“It is very gratifying to realise that our work can contribute to new strategies for cancer diagnosis and treatment.” This statement comes from Catarina Pinto, a recent PhD graduate from Instituto Superior Técnico, who has just been awarded the ULisboa–redeSAÚDE 2025 Prize for the best doctoral thesis in the field of Oncology and Precision Medicine.
The award recognises the innovative nature of her thesis, “Biological evaluation of copper-64 chloride as a promising tool for cancer theranostics”, a study that opens up promising avenues for the development and evaluation of radiopharmaceuticals capable of detecting and treating tumours in a single approach.
The ULisboa Awards ceremony – RedeSAÚDE 2025 took place during the 9th Annual Conference of redeSAÚDE, held on November 26th at University of Lisbon Rectory. This initiative by University of Lisbon aimed to recognise and distinguish the best academic work in Master’s and Doctoral programmes developed at Lisbon University in the field of health. The 2025 edition highlighted research in priority areas such as Oncology or Precision Medicine, Immunology or Infectious Diseases, Ageing or Cardiovascular Diseases or Neurodegenerative Diseases, Health Systems or Entrepreneurship or Digital Transition in Health. The jury, made up of experts from various Lisbon University schools, including Instituto Superior Técnico, Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Pharmacy, Faculty of Sciences and Faculty of Human Kinetics, assessed the quality, relevance and scientific impact of the submitted works.
For Catarina Pinto, the conference was an extremely enriching experience, representing, in her words, ‘an opportunity to attend presentations on a variety of topics of great interest, reflecting the research carried out at University of Lisbon in the field of health’.
The young researcher also emphasises that ‘the works presented were all of great interest and, for this reason, it was very gratifying to receive the award, which also highlights the research being carried out in Portugal and which has a real impact, potentially transforming the way we approach diseases as complex as cancer’.
About the work: when diagnosis and treatment happen at the same time……
At the heart of Catarina Pinto’s research is copper-64 chloride, a radioactive isotope of a metal that is essential to human cells and used in greater quantities by tumour cells. The researcher evaluated its potential as a theranostic tool, i.e., capable of combining diagnostic imaging (through PET tomography) with therapeutic capacity, destroying cancer cells thanks to the radiation emitted.
“Copper is a key element for cellular metabolism, but tumours absorb it much more intensely. This difference can be exploited to create new, more effective and selective radiopharmaceuticals,” explains Catarina Pinto. Among the most striking results of the study is the promising performance of this experimental radiopharmaceutical in glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive and particularly challenging brain tumours to treat.
The research also used three-dimensional cell culture models, which more realistically mimic the behaviour of human tumours. This approach allowed for a more accurate study of the mechanisms of action of copper-64, representing, according to the researcher, ‘a significant advance in the way we evaluate new therapies, bringing laboratory research closer to the medicine of the future’.
A career marked by excellence!
The recognition now awarded by the University of Lisbon adds to other distinctions obtained by Catarina Pinto throughout her career. Among them is the 18th ENEN PhD Prize 2024, awarded by the European Nuclear Education Network, which recognised the contribution of her research to the advancement of nuclear sciences applied to health.
Impact research at Técnico.
The work was carried out at Campus Tecnológico e Nuclear in Loures, as part of the doctoral programme in Biomedical Engineering, under the supervision of Filipa Mendes, a researcher at Técnico in Centro de Ciências e Tecnologias Nucleares (C2TN), and Joana Guerreiro, a researcher at Faculty of Veterinary Medicine from Lisbon University. This project involved collaboration with national partners from IBB Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences (IBB) from Técnico and Institute for Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health (ICNAS) from University of Coimbra, as well as international partners from Institut de Recherche en Cancérologie de Montpellier, France, Sheffield Hallam University in the United Kingdom, and MD Anderson Cancer Centre in the United States. For Técnico and C2TN, this distinction reinforces the growing relevance of research carried out at the intersection of technology, medicine and nuclear sciences.
Catarina Pinto adds that she felt, once again, that her work was valued and that the effort she put into her PhD was worthwhile, having produced results with an impact. Looking ahead, she says that the next step will be to embark on a new research project: ‘I am going to start a postdoctoral fellowship in Zurich, where I will certainly have the opportunity to acquire new skills and further develop my scientific experience’.
A story of science at the service of people and a remarkable contribution to precision medicine, which aims to be increasingly effective, intelligent and personalised.