He always tries to be ahead of his time. He strives to innovate in the field of cancer, the disease that robbed him of his grandfather. He is passionate about research, but cannot live without teaching. He likes to work in teams and to be an aggregator. His name is Nuno Vale and he leads the OncoPharma research group, which he created and has grown at CINTESIS- Center for Health Technology and Services Research.
He was born on the first day of 1980, in Vila do Conde, where he lived and studied until going to University. He completed a degree in Chemistry – Scientific Branch (his second option) at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto (FCUP), specializing in the areas of pharmaceutical and peptide chemistry, and also in molecular pharmacology and drug metabolism. He started teaching Pharmaceutical Chemistry, as a monitor, in the last year of his degree studies.
He had just finished his degree when he lost his grandfather to lung cancer, in just 22 days he saw him go. “He was someone very close to me. I thought it was unfair to lose my grandfather that way. It was very striking. I immediately set myself the challenge of working in the Health area, and particularly in Oncology,” he recalls.
He applied for a PhD scholarship from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and, while waiting for the result, he worked at Laboratórios BIAL, in Oporto, where he participated in pharmaceutical development projects to support clinical trials (Phases I and II), namely in the area of the central nervous system and epilepsy.
“I really wanted to know BIAL. It was a dream. At that time, hiring a non-pharmacologist was uncommon. I established a good relationship with the company in general terms and specifically in relation to how we should create bridges between academia and the pharmaceutical industry. But I have always loved teaching, training students, and accompanying them to graduate school” he highlights.
On December 4, 2008, he finished his PhD in the field of malaria, also at FCUP, in partnership with the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Lisbon, where he studied during the last year. The very next day, he flew to the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Helsinki, through an internship funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Finnish educational institution, to work on pharmacokinetics.
He completed post-doctoral work for five years, with a new grant from the FCT, at FCUP, where he also worked as Visiting Assistant Professor. He worked as a visiting scientist at several European reference centers, namely in Helsinki, Uppsala, Oslo, Copenhagen, Antwerp and Utrecht.
In 2016, he accepted an invitation to join the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Porto, where he pioneered the introduction of “In silico” studies for preclinical and clinical drug development.
At the end of 2019, he began creating a pioneering research group at CINTESIS, OncoPharma, in the area of cancer, in which he has been researching for more than a decade.
“In recent years, it was, without a doubt, the biggest step I was able to take. I didn’t have any difficulty changing. I could hardly achieve this scope and networking anywhere else. We have an interesting dynamic that will increase with the Associate Laboratory RISE,” he says.
He leads a team of researchers who work in three types of laboratories: a wet lab, where research mainly focuses on nanoparticles and drug delivery; a cellular lab, in collaboration with the Anatomy Unit of the FMUP; and a “dry lab” for “in silico” studies.
OncoPharma’s cutting-edge research is developed in three very specific areas. One of the pillars is the “Reuse of Drugs”, through the use of nanoparticles for personalized drug delivery, the use of amino acids and peptides, and drug combinations that may have an additive or synergistic effect in cancer treatment.
Another pillar is “in silico” studies for preclinical and clinical drug development. Used in both research and teaching, these studies complement and accelerate the results and reduce the use of animals. On the clinical side, this type of study involves the use of pharmacological data (Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics) and physiological data from patients or groups of patients, through specific software, already used by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“Through simulation, it is possible to verify data obtained in clinical studies or predict the results of upcoming studies, but also to evaluate, for example, which are the best doses and routes of administration of drugs, making it possible to readjust the doses, select patients, and personalize the therapy,” he exemplifies.
The third pillar of this CINTESIS research group is the use of biomarkers of molecular origin in the follow-up of cancer patients. “We use small molecules, some of which are neurotransmitters, that are associated with the resistance of tumor cells to drugs or the growth of these cells. The goal is to control the pathway of synthesis of these biomarkers and use more precise drugs. Tumor cells are very intelligent, and part of this characteristic involves the internal production of small molecules that serve as a shield for the undeveloped,” he explains.
Nuno Vale is the author of over a hundred publications in leading international scientific journals and was editor of the book “Biomedical Chemistry: Current Trends and Developments”. He has also edited several special issues with topics of biomedical and clinical application, with drug combinations, with “in silico” studies and, still in progress, precision medicine for oncology. Currently, he is also a professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP), where he teaches in several programs. He is also the coordinator of the FMUP Invited Chair of “Innovation in Oncology”, funded by the FCT and Janssen.
1-Year Ambition
I really enjoy planning, programming, and I’m really excited to be part of CINTESIS. If I were in another center, I might not have as much ambition for the future.
In a year, I would like the maintain the projects associated with the Invited Chair in the area of “Innovation in Oncology”. The main project is the “Accelerating Treatments in Oncology” program, in the clinical area, which should be aggregative and involve other health units.
This will be the culmination of a long process, a contribution to the community. It is not a cure for cancer, but it is a way of not giving up, of innovating. We already know a lot, but there is still a lot to learn. We can take advantage of much of what is already being done, and well, but optimizing processes and creating synergies between teams for better decision making, with lower costs and better selection of patients for clinical trials.
10-Year Ambition
I would very much like to continue teaching and contributing to health innovation, within the Faculty of Medicine, with Innovation in Oncology and Digital Health and Translational Medicine as the engines or carriers.
Life Beyond Research
I am married and have two children, Guilherme, age 10, and Dinis, age 9. I am in a demanding phase. I am very close to them, I try to be very present not only in their school path but also in their tennis practice, with several training sessions a week and tournaments. I am also vice-president of the Parents Association of the Colégio Luso-Francês and there I am also involved in the organization of tennis tournaments at the school in the doubles-family modality. I also play soccer with them, the result of an old passion, where I organized and participated in futsal tournaments. I only stopped when I had a complete rupture of my Achilles tendon at the beginning of my doctorate. I like DIY. Whenever I can I go to the garden or to a small backyard I have. This connection to nature is very important and comforting to me.