrane peptides by solid state NMR and other biophysical methods like fluorescence, cirular dichroism and others. He is working on a peptide assisted enodsomal delivery system (LAH4). Is not a classical cell penetrating peptide, but it can serve a similar goal.

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Laboratoire des Biomolécules LBM Sorbonne Université  ―  Paris – France

“Contributions of PIP2 to Penetratin internalization biophysical and affinity photocrosslinking approaches”

I did my PhD in Paris, at the Laboratoire des Biomolecules, Pierre et Marie Curie University, under the supervision of Isabel Alves and Sandrine Sagan, between 2008 and 2011. My PhD work focused on the analysis of peptide/membrane interactions in the context of cell penetrating peptides.

In 2012, I joined Jenny Gallop’s group at the Gurdon Institute, Cambridge University, as a postdoctoral research fellow. I worked on the regulation of actin polymerisation by lipid membranes. My work focused on the regulatory role of certain phosphoinositides, membrane curvature and curvature-inducing proteins.

In 2014, I came back to Paris and joined the Laboratoire des Biomolecules as Assistant Professor attached to the Chemistry Faculty. My research focuses on the analysis of the mechanism of action of membrane active peptides (cell penetrating, antimicrobial, viral…) at a molecular level, using biophysical approaches.

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