Ana Paula Martins
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Biosketch
Born in 1997 in Almada, Ana Paula Martins is a recently graduated doctor from Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon. Ana was not sure about the idea of becoming a doctor and for that reason, she decided to take a less common path in her field. From the very first year, she decided to join Leonor Saúde’s lab. Working with zebrafish, she took part in both investigation areas from that lab – development and spinal cord regeneration. She spent 2 years studying the inflammations dynamics on spinal cord regeneration and the impact of UV-B radiation on it. She spent the other 3 years in developing a systematic score named CAUDAL score that described the morphology of zebrafish caudal fins, in a project aimed to understand the impact of Wnt signalling on fin developments.
Moreover, she discovered that amputation in defective fins would lead to a perfect regeneration in zebrafish caudal fins. Despite spending a lot of time between studies and the lab, Ana is an enthusiastic Art student and teacher. She loves to draw and paint and learn different techniques. In the small remaining time, she enjoys playing games with her family and friends. Now, Ana is aiming to be the best doctor she can be and looks forward to belonging in the Research field.
Testimony
Looking back on my past, I think I should have changed my path during the five years I stayed at iMM. There was different fields I would have liked to try and study. However, I felt too passionate about zebrafish to leave them earlier. I am thankful to L. Saúde’s lab and Fish Facility for providing such a positive environment and being very receptive to medical students. I think belonging to a basic research group was very enriching to someone that will spend more time in touch with the clinical field. I feel I can be a “bridge” between doctors and researchers, thus reducing communication issues and optimizing research experimental settings.
That way I think I can be useful for the community and that’s what I wish to do for the future. Thanks to iMM, I was able to discover this role and feel like it can be possible to be more than just one job.
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