MIA-Portugal Researcher Awarded L’Oréal Portugal Honor Medal for Women in Science 2024

Cláudia Deus, a researcher at the Multidisciplinary Institute of Aging (MIA-Portugal), has been awarded the prestigious L’Oréal Portugal Honor Medal for Women in Science 2024. The award ceremony took place on June 5th at the Centro Cultural de Belém, in Lisbon.

This award celebrates Cláudia Deus’s outstanding work in the field of Parkinson’s disease research. Her project explores a groundbreaking approach using extracellular vesicles as delivery vehicles for synthetic mRNA encoding the Nrf2 gene - a key regulator of cellular defense mechanisms against oxidative stress, which is found to be reduced in Parkinson’s patients.

Her innovative strategy may represent a new therapeutic path capable of slowing the progression of the disease and opening doors to future treatments.

Cláudia Deus

“This award represents the recognition of all the work I’ve been developing over the years. Although it is a personal award, I must acknowledge the role of a team - from supervisors to mentors — who inspire me every day”.

Cláudia Deus

Scientists honoured on the 20th anniversary of the L’Oréal Portugal Honor Medals for Women in Science: Laetitia Gaspar, Sara Silva Pereira, Cláudia Deus and Mariana Osswald.