João Valente Duarte

    Beneficiary of the Short-term Research Internships at the University of Texas at Austin

    Relation with the Program Participant, Short-term Research Internships
    Role Doctorate Researcher
    Affiliation Institution CIBIT – Institute of Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health, University of Coimbra
    Host Institution Biomedical Research Center, the University of Texas at Austin
    Host Douglas Befroy

     

    Short Bio

    João Duarte obtained an integrated MSc degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Coimbra, Portugal, during which he carried the MSc thesis at the University of Pavia, Italy, in the application of machine learning to genetic data. In 2016 he obtained a PhD in Health Sciences from the University of Coimbra, focused on the application of brain functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) to cognitive neuroscience.

    During the last 6 years as Junior Researcher in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra (FMUC) and the Institute of Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health (ICNAS), João Duarte has worked in several multidisciplinary projects using non-invasive medical imaging techniques (MRI, EEG, OCT and fNIRS) applied to both basic and translational neuroscience, namely in the development of brain imaging biomarkers in clinical populations (e.g., genetic spinocerebellar ataxia type 3, type 2 diabetes, neurofibromatosis type 1, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder). Currently is particularly interested in the combination of multimodal approaches (structural MRI, simultaneous EEG-fMRI, diffusion MRI) to achieve the highest sensitivity and specificity to early brain structural and functional damage in neurological and psychiatric diseases. He was recently awarded competitive individual and project funding as Principal Investigator to develop new neuroimaging biomarkers of connectivity in patients with Multiple Sclerosis. He is an integrated member of the Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research (CIBIT), the research center hosted at ICNAS, in which he is leader of strategic workpackage of Radiomics, and a member of CIBIT’s Executive Board.