Samira Prado
Position: Researcher School/office: School of Medical SciencesEmail: c2FtaXJhLnByYWRvO29ydS5zZQ==
Phone: +46 19 303470
Room: X2303
About Samira Prado
About Samira Prado
I was hired as a postdoc by ORU's Food & Health strategic initiative in 2020 and have been working in a field that integrates biochemistry, nutrition, food chemistry, and metabolomics. My work is also within PAN Sweden Centre (FORMAS) and on a daily basis I am involved with the Gut and Health team.
Research
I’m interested in understanding what humans eat but do not digest and how the undigested structures affect our health. For that, I conduct translational studies to understand the role of gastrointestinal tract-body functionality related to diet and health.
Such studies involve techniques such as in vitro and ex vivo studies to mimic digestion and colonic faecal fermentation, as well as cell culture to study functionality and permeability. Additionally, I have been performing dietary interventions where biological samples (e.g., blood, urine, breath, and faeces) are used to study metabolomics, peptidomics, and metagenomics. Ultimately, understanding how diet affects gut functionality in healthy people could enable deciphering the development of pathophysiology of non-communicable diseases on an individual basis. My recent studies has been regarding plant-based protein and dietary fibres effects on health.
My main research projects are:
- PanProtein - plant-based proteins contributing to a healthy and sustainable diet, which aims to create frameworks to measure the metabolic profiling related to plant-based protein intake.
- ADAPtide: decrypting sustainable and responsive nutrition by mapping the effects of plant-based foods on metabolic profiling, which will investigate the effects of specific plant-based compounds (peptides, fibres, metabolites) that trigger human biological functions.
Teaching
I am involved in teaching activities at the master's Program in Experimental Medicine and have been supervising bachelor and master students, in works that involve lab supervision, developing experimental protocols, data analysis and writing. I also have been involved in medical education by tutoring basgrupp (problem-based learning groups).
Others
Prizes: PhD thesis received the Best PhD Thesis Award in Food Science from the Ministry of Education (Brazil) and the Best Thesis Award in Agricultural Science from the University of São Paulo.
Awarded grants: FORMAS Mobility Grant (2022-2023; ca 2M SEK), Ekhagastiftelsen (2023-2014; 980 000 SEK), FORMAS Starting Grant (2024-2028, 4 M SEK).
Extra activities: chair of Örebro University Junior Faculty and part of the Food and Health platform of collaboration.
Research projects
Active projects
- Establishing a novel gut-brain axis model
- ImprUV+ - An analytical framework to explore the effects of UV during plant growth on human health
- Interaction between dietary protein and fibre fermentation - its functional consequences
- PAN Protein - plant-based proteins contributing to a healthy and sustainable diet
- POPgut - The impact of persistent organic pollutants exposure on gut health
- Unpuzzle - Unravelling molecular motifs from dietary fibers responsible for interaction with recognition receptors in human cells
Research groups
Publications
Articles in journals
- Donadio, J. L. S. , Ramos do Prado, S. B. , Soares, C. G. , Tamarossi, R. I. , Heidor, R. , Moreno, F. S. & Fabi, J. P. (2024). Ripe papaya pectins inhibit the proliferation of colon cancer spheroids and the formation of chemically induced aberrant crypts in rats colons. Carbohydrate Polymers, 331.
- Seeburger, P. , Forsman, H. , Bevilacqua, G. , Marques, T. M. , Morales, L. O. , Prado, S. B. R. , Strid, Å. , Hyötyläinen, T. & et al. (2023). From farm to fork… and beyond! UV enhances Aryl hydrocarbon receptor-mediated activity of cruciferous vegetables in human intestinal cells upon colonic fermentation. Food Chemistry, 426.
- Bernardino Ramos do Prado, S. , Minguzzi, B. T. , Hoffmann, C. & Fabi, J. P. (2021). Modulation of human gut microbiota by dietary fibers from unripe and ripe papayas: Distinct polysaccharide degradation using a colonic in vitro fermentation model. Food Chemistry, 348.
- Soares, C. G. , Bernardino Ramos do Prado, S. , Andrade, S. C. S. & Fabi, J. P. (2021). Systems Biology Applied to the Study of Papaya Fruit Ripening: The Influence of Ethylene on Pulp Softening. Cells, 10 (9).
- Prado, S. B. , Beukema, M. , Jermendi, E. , Schols, H. A. , de Vos, P. & Fabi, J. P. (2020). Pectin Interaction with Immune Receptors is Modulated by Ripening Process in Papayas. Scientific Reports, 10.
- Ramos do Prado, S. B. , Santos, G. R. , Mourão, P. A. & Fabi, J. P. (2019). Chelate-soluble Pectin Fraction From Papaya Pulp Interacts With galectin-3 and Inhibits Colon Cancer Cell Proliferation. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 126, 170-178.
- Ramos do Prado, S. B. , Shiga, T. M. , Horazono, Y. , Hogan, V. A. , Raz, A. , Carpita, N. C. & Fabi, J. P. (2019). Migration and proliferation of cancer cells in culture are differentially affected by molecular size of modified citrus pectin. Carbohydrate Polymers, 211, 141-151.
- Ramos do Prado, S. B. , Ferreira, G. F. , Yosuke, H. , Shiga, T. M. , Raz, A. , Carpita, N. C. & Fabi, J. P. (2017). Ripening-induced chemical modifications of papaya pectin inhibit cancer cell proliferation. Scientific Reports, 7, 1-17.
- de Menezes, E. W. , Grande, F. , Giuntini, E. B. , Cardoso Lopes, T. d. V. , Tanosov Dan, M. C. , Ramos do Prado, S. B. , Gombossy de Melo Franco, B. D. , Charrondierre, U. R. & et al. (2016). Impact of Dietary Fiber Energy on the Calculation of Food Total Energy Value in the Brazilian Food Composition Database. Food Chemistry, 193, 128-133.
- Ramos do Prado, S. B. , Giuntini, E. B. , Grande, F. & de Menezes, E. W. (2016). Techniques to evaluate changes in the nutritional profile of food products. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 53, 1-6.
Articles, reviews/surveys
- Donadio, J. L. S. , Bernardino Ramos do Prado, S. , Rogero, M. M. & Fabi, J. P. (2022). Effects of pectins on colorectal cancer: targeting hallmarks as a support for future clinical trials. Food & Function, 13 (22), 11438-11454.
- Fabi, J. P. & Ramos do Prado, S. B. (2019). Fast and furious: Ethylene-triggered changes in the metabolism of papaya fruit during ripening. Frontiers in Plant Science, 10.
Chapters in books
- Lopes, R. , do Prado, S. & Fabi, J. (2019). Nutrition, the Gastrointestinal Microbiota and Cancer Prevention. In: Thomas Prates Ong, Fernando Salvador Moreno, Nutrition and Cancer Prevention: From Molecular Mechanisms to Dietary Recommendations (pp. 261-293). . Royal Society of Chemistry.