News Report / Profile
Interview with Professor Alexandre Ribeiro - Pharmacology and Neuroscience Institute's Director
Newsletter: Dear Professor Alexandre Ribeiro, we start by thanking you for this opportunity. As a start, we would like you to let us know about the origins of the Pharmacology and Neuroscience Institute, in other words, when it was founded, who were the founders, main events and historical landmarks you would like to highlight.
Professor Alexandre Ribeiro: The Pharmacology and Neuroscience Institute stemmed out of the merge between two existing entities. In 1997, I came to FMUL from the Gulbenkian Institute for Science with my team to set up the Neuroscience Laboratory. This was an invitation from Professor Professor João Lobo Antunes, who at the time was part of the Scientific Council of the Faculty. That Laboratory existed until 2004, by which time it merged with the Institute of Pharmacology. In 2000, Professor José Manuel Toscano Rico, who was in charge of the Institute, asked for his retirement, and Professor Lobo Antunes asked me to take on the responsibility to be the Director of the Institute of Pharmacology. With the move to the Egas Moniz Building, the two entities merged, and in 2004 the Pharmacology and Neuroscience Institute was founded. The Pharmacology Institute was founded at the same time as the Faculty of Medicine, in 1911. Professor Sílvio Rebelo was its first professor, followed by Professor Toscano Rico, then Professor José Manuel Toscano Rico, than me.
Newsletter: What are the main functions and activities the Institute carries out, in terms of teaching, research and community outreach?
Professor Alexandre Ribeiro: With regard to teaching, we are involved in the Faculty’s teaching activities. Pharmacology and Neuroscience are core subjects which form the basis of scientific knowledge in the training of doctors. We are involved in undergraduate teaching of the Integrated Master in Medicine in three areas: in year 2, module 2.3 (Organic and Functional Systems), we teach basic Pharmacology and link it to Physiology, Biochemistry, Histology, and Anatomy; in module 4.2, which is about Pharmacology and Physiopathology and focuses on more specialized Pharmacology connected with clinical practice. On the other hand, we are equally involved in postgraduate education, as we teach Neuroanatomy, Neuropharmacology and Psychology, which form the Neurosciences Core Strand. The people in charge of those areas, from a coordinating perspective, are: me, as coordinator of the Institute, Professor Ana Sebastião in module 2.3, and Professor Henrique Luís Rodrigues in module 4.2. Professor Ana Sebastião is responsible for the Neurosciences Core Strand, together with Professora Luísa Figueira. We also teach elective subjects in the fields of Pharmacology and Neurosciences that are part of the Biomedical Engineering Degree. In addition, we have been involved in teaching as part of the Degree in Health Science. However, what has kept us really busy since 1998 is the Master Degree in Neurosciences, in collaboration with Neurology, and which was at first coordinated by me, by Professor Lobo Antunes and by Professor Castro Caldas. However, in the past 3 or 4 years there has been a new Master Degree Council formed by Professor Ana Sebastião, Professor Mamede Carvalho and Professor Isabel Pavão, and it developed into a Master/Doctorate in Neuroscience.
In terms of postgraduate education, we are responsible for several master degree students in Neurosciences and also students coming from other science degrees from the Faculty of Sciences and other universities who choose to study with us according with the Bologna model, whereby they complete their end-of-course work at the Institute in preparation for the dissertation. At the moment, we are also supervising 12 doctoral students.
When we set up the Neuroscience Laboratory, our main aim was to foster scientific research, since that was the main activity at the time. The Laboratory also has master and doctoral degree students, with their respective research proposals. It has always been our goal that research activity permeated the teaching activity, even at undergraduate level, for which reason an Open Access Course on Experimental Neuroscience was set up, similar to what Claude Bernard did at the Sorbonne in the 19th century. The research that currently involves all doctoral degrees takes up a considerable amount of time of staff working at the Institute.
With regard to future doctors, every year we have many students coming to us through GAPIC to carry out their projects. On the whole they are very good and carry out very good quality work. Some have even been awarded prizes when presenting their experimental work.
As for our involvement in the community, we may even be considered “activists”, namely since 1997, when I was elected a member of the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, which is a foundation based in New York that organizes the “Brain Week” every year. We pioneered this initiative in Portugal, back in 1999, and it has been taken place since. It basically consists of a presence in the media, by means of texts and interviews published in newspapers, the radio and on television, and in going to high schools. From the onset, this unit became very actively involved in high school work, at the request of schools. We hold several activities at the Knowledge Pavilion every year, like, for instance, in the year when the topic was the brain and music, and various national and international speakers were invited. In addition, we are involved in projects related with the brain activities that the community feels curious about and which are not academically related. All of these activities are possible thanks to the generous collaboration of members of the institute. This is a voluntary task which involves senior members of staff, PhD students and all those available, so that we can guarantee interactions with as many schools as possible. Although most of these activities are targeted at high schools, we have expanded them to include primary schools. In these cases, we adjust the language to the age of students and talk to them about the importance of the brain and the consequences of ill-treating this organ. In short, this activity has always been met with a lot of enthusiasm.
Newsletter: Newsletter: The Institute is formed by a team of people. How would you describe the various activities the Institute carries out?
Professor Alexandre Ribeiro:The Institute encompasses a research unit of IMM, which is the Neuroscience Unit organized around five independent groups, whose Heads also lecture, particularly postgraduate courses. Each group also has, besides the person in charge, post-doctoral students, PhD students with FCT scholarships, master degree students, some Faculty assistants who are also completing their PhDs, and research scholars involved in FCT projects. Currently, the Institute also has two FCUL researchers who, after having carried out research in other fields for years, decided to become involved in Neurosciences.
Our main interest is, above all, to understand the molecular and cell mechanisms of cell activity in the brain, neurons and glial cells, and figure out how they work in molecular and cellular terms, and, as much as possible, at a more integrated level extending to behavioural aspects and translate them into diseases. We want to carry out that transition from the bench to the bed. We are convinced that when we understand how knowledge is applied, we will be able to carry out better treatment, i.e. make better use of drugs used in neurological and psychiatric diseases. The key objectives of these groups are the ‘Neuromodulation and Plasticity Group’, which has to do with memory and learning, since everything that occurs with these activities throughout our lives is related with the synapses high or low capacity for plasticity. I am in charge of this group. Another is called ‘Neuroprotection Group’ and led by Professor Ana Sebastião (who is currently in charge of the Neuroscience Unit). Their work is to understand how the brain would function if we succeed to improve the neuroprotection system, particularly at the level of the synapses in hypoxic conditions. Another group, called ‘Receptor Biology and Cognition Group’ and led by Doctor Luísa Lopes, who is a staff-scientist of the Institute of Molecular Medicine, focuses mostly on behavioural aspects and studies cognitive and neurochemical issues associated with stress. There is also the ‘Regulation of Neuronal Death Group’, which is more centred on the way neurons die, and which is led by Professor Maria José Diógenes. In models of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Epilepsy, the research is on how neurons die. The last group, called ‘Inhibitory Synapses Group’, focuses mostly on glycinergic synapses. These synapses reduce the excitatory activity of some neurons, in the case of epilepsy, and the inhibitory mediators are decisive in regulating neural excitability. This group is headed by Doctor Cláudia Valente.
Newsletter: How do you characterize the relationship the Institute maintains with other institutions that are part of the Academic Medical Centre of Lisbon?
Professor Alexandre Ribeiro: obviously this Institute cherishes the setting up of the Academic Medical Centre. I believe it is difficult to attain quality in the basic field of a particular research activity without creating an environment where there is practical knowledge, which stems from that activity at a basic level. Accordingly, the setting up of the Academic Centre, the emergence of a new structure that makes the connection between FMUL, the IMM and the Hospital more cohesive, will create the conditions for more translational research. There is also the expectation that it will create the conditions for both qualitative and quantitative steps forward, such as, for instance, scientific output. The creation of this Centre, pioneer in Portugal and based on a model that exists in other countries, like Holland, has strengthened global activity in this field and aims to lead to increased development and excellence by introducing new ways of fostering synergies between teaching, research and assistance giving. I believe that the creation of this Centre will lead to major changes in the field of Health Sciences in general, from a structural and functional perspective. On the relationship between the Faculty, the Hospital and the IMM, I think there is a new drive, people are more aware of the need to dialogue and exchange ideas and thoughts. In the academic world, our mission is to train doctors, good doctors, the best ones. There is also this notion, which is not new, that the best doctors are equally the best scientists, that is, those who have a more refined scientific mind.
Newsletter: Uma vez que estamos numa sociedade global, a ciência é transmitida além fronteiras pelo mundo inteiro, como é que define a relação do Instituto com outras entidades internacionais?
Prof. Doutor Alexandre Ribeiro: Our teaching has made us international. For instance, the master and PhD degrees in Neuroscience are part of the European network of master and PhD degrees in Neuroscience. Every year we have foreign students applying to study these degrees. However, this has not always been easy, as this master degree has a limitation in that it does not award scholarships. There is also the internalisation brought about by the number of post-doctoral foreigners coming over. On the other hand, the FCT grants for our doctoral students require that they spend some time at foreign laboratories during their doctoral work. In a way, this means that they further their qualifications and become familiar with work carried out at other laboratories. This interaction also makes them international and the same applies to the entity they are affiliated to, which in this case is our Institute. In addition, all members of the group are members of several international scientific societies, often attend international symposia and internships, and are invited to speak at conferences abroad.
Newsletter: As a member and former president of the Portuguese Society for Neuroscience, what is your opinion on the role of this scientific society in the web of the relations between hospitals, faculties, centres, research units and the community?
Professor Alexandre Ribeiro: People from the Institute have been members of the boards both of the Portuguese Society for Neuroscience and the Portuguese Pharmacological Society. Some have been president of those societies, and others have held other posts. The activities of these societies have crossed those of other societies. The interaction between the Portuguese Society for Neuroscience and the Portuguese Neurological Society, which have held joint meetings, is an example of this. When our Neuroscience Laboratory was set up in 1997, it was linked to Neurology because it was part of the Lisbon Neuroscience Centre. This centre, together with other FMUL centres classified as “excellent” or “very good” by the FCT, came together to form the Institute of Molecular Medicine.
Newsletter: We would like you to finish with a message that you believe is appropriate for our readers.
Professor Alexandre Ribeiro: I hope that, despite current difficulties, the quality of the teaching and of the research conducted at the Academic Centre can be maintained, namely the innovations introduced in the curricular activities, which changed from being somehow classical and traditionally oriented to having a more advanced approach to the professional integration of students in their clinical activity. On the other hand, the setting up of another institute – the Câmara Pestana Institute - on the campus next to the Egas Moniz Building will bring new opportunities to teaching and research in several areas, namely in the field of experimental medicine. This will pose a challenge with regard to translational research, given that the new institute will become an interface between core science and its clinical application, and will add value to the activity of the entire campus. I hope that all of us, and certainly the Pharmacology and Neuroscience Institute and the Neuroscience Unit, will enthusiastically embrace this new project.