Jessica Pinheiro de Lucena-Thomas
Jessica was born in Rio de Janeiro and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She graduated from the Federal University of Sao Carlos (UFSCar) in 2015 with a BEng in Chemical Engineering, which included a year-long work placement in the Innovation Area of BRASKEM SA, the largest petrochemical company in Latin America. In the two years spent working there, she prospected new renewable building blocks focussed on sustainable technologies. In 2013, during her BEng, she completed a year long full time course as a Visiting Student in Swansea University, where she attended some MEng modules and designed a desalination plant over the summer. After the exchange programme, she came back to Brazil and finished the remaining two years of her degree. During this period, she conducted research on a reactor with continuous production of biodiesel and she wrote her dissertation about the production of Bio-Polyamides, inspired by her placement in the industry. She joined the CSCT motivated by her interest in sustainability and the opportunity to work with an industrial partner for an interdisciplinary research. In her free time, Jessica likes dancing, listening to music and travelling to new places.
- Organoid Expansion Bioreactor Development with Dr Marianne Ellis, Dr Paul de Bank and William Newell (Cellesce); Industrial Partner: Cellesce – PhD project
- Microgel matrices for human cancer organoid production with Dr Paul de Bank and Dr Marianne Ellis — 2nd MRes project
- Colorectal cancer organoid expansion for drug discovery with Dr Marianne Ellis and Dr Paul De Bank — 1st MRes project
Jessica is an MSCA-FIRE fellow.
