简介
Vera Marisa Costa (VMC) completed her PhD in Toxicology on June 23, 2009, at the University of Porto, Faculty of Pharmacy (FFUP). She is currently an Auxiliary Researcher at i4hB, University of Porto, and a Lecturer in Pharmacology at FFUP. VMC has extensive teaching experience across multiple universities, primarily in Pharmacology and Toxicology. To date, she has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles in high-impact international journals, predominantly in Q1-ranked journals within their respective fields.
VMC serves as Associate Editor for four international journals, by invitation: Brazilian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences (since 2019), Cardiovascular Toxicology (Springer-Nature, since 2020), Frontiers in Toxicology - Clinical Toxicology (since 2022), and Heliyon (since 2023). In 2024, she was appointed Senior Editor of Cardiovascular Toxicology (Springer-Nature). VMC has contributed to organizing several scientific conferences and courses. Her research significantly impacts Medical and Health Sciences, with a focus on Pharmacology, Pharmacy, and Toxicology, particularly in onco-cardiology, chemobrain, and cancer.
She has been the Principal Investigator (PI) for two FCT-funded projects on cardio-oncology: “Why is mitoxantrone a poison to the heart? Focus on mitochondria, cytoskeleton, and metabolic bioactivation mechanisms” (EXPL/DTP-FTO/0290/2012) and “Poisoning the heart with anticancer drugs: is metabolic bioactivation or aging promotion the link to the cardiotoxicity of anticancer drugs?” (PTDC/DTPFTO/1489/2014). VMC has also contributed as a researcher on several other projects, including an EU-funded international collaboration. She participates in COST Actions such as CA16225 - Realizing the Therapeutic Potential of Novel Cardioprotective Therapies, and is currently a member of CA20121 - Bench to Bedside Transition for Pharmacological Regulation of NRF2 in Noncommunicable Diseases (BenBedPhar) and CA21152 - Implementation Network Europe for Cancer Survivorship Care.
VMC has evaluated scientific projects for the Italian Ministry for University Research (MUR), the Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI) in Romania, as well as for the science funding agencies of Serbia, Austria, and Switzerland. She currently (co-)supervises 3 PhD students and has previously (co-)supervised 6 PhD students and over 20 MSc dissertations to successful completion.
She maintains active international collaborations with renowned researchers, including Kurt J. Varner (Louisiana, USA), Premysl Mladenka and Martin Sterba (Charles University, Czech Republic), Alessandro Colombo (Milan, Italy), and Luciana Rossato (Brazil). In her Ciência Vitae profile, the most frequently cited research terms include: chemotherapy, cardio-oncology, toxicology, catecholamines, doxorubicin, cardiac cells, in vivo, oxidative stress, amanitin, RNA polymerase II, oncology, antidotes, hepatotoxicity, MDMA, amphetamines, cathinones, and chemobrain.
