UNIVERSITY OF PORTO, FACULTY OF SCIENCES
UPORTO is the coordinator for this project and also the coordinator of WP1 (Coordination, Management and Dissemination), WP4 (Functional Characterization of the selected targets genes related to fertilization) and WP8 (Exploitation and Dissemination). UPORTO is one of the biggest producers of science in Portugal.
general
UPORTO is Portugal’s second largest university and one of the most prestigious teaching and research institutions in the country. It has around 1600 non-teaching staff, over 31.000 students (around 1500 from foreign countries) and 2300 full-time academic staff, two thirds of which are post-graduates.
The high qualification level of the teaching staff, combined with advanced lab technology and equipment, as well as the close connections with the business world ensure first-class training, which is fully recognized by the labor market.
Currently, UPORTO hosts over 50 research centers covering a wide range of areas, from the humanities to sciences and technologies, and 6 competence centers in the fields of cybersecurity, ageing, biomechanics, media, ocean and materials research. Many of these centers are used as interfaces for institutions, bringing the University together, as a main partner, along with other organizations representing external interests.
DEPARTMENT FROM UPORTO INVOLVED IN THE PROJECT
The Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto (FCUP) is one of the oldest and largest schools of the University of Porto. It was established in 1911 and has been providing high-quality training in the field of exact and natural sciences. Over the years it has been incorporating other fields of studies, such as Geographical Engineering, Astronomy, Computer Science and Information Technology, Biochemistry, Landscape Architecture, Environmental and Agricultural Sciences.
Above all, FCUP remains committed to exploring the opportunities for cooperation and collaboration, not only inside UPORTO, but also with other Portuguese and international entities.
Silvía Coimbra Lab is the Sexual Plant Reproduction and Development Laboratory, part of the FCUP’s Biology Department. This lab is also one of the members of the Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Group of BioISI (BioSystems & Integrative Sciences Institute). The common goal of this group is to approach an integrated view on the physiological, cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for morphogenetic traits during Arabidopsis reproduction, aiming its manipulation and modification.
Coimbra’s group focuses their research activities on the understanding of the role of specific Arabinogalactan Proteins (AGPs) in various reproductive and plant development mechanisms in Arabidopsis and other important model plants. This group benefits from the collaboration with several international laboratories (United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Australia), working on developing new methods for deciphering these proteins functions and protein interactions.