Laboratory for Bacterial Evolution and Pathogenesis (LBEP)

Joana Alves

Research Fellow

Joana joined David Hume and Ross Fitzgerald’s labs in early 2017 as a postdoctoral research fellow. She uses a macrophage infection model to characterize the molecular mechanisms of Staphylococcus aureus adaptation to the host innate immune responses. 

 She completed her PhD in Biomedical Sciences in the field of Immunology at Paula Ferreira’s lab (Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar, University of Porto, Portugal). Her graduate work was focused on the innate immune response to neonatal pathogens, especially Escherichia coli and Group B Streptococcus. During her Master’s in Biochemistry (Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto) she studied the immune recognition and response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis at Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (University of Minho).

Her research interests and experience are in the field of immunology and microbiology, namely the characterization of the innate immune mechanisms involved in host-bacteria interactions.

Joana now works in Nicola Lynskey's lab.