Research Day is an initiative organized by GAPIC and AEFML that has enjoyed great success among medical students and doctors just starting their careers, for whom scientific research is a huge added value in their personal and curricular development. FMUL strongly believes that the practice of scientific research should be stimulated early, since it is a close partner to clinical practice, promoting interrogative minds and critical thinking skills inherent to good medical practice.
The 5th edition of the Research Day took place on 14 December 2016 with a new format and had about 80 participants who enthusiastically attended the various sessions held throughout the day (Programme).
The opening session was attended by Professor Ana Sebastião (Deputy Director of FMUL), Professor Melo Cristino (President of the Scientific Council), Professor Maria Mota (Executive Director of the iMM), Dr Lucindo Ormonde (CHLN), student Rafael Inácio (President of the AEFML) and Professor Ana Espada De Sousa (Coordinator of GAPIC).
For the first time, the David-Ferreira GAPIC Awards were given to the three best Final Works/Theses of the IMD in Medicine of 2015/2016. All the candidate works were presented in the form of a poster and the awarded works were presented orally:
- Award – “Analysis of False Strokes admitted to Stroke Unit of Santa Maria Hospital between 2007 and 2013“, Mariana Alves Vargas
- 1st Mention of Honour - “Interim result analysis of the ongoing registry on Decompressive Surgery in Cerebrovenous Thrombosis – Part 2 (DECOMPRESS – 2) - Multicentric International Prospective Cohort Study”, Jorge Miguel Aldinhas Ramos Ferreira
- 2nd Mention of Honour (ex-aequo) - “Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials to evaluate the placebo and nocebo responses in Restless Legs Syndrome”, Maria de Azevedo António Machado da Silva;
“From immune phenotype to clinical manifestations in CVID”, Ana Cláudia Viseu Varandas
As usual, on this day the research work conducted by FMUL students was presented (Book of Abstracts). The 13 projects carried out as part of the 19th “Education through Science Programme/CHLN/FMUL Grants (2015/2016) were presented as posters, and the jury selected 6 papers to be presented orally, of which following were awarded prizes:
- 1st Prize - “Effect of changes in the urgency scale in the hospitalization of false strokes”, Mariana Alves Vargas (Neurology University Clinic)
- 2nd Prize - “Quantitative analysis of the subclonal dynamics that promote the relapse of leukaemia escape variants”, Diogo Maia e Silva (Silva-Santos Lab, IMM)
- 3rd Prize - “Stereotactic Characterization of the Anterior Nucleus of the Human Thalamus”, Aldara Filipa Peixoto Faria, Maria Eduarda Neves, Tiago José Rodrigues Gaspar (Anatomy Institute)
As the Research Day was also intended for recent graduates and internal physicians, Dr Tiago R. Matos presented the work "Identifying the pathogenic T cell of psoriasis" conducted within the scope of the 11th AstraZeneca Foundation/FMUL Research Fellowship.
This 5th edition of Research Day was undoubtedly marked by the following sessions:
- “Research Paths”, aimed at discussing research paths for physicians and their added value for scientific discovery and for improving medical practice. Professor Nuno Figueiredo, who conducted his doctoral work at the IMM/FMUL during the General Surgery specialty and is currently Coordinator of the Surgical Centre of the Champalimaud Foundation and Professor Frederico Regateiro, who carried out his doctoral work at the University of Oxford in the field of Immunology before joining the Immuno-allergology specialty at the Coimbra University Hospital Centre, were invited.
- “Research Tools”, aimed at disseminating instruments and initiatives that can stimulate the development of scientific research among students and internal physicians, namely the GAPIC Handbook, the AIMS Meeting, the Medical Journal Student and the Biobank.
The Research Day also had the presence of the Medical Journal Student; Biobank IMM|CAML; FMUL Library; Clinical Research Centre of CAML; Cochrane Portugal; Institute of Molecular Medicine; Institute of Advanced Training of the FMUL; CHLN Medical Internship; IDAI Programme - Incubation, Development and Acceleration of Ideas Programme.
With the aim of promoting its activities, the GAPIC team presented three posters:
- The David-Ferreira GAPIC Award 2016-2017 – announcing the permanent opening until September of the applications to the best final works/theses of the IMD in Medicine in 2016/17
- 2017 Projects: 20the “Education through Science Programme”|CHLN/FMUL grants
- 2017-18 Project: 13rd AstraZeneca Foundation/FMUL Research Fellowship
In order to encourage students' participation in the Research Day, the AEFML organized the "Research Day Quiz" with questions on the various sessions, inviting participants to fill in their card/passport with the appropriate answers. The following students received awards: 1st Pedro Medeiros, 2nd Ana Paula Martins; 3rd Francisco Ramos.
Overall, participants were satisfied with Research Day and this new format had a positive impact.
Research Day had the support/sponsorship of Caixa Geral de Depósitos, the AIMS Meeting and Corrida Saúde Solidária.
Additional information on Research Day can be found at: www.medicina.ulisboa.pt/diainvestigacao
Office for the Support of Scientific and Technological Research and Innovation
gapicmail@medicina.ulisboa.pt
