Romana Santos, Group Leader
Romana Santos (PhD) is a Principal Investigator at MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, where she founded and is leading the Bioadhesion and Biomimicry research group. Romana Santos also teaches Animal Biology II and Marine Biology at the Animal Biology Department, Sciences Faculty of the University of Lisbon. At her group she follows a multidisciplinary approach to better understand marine bioadhesion and has been developing biomimetic adhesives to be used in biomedical and biotechnological applications.
CV | email: rlasantos[at]ciencias.ulisboa.pt
ORCID | LINKEDIN | SCHOLAR | RESEARCHGATE
Inês Ventura, PhD student, Biological Sciences | Biotechnology – ongoing
Between October 2020 and February 2021, Inês Ventura conducted a Master in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Coimbra, performing her thesis at the Bioadhesion and Biomimicry Research Group, under the supervision of Romana Santos (MARE – Marine and Environmental Research Centre) and Cláudia Pereira (Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra). Her thesis aimed at characterizing glycoproteins involved in sea urchin adhesion.
In December 2021 Inês started her PhD in Biological Sciences – specialization Biotechnology at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon. She will perform her thesis at the Bioadhesion and Biomimicry Research Group under the supervision of Romana Santos (MARE – Marine and Environmental Research Centre), the Protein Misfolding and Amyloids in Biomedicine Group under the supervision of Bárbara Henriques (BioISI – Biosystems and Integrative Sciences Institute) and Laboratory of Marine Organisms and Biomimetism under the supervision of Patrick Flammang (Biosciences Institute, University of Mons, Belgium). Her thesis aims to identify adhesive proteins common to different species of sea urchins that behave like functional amyloids, and demonstrate the outperformance of biomimetic adhesive amyloids with respect to commercial biological adhesives, establishing the proof of principle for future biomedical and biotechnological applications.
email: iventura[at]ciencias.ulisboa.pt | LINKEDIN | RESEARCHGATE
Margarida Santos, Internship – ongoing
Since February 2026, Margarida Santos is performing an internship at the Bioadhesion and Biomimicry Research Group, under the supervision of Romana Santos and Pedro Félix (MARE – Marine and Environmental Research Centre).
email: fc59566[at]alunos.ciencias.ulisboa.pt
ALUMNI
João Moreno, PhD student, Biological Sciences | Evolutionary Biology (2026)
João Moreno conducted a PhD in Biological Sciences – specialization Evolutionary Biology at the University of Lisbon, performing his thesis at the Evolutionary Genetics Group under the supervision of Vitor Sousa (cE3c – Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes) and at the Bioadhesion and Biomimicry Research Group under the supervision of Romana Santos (MARE – Marine and Environmental Research Centre). His thesis aims at uncovering the molecular basis of adaptation in species distributed along a climatic gradient: linking genomes and proteins to environment.
email: jmmoreno[at]ciencias.ulisboa.pt | ORCID | RESEARCHGATE
Asmita Baral, PhD student from University of Perugia – Italy (ERASMUS +) – 2026
Asmita Baral conducted an research internship at at the Bioadhesion and Biomimicry Research Group, under the supervision of Romana Santos (MARE – Marine and Environmental Research Centre).
Raquel Leite, Internship (2025-2026)
Raquel Leite will perform an internship at the Bioadhesion and Biomimicry Research Group, under the supervision of Romana Santos and Inês Ventura (MARE – Marine and Environmental Research Centre).
email: fc57934[at]alunos.ciencias.ulisboa.pt
Mariana Santos, Researcher – Project Researcher – 2025
Mariana Santos iworked on the project MIMESIS – Nature-inspired bioadhesive for biomedical and biotechnological applications financed by Fundação Ana Mendonça.
Mário Rocha, MSc in Marine Sciences (2025)
Mário Rocha conducted a Master in Marine Sciences at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, performing his thesis at the Bioadhesion and Biomimicry Research Group, under the supervision of Romana Santos (MARE – Marine and Environmental Research Centre) and Ana Viana (CQE – Center of Structural Chemistry). His thesis aimed at accessing the effect of different chemically modified surfaces on the sea urchin adhesion.
Inês Caldeira, MSc in Molecular Biology and Genetics (2025)
Inês Caldeira conducted a Master in Molecular Biology and Genetics at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, performing her thesis at the Bioadhesion and Biomimicry Research Group, under the supervision of Romana Santos (MARE – Marine and Environmental Research Centre) and Ana Rita Carlos (CE3C – Center for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes). Her thesis aimed at accessing the effect of hydrodynamism on the regulation of the adhesive force of the sea urchin using a molecular and biomechanical approach.
Samra Majoka, MSc in Marine Ecology (2024)
Samra Majoka conducted a Master in Marine Ecology at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, performing her thesis at the Bioadhesion and Biomimicry Research Group, under the supervision of Romana Santos (MARE – Marine and Environmental Research Centre). Her thesis aimed at performing a morphological, biochemical, ecological and taxonomic analysis of the reversible adhesion of sea urchins from the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific. read more
Mariana Santos, MSc Biochemistry abd Biomedicine (2023)
Mariana Santos conducted a Master in Biochemistry and Biomedicine at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, performing her thesis at the Protein Misfolding and Amyloids in Biomedicine laboratory under the supervision of Bárbara Henriques (BioISI – Biosystems and Integrative Sciences Institute) and at the Bioadhesion and Biomimicry Research Group, under the supervision of Romana Santos (MARE – Marine and Environmental Research Centre). Her thesis aimed at understanding the importance of the different discoidin-like domains in the adhesive functions of Paracentrotus lividus nectin. read more
Érica Mocho, Internship (2022-2023)
Érica Mocho performed an internship at the Bioadhesion and Biomimicry Research Group, under the supervision of Romana Santos and Inês Ventura (MARE – Marine and Environmental Research Centre).
Pedro Costa, Internship (2022-2023)
Pedro Costa performed an internship at the Bioadhesion and Biomimicry Research Group, under the supervision of Romana Santos and Inês Ventura (MARE – Marine and Environmental Research Centre).
André Fernandes, MSc Biochemistry (2022)
André Fernandes conducted a Master in Biochemistry at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, performing her thesis at the Bioadhesion and Biomimicry Research Group, under the supervision of Romana Santos (MARE – Marine and Environmental Research Centre) and at the Protein Misfolding and Amyloids in Biomedicine Group under the supervision of Bárbara Henriques (BioISI – Biosystems and Integrative Sciences Institute). His thesis aims at studying functional amyloids through the structural analysis of a sea urchin inspired adhesive protein. read more
Inês Gonçalves, Internship (2021-2022)
Inês Gonçalves performed an Internship at the Bioadhesion and Biomimicry Research Group, under the supervision of Romana Santos (MARE – Marine and Environmental Research Centre).
Gonçalo Mota, Internship (2021-2022)
Gonçalo Mota performed an Internship at the Bioadhesion and Biomimicry Research Group, under the supervision of Romana Santos (MARE – Marine and Environmental Research Centre).
Lisa Gaspar, MSc Biochemistry (2021)
Lisa Gaspar conducted a Master in Biochemistry at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, performing her thesis at the Bioadhesion and Biomimicry Research Group, under the supervision of Romana Santos (MARE – Marine and Environmental Research Centre). Her thesis aimed at performing an interspecific analysis of the adhesive composition from several sea urchin species. read more
Lucas Hille, Master student from Berlin University – Germany (ERASMUS – 2020)
Lucas Hills conducted a research project at the Bioadhesion and Biomimicry Research Group, under the supervision of Romana Santos (MARE – Marine and Environmental Research Centre).
Joana Batista, MSc Biochemistry (2020)
Joana Batista conducted a Master in Biochemistry at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, performing her thesis at the Bioadhesion and Biomimicry Research Group, under the supervision of Romana Santos (MARE – Marine and Environmental Research Centre) and Ana Viana (CQE – Centre for Structural Chemistry). Her thesis aimed at producing a recombinant sea urchin- inspired adhesive protein and testing its adhesion to different substrates. read more
Mariana Simão, MSc Biochemistry (2019)
Mariana Simão conducted a Master in Biochemistry at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, performing her thesis at the Bioadhesion and Biomimicry Research Group, under the supervision of Romana Santos (MARE – Marine and Environmental Research Centre). Her thesis aimed at characterizing the glycans involved in sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus reversible adhesion. read more
Mariana Moço, Internship (2018-2019)
Mariana Moço worked as a researcher at the Bioadhesion and Biomimicry Research Group, under the supervision of Romana Santos (MARE – Marine and Environmental Research Centre).