Raquel Chaves is the face of the center at the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD) of the RISE-Health Research Unit, recently set up by CINTESIS – Center for Health Technology and Services Research and other Units, and based at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP).

Raquel Chaves, who leads UTAD’s School of Life and Environmental Sciences, is passionate about research and teaching and is an ever-curious person, eager to learn and experience new things, always ready to break new ground. Following the strategy of her Rector, Emídio Gomes, the opportunity arose to join the new Unit. A unique opportunity to leverage the commitment to research, training (Medicine could join other important health courses, such as Genetics, Biomedical Sciences and Nursing, among others) and the generation of critical mass.

“The opportunity arose and we decided to join RISE-Health. I think it was the right time. We are a group of 18 people with different backgrounds, but all with an interest in health, biomedical sciences or medicine. The aim is to be part of a network where we can get in touch with more people in the field and with whom we can interact and progress. I’m now RISE-Health from head to toe,” says the researcher.

She was born in Porto, in Massarelos, but her father’s work as a banker took her to Vila Real after elementary school, although she returned to her hometown in her youth to enter higher education. In 1992, she completed a degree in Biochemistry at the University of Porto. The choice came naturally, as she had always wanted to do research. As a child, she would lock herself in the pantry, which she would turn into a laboratory, to carry out her scientific experiments with whatever came to hand. But her dream had been genetics ever since she happened to read a book called “My Children Will Be Clones” as a child, even though human cloning was nothing more than science fiction at the time. It was this book that inspired her to become the professional she has become and the person she is.

“I read it and began to fall in love with genes, genomes, chromosomes, cells… It was that book that sparked my interest. From then on, I started trying to understand it better and my passion grew day by day,” she says.

She pursued her dream by studying for a Master’s degree in Molecular Genetics at the University of Minho, and was the first student to complete the first edition. She completed her dissertation on the genetics of pediatric leukemia in 1995. The subject was “difficult” and the researcher confesses that it was “traumatizing” at the time. “I ended up running away from this area for a while. I didn’t have the profile for the medical side. I’m very emotional,” she confesses.

She moved back to Vila Real and began teaching at UTAD in 1998. She completed her PhD at this University (with several stays at the National Cancer Institute in the USA and at the Pathology College at Cambridge University in the UK) in December 2002, with a thesis on genomics and molecular cytogenetics in cattle. That year she became an Assistant Professor. In 2008, she was awarded an Aggregation in Comparative and Technological Molecular Genetics. From 2013 to 2023, she was an Associate Professor and, since 2023, she has been a Full Professor. She was particularly instrumental in creating the degree in Genetics and Biotechnology. “Life really does take many turns,” she says, recalling that Genetics was always her dream. She is currently president of UTAD’s School of Life and Environmental Sciences and continues, of her own free will, to teach and carry out fundamental research in Genetics. Her great passions are chromosomes and the non-coding sequences that play a role in chromosomal alterations and genomes, in the process of tumor formation and in the onset of cancer.

Raquel Chaves, who has published several scientific articles, books and book chapters, as well as participated in various projects as a researcher or principal investigator, is starting new projects with the same enthusiasm and ambition. “I consider myself privileged because I do what I love. I love teaching and research. Sometimes it’s hard to balance, but I feel fulfilled. I can’t think of my professional life as just doing research because it gives me great pleasure to deal with the younger generations and pass on to them the passion I feel for what I investigate. Researchers should teach the joy of discovery. Some people think that publishing papers is the best thing. Not me. What motivates me is knowing how things work. And I hope that, one day, what I do can be applied,” he concludes.

What is your 1-Year Ambition?

I have many professional goals. I’d like to strengthen my School and continue to have the full support of my Dean. After completing my latest projects, I want to enter a new phase in terms of research, continuing with the use of non-coding sequences, but now as biomarkers in cancer diagnosis. Another line of research that I intend to continue developing has to do with the etiology of certain chromosomal rearrangements, namely translocations, which are the most common chromosomal alterations in humans and are involved in various pathologies. We will be supporting all of this research work with lines of funding with a view to continuing the research.

In addition, we are going to open a laboratory to provide services in genetics (Genetics4U, at UTAD), which will serve not only the scientific community, but also the community in general, and which will naturally be associated with RISE-Health.

What is your 10-Year Ambition?

I would very much like the Genetics4U laboratory to be able to be autonomous in its mission. In terms of research, I’d like the topics I’m studying to bear fruit, so that we can better understand how certain non-coding sequences act in nuclear division and in the process of tumorogenesis. But there will always be more questions than answers. Otherwise, it would be a sign that I hadn’t done my research properly.

It’s comforting and very rewarding to know that some of my former students already have positions in research and academia, with careers that are already very relevant. This is “leaving school”.

How is Life Beyond Research and Teaching?

These days I have very little free time, due to the responsibilities I have taken on. I’m not complaining, it was a choice. I have the life I’ve chosen. My free time is dedicated to my family, to my two children. My daughter is already a doctor, currently studying Clinical Pathology, and my son is of school age. We try to do things as a family, like watching movies, going for walks, listening to music and going to concerts. But I’d like to have more free time to read, not least because books open up my horizons.

 

Photo: UTAD