Maria Manuel Mota facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Maria Manuel Mota
Born	Vila Nova de Gaia
Nationality	Portuguese
Alma mater	University College of London
Scientific career
Fields	Malaria Host-Pathogen Interactions
Institutions	NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, United States Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Portugal Instituo de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes, Portugal
Thesis	"Sequestration and the infected-erythrocyte surface in Plasmodium chabaudi malaria infection" (1999)

Maria Manuel Mota is a scientist from Portugal. She is known for her work studying malaria. She also leads a big research center in Lisbon, called the Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes.

Early Life and Education

Maria Mota was born in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal. She loved science from a young age.

She studied Biology at the University of Porto, finishing in 1992. Later, she earned a master's degree in immunology in 1994. In 1998, she received her PhD in molecular parasitology. She got this degree from University College London in the United Kingdom.

Her Career in Science

After her PhD, Maria Mota moved to the United States. There, she did more research at the New York University Medical Center. In 2002, she started her own research team in Portugal. This team was at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência.

In 2005, she became a professor at the University of Lisbon. Since 2014, she has been the executive director of the Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes (iMM) in Lisbon. She still leads her own research group there, focusing on malaria.

Maria Mota is also a member of EMBO. This is a group of top scientists in Europe. She also visits Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to teach.

Besides her research, Maria Mota helps people learn about science. She helped start an organization in Portugal called Associação Viver a Ciência. This group aims to share science with the public.

Her Research on Malaria

Maria Mota's research focuses on how malaria parasites infect people. She studies the tiny details of how the parasite and the human body interact. Her work looks at how things like nutrition and sleep cycles affect malaria infection.

How Malaria Enters the Body

Maria Mota led a study that made an important discovery. They found that malaria parasites first enter the liver. Before settling down, they travel through many liver cells. This helps them find the best cell to hide and multiply in. This discovery came from a chance conversation.

The Liver Stage of Malaria

Her research often looks at the liver stage of malaria. This is the first step of infection after a mosquito bite. It's a very important stage. However, the body's immune system often struggles to fight malaria at this point.

Maria Mota's team found one reason for this. The liver can sometimes stop important immune cells, called Dendritic cells, from working well. These cells usually tell the body's defenses, like T cells, to attack the infection.

Later, her team showed that the liver does have an active innate immune system. This is the body's first line of defense. They also found that malaria parasites protect themselves. They do this by attaching to a protein called LC3. This discovery could help create new medicines for malaria.

How the Body Fights New Infections

Maria Mota's research group also found something interesting. If someone already has malaria in their blood, it can stop a new infection. This means a new mosquito bite might not cause another liver infection.

This happens because of a protein called hepcidin. Malaria infection increases hepcidin in the body. Hepcidin then takes iron away from liver cells. Iron is a key nutrient for malaria parasites. So, starving the parasites of iron helps stop a new infection.

Malaria and Nutrition

In 2017, Maria Mota's team published another important study. They found that malaria parasites can sense how well-fed their host is. The parasites change how fast they grow based on the host's nutrition.

For example, mice on a low-calorie diet had slower-growing malaria parasites. They also found a malaria protein, KIN, that helps the parasite sense the host's food intake. This matches what doctors have seen in humans. Sometimes, malaria gets worse when malnourished patients start eating better in the hospital.

Awards and Honors

Maria Mota has received many awards for her important work.

• In 2003, she won a Young Investigator Award from EMBO.
• In 2004, she received funding from the European Science Foundation.
• In 2005, she was made a Commander of the Order of Prince Henry. This is a special national honor in Portugal.
• In 2013, she won the Prémio Pessoa Prize. This award is given to Portuguese people who make big contributions to arts or sciences. Maria Mota was one of the youngest people to ever receive it.
• In 2017, she won the Pfizer Prize for her malaria research.
• In 2018, she received the Sanofi-Institut Pasteur prize, which included 150,000 euros.

See also

In Spanish: Maria Manuel Mota para niños