Miguel Prudencio | Group Leader
Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine

Miguel Prudêncio completed his PhD by the University of East Anglia (UK) in 2000, followed by a post-doctoral period at the University of Leiden (NL). In 2004, he initiated his research careeer in the field of malaria, at Instituto de Medicina Molecular (iMM, PT), now the Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine (GIMM, PT), where he is a Group Leader, heading the Prudêncio lab. He became Invited  Associate Professor of the Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa (PT) in 2019, completed his Habilitation to this Faculty in 2023, and became Principal Investigator of this institution in 2024. Miguel’s research focuses on Plasmodium liver stages and their potential for anti-malarial intervention. His interests include unveiling novel aspects of the biology and immunology of Plasmodium infection, identifying drugs with antiplasmodial activity, establishing new experimental methodologies to study the malaria parasite, and contributing to the development and optimization of whole-sporozoite vaccination strategies against malaria. Miguel is the author of over 160 scientific articles, has earned several scientific and innovation prizes, and is an inventor of various patents. He is a founding member the iMM spin-off company RoPlaVac. He was involved in setting up iMM’s Task Force for SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics, and has a keen interest on science communication, particularly in what relates to vaccine literacy.