About Adriano

Adriano Prado Pontes was born in São Paulo, Brazil. He has experience in the field of vaccines (R&D and Manufacturing), with strong interest in biotech applications and medical research. In 2015, Adriano finished his bachelor’s degree in Biology at University of São Paulo, including an academic exchange to DePaul University (Chicago, USA) for one year, as part of a fellowship funded by the Brazilian government called “Science without Borders”. During his studies at University of São Paulo, he also completed two undergraduate research projects at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, focused on vaccine development against infectious diseases using recombinant proteins and bacterial spores as a delivery vehicle.

In 2017, Adriano obtained his master’s degree in “Tissue, Cell and Gene Biotherapies” at Université Paris-Saclay (France), where he worked at the biocluster Genopole on a research project about the CRISPR-Cas9 technology targeting the RNA processing. His industry experiences included a summer internship at the biotech company Amgen (California, USA), within the Therapeutic Discovery department, where he evaluated a bacterial expression system for production of therapeutic proteins. More recently, he was working as associate specialist at MSD Animal Health (Montes Claros, Brazil) within Global Technical Operations, giving broad technical support to the manufacturing of viral and bacterial vaccines.

In his free time Adriano likes to watch series, read novels and do outdoor activities such as running or playing basketball. He is also a rock fan and enjoys attending live music concerts. Traveling is his biggest passion as it gives him the opportunity to get to know new places and connect with different cultures.

Adriano’s role within CARTHAGO

Adriano will work at 20Med Therapeutics in the design and development of polymeric nanoparticles for mRNA delivery to cartilage cells and tissues. This project will be focused on the formulation and in vitro/ex vivo evaluation of the designs for improved delivery into the joints in osteoarthritis, using non-viral gene therapy. The mRNA-loaded nanoparticles will be assessed regarding the efficacy of gene expression, toxicity, and stability. The testing in ex vivo models will be executed in collaboration with the University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU).