Maria José Caramujo Rocha de Carvalho

Email: mj.caramujo@fc.ul.pt
Web References: Personal Site, <a href="http://scholar.google.pt/citations?user=U68aqt8AAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank">Google Scholar, Orcid, Research Gate, Researcher ID
Research Group: <a href="/research/research-groups/towards-sustainable-and-resilient-ecosystems/freshwater-and-invasion-biology">Freshwater and Invasion Biology

External Collaborator

Aquatic Foodweb Zooplankton Temporary Ponds Fatty Acids Carotenoids Biomarkers Choline Metabolites

I received a Ph.D. in Crustacean Ecology from the University of Lisbon in 1999 and I am currently collaborating with the Conservation in Socio-Ecological Ecosystems Group of CE3C. I’ve been recently working at Istitute Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), Rome, Italy in the area of oncology and presently I’m developping work in the area of metabolomics/lipidomics. My research is focused on the biochemical aspects of ecology and the application of ecological laws in the field of oncology.

For many years I have been involved in crustacean ecology research and have used crustacean as model organims for energy transfer in aquatic foodwebs. Recently, I’ve been been working in cancer research, considering cancer as an ecological phenomenon where cells resort to migration to sustain their high growth rate.

I’m currently collaborating with research groups working in the area of crustacean taxonomy and ecology (University of Algarve); metabolomics/lipidomics (Instituto Superior Técnico and Portuguese Mass Spectrometry Network); and metabolism of cancer cells (Molecular and Cellular Imaging Unit, Cell Biology and Neurosciences Dept, ISS, Rome).

My current research has three main objectives:

to assess the role of fatty acids (FA) and phospholipids in cell membrane stability, lipid metabolism;
explore the role of FA bioconversion in crustaceans, biodiversity of plankton and relationship with available nutrients;
identification of metabolic markers in oncological models.