Degree: Doctor

Affiliation(s):

CIQUP

Bio

José A. Ribeiro was born in Porto, Portugal, in 1983. He graduated in Chemistry in 2006 at the Sciences Faculty of the University of Porto (FCUP), Portugal, and received his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry in 2013 at the same faculty, with work in the Development of innovative Electrochemical Sensors for detection of Biogenic Amines. During his career, he had the opportunity to carry out research work in several scientific research projects in the fields of Electroanalytical Chemistry and Nanotechnology. 

Currently, José A. Ribeiro research interests includes the development of new Optical and Electrochemical (Bio)sensors and Biomimetic devices for detection of (bio)molecules of chemical, environmental and biological interest, including clinically relevant Disease Biomarkers. 

Activities developed within the scope of his postdoctoral project (SFRH/BPD/105395/2014/Transitory Rule of Decree-Law No. 57/2016; https://doi.org/10.54499/DL57/2016/CP1454/CT0003) allowed him to acquire knowledge in the development of portable sensing devices, incorporating Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (MIPs) as artificial/plastic antibodies, for detection of Biological Markers in Point-of-care (POC). 

Recently, he has been focused on the development of new detection methodologies combining Optical (SPR) and Electrochemical responses (eSPR) for the ultrasensitive detection of breast Cancer Biomarkers. 

Since 2007, José A. Ribeiro co-authored 31 peer-reviewed papers which have attracted more than 1000 citations according to Google Scholar (user: José A. Ribeiro) with h-index of 16 (Scopus). Recently, he became a teaching staff member at the Chemistry and Biochemistry Dept (DQB) of FCUP, being involved in course lectures and practical sessions, laboratory training of (master and PhD) students and their supervision.


CIQUP  |  Centro de Investigação em Química (FCUP)

IMS |  Institute of Molecular Sciences

https://www.fc.up.pt/ciqup/

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Publications
Showing 5 latest publications. Total publications: 31
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1. Assessment of mobile mercury concentration in soils of an abandoned coalfield waste pile in Douro region: the Fojo waste pile (Portugal) study case, Monteiro, M; Santos, P; Marques, JE; Flores, D; Pereira, CM; Ribeiro, JA Azenha, M in JOURNAL OF SOILS AND SEDIMENTS, 2024, ISSN: 1439-0108,  Volume: 24, 
Article,  Indexed in: crossref, scopus, unpaywall, wos  DOI: 10.1007/s11368-024-03786-x P-010-7PK
Abstract Purpose Pejao Mining Complex locates in Castelo de Paiva municipality and, until its closure in 1994, was one of the most important coal mines in the Douro Coalfield. This work aims to study the presence, quantify, and evaluate the dissemination of mercury (Hg), a potentially toxic element (PTE) of major public health concern by the World Health Organization (WHO), from a waste pile affected by coal fires.Materials and methods Samples from areas affected and unaffected by the combustion and from surrounding soil were collected from Fojo waste pile region. First, the Hg pseudo-total concentration was estimated for all collected samples by soil microwave-assisted digestion with aqua regia (USEPA 3051A). Then, a sequential extraction procedure (SEP), the USEPA 3200, was applied for Hg fractionation and speciation aiming to evaluate Hg mobility and bioavailability to surrounding ecosystems.Results and discussion The results obtained showed a Hg enrichment in soil samples when compared to Portuguese and international reference values for soils. Relatively to the Hg availability and mobility, although it predominates in the semi-mobile fraction, the waste pile materials exposed to combustion showed a concerning increase of Hg levels in the mobile fraction that contains the more labile Hg species, being a major source of environmental contamination by Hg.Conclusions This study allowed to conclude that combustion of mining residues increased Hg mobility, toxicity, and bioavailability, increasing the contamination potential of the coal waste pile. The methodology applied in this work can be replicated in other abandoned mines to monitor, control, and/or mitigate the Hg environmental impact in the surrounding soils and waters.
2. Development of a New Opto-Electrochemical Cell for Sensing Applications, Mendes, P Coelho, CC; Ribeiro, A in 2024 IEEE Sensors Applications Symposium, SAS 2024 - Proceedings, 2024,
Proceedings Paper,  Indexed in: crossref, scopus  DOI: 10.1109/sas60918.2024.10636473 P-017-0MT
Abstract New systems with innovative design to perform measurements combining electrochemistry and surface plasmon resonance (ESPR) are currently a need to overcome the limitations of existent market solutions and expand the research possibilities of this technology. The main goal of this work was to develop a new cell to increase ESPR practical applications in several fields. To do so, a homemade SPR cell, fabricated by 3D-printing technology, was adapted for this purpose by incorporating the conventional 3-electrodes to perform the electrochemical experiments. The developed cell was fully compatible with commercial SPR substrates. After optimization of the homemade ESPR setup to perform the combined electrochemical and SPR measurements, two main applications were explored in this work. The first was the use of ESPR technology as straightforward tool to simultaneously investigate the electrical and optical properties of conducing/non-conducting polymers electrosynthetized on the SPR platforms. The conducting polymer poly(thionine) was used in this work for proof-of-concept. The second application envisaged the use of ESPR approach for simple electrodeposition ofmaterials with enhanced plasmonic properties for sensitivity enhancement of SPR biosensors. For validation of the concept, graphene oxide (GO) was electrochemically reduced on gold substrates aiming to evaluate the plasmonic properties of graphene-modified sensing surfaces. © 2024 IEEE.
3. Applications of Electrochemistry at the ITIES in Drug Discovery and Development - A Review, Ribeiro, JA Pereira, CM in CHEMELECTROCHEM, 2024, ISSN: 2196-0216,  Volume: 11, 
Review,  Indexed in: crossref, scopus, wos  DOI: 10.1002/celc.202400134 P-010-DGW
Abstract The field of electrochemistry at the interface between two immiscible electrolyte solutions (ITIES) has been continuously expanding over the years due to their vast number of applications, including to investigate the partitioning of ionizable drugs at liquid-liquid systems. The aim of this Review is to highlight the great potential of ITIES as simple model of biological membranes to gather information on drug partition, lipophilicity, and pharmacokinetics that can be very useful for researchers in the field of drug discovery for development of new drugs with enhanced permeability. Relevant contributions and perspectives to improve the applicability of ITIES in partition studies were highlighted and discussed. The second part of this Review pretends to highlight the application of electrochemistry at the ITIES as experimental technique to investigate interactions between small ligands, including drugs, and DNA, a topic of high research interest in pharmaceutical and biological sciences, which remains with lots of opportunities to explore. Voltammetry at Liquid-Liquid Interfaces can be a versatile tool in the field of Drug Discovery as simple model for mimicking drug permeation through biological membranes helping to understand the partition of ionizable drugs between the aqueous and organic phases while providing fundamental information on its lipophilicity that can contribute to the design of new drugs with improved biological activity. image
4. Applications of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in disease diagnosis-A review, Ribeiro, JA Jorge, PAS in SENSORS AND ACTUATORS REPORTS, 2024, ISSN: 2666-0539,  Volume: 8, 
Review,  Indexed in: crossref, scopus, wos  DOI: 10.1016/j.snr.2024.100205 P-010-P12
Abstract Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is a reliable technique for gathering information about electrochemical process occurring at the electrode surface and investigating properties of materials. Furthermore, EIS technique can be a very versatile and valuable tool in analytical assays for detection and quantification of several chemically and biologically relevant (bio)molecules. The first part of this Review (Introduction) provides brief insights into (i) theoretical aspects of EIS, (ii) the instrumentation required to perform the EIS studies and (iii) the most relevant representations of impedance experimental data (such as Nyquist and Bode plots). In the end of this section, (iv) theoretical aspects regarding the fitting of the Randles circuit to experimental data are addressed, not only to obtain information about electrochemical processes but also to illustrate its utility for analytical purposes. The second part of the Review (Impedimetric Detection of Disease Biomarkers) focuses on the applications of EIS in the biomedical field, particularly as analytical technique in electrochemical sensors and biosensors for screening disease biomarkers. In the last section (Conclusions and Perspectives), we discuss main achievements of EIS technique in analytical assays and provide some perspectives, challenges and future applications in the biomedical field.
5. Probing molecular affinity with optical tweezers, Teixeira, J; Ribeiro, A Jorge, AS; Silva, A in Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering, 2024, ISSN: 0277-786X,  Volume: 12991, 
Proceedings Paper,  Indexed in: crossref, scopus  DOI: 10.1117/12.3022142 P-010-PJW
Abstract Recent advances in optical trapping have opened new opportunities for manipulating micro and nanoparticles, establishing optical tweezers (OT) as a powerful tool for single-cell analysis. Furthermore, intelligent systems have been developed to characterize these particles, as information about their size and composition can be extracted from the scattered radiation signal. In this manuscript, we aim to explore the potential of optical tweezers for the characterization of sub-micron size variations in microparticles. We devised a case study, aiming to assess the limits of the size discrimination ability of an optical tweezer system, using transparent 4.8 µm PMMA particles, functionalized with streptavidin. We focused on the heavily studied streptavidin-biotin system, with streptavidin-functionalized PMMA particles targeting biotinylated bovine serum albumin. This binding process results in an added molecular layer to the particle’s surface, increasing its radius by approximately 7 nm. An automatic OT system was used to trap the particles and acquire their forward-scattered signals. Then, the signals’ frequency components were analyzed using the power spectral density method followed by a dimensionality reduction via the Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection algorithm. Finally, a Random Forest Classifier achieved a mean accuracy of 94% for the distinction of particles with or without the added molecular layer. Our findings demonstrate the ability of our technique to discriminate between particles that are or are not bound to the biotin protein, by detecting nanoscale changes in the size of the microparticles. This indicates the possibility of coupling shape-changing bioaffinity tools (such as APTMERS, Molecular Imprinted Polymers, or antibodies) with optical trapping systems to enable optical tweezers with analytical capability. © 2024 SPIE.