As part of the STRIMHealth project, PhD student Raquel Duarte from the Research Institute for Medicines, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidade de Lisboa (iMed.ULisboa), completed a short-term staff exchange (STSE) visit at IBISS. The visit took place from 29 May to 2 July 2026, under the supervision of Dr. Nataša Veličković and in close collaboration with the host research team. During the visit, Raquel took part in training and research activities focused on animal models of metabolic diseases and the methods used to characterize them.
The programme provided an overview of several experimental models used to study the pathophysiological mechanisms involved in diabetes, obesity, ageing-related metabolic dysfunction and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). These included ageing-induced type 2 diabetes models, high-fat diet-induced obesity and type 2 diabetes models, streptozotocin-induced type 1 diabetes models and GAN diet-induced MASLD models.
The training combined theoretical sessions on experimental design, applications, advantages and limitations of these animal models together with hands-on execution of their histological, cellular, molecular, metabolic and behavioral characterization.
This short-term visit contributed to the development of interdisciplinary expertise in metabolic disease research within STRIMHealth by integrating animal models, biochemical analysis, molecular approaches and multimodal disease characterization. The mission also further expanded the scientific collaboration, training opportunities and knowledge exchange between IBISS and iMed.ULisboa.