Dr. Ana Paula Mendonça is a scientist at the University of Padova, Italy, and develops a pharmaceutical therapy to reduce visual loss in Autosomal Dominant Optical Atrophy (ADOA) using biomaterials. Ana has a PhD in Biochemistry from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and spent one year as a guest researcher at the University of Bremen, Germany, which was funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). She was awarded the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant in 2021 and is currently an editorial member of the Marie Curie Alumni Association newsletter. Ana advocates for the rare diseases community and has a great interest in the science influencing international affairs.
I want to provide innovative therapy for ADOA patients. I want this because this rare disease has no treatment available now. I can do this because I have more than 10 years of experience studying the mitochondrial metabolism in neuronal cells which are the main cells affected by that disease.