Isabel Sá-Correia

full professor, emeritus professor

H-4054-2011

Web of Science profile

iBB Group: bsrg

isacorreia@tecnico.ulisboa.pt

Expertise: Physiological Genomics; Stress Response and Tolerance; Yeasts; Membrane Transport; Microbial Biotechnology

Short Bio:

ISABEL SÁ-CORREIA is Emerita Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences and the founder of this scientific area at IST. A former Chemical Engineering graduate (IST, 1975), Prof Sá-Correia evolved her field of training and activity to Biological Sciences. She holds a PhD degree on Yeast Physiology (advisor: N. van Uden; IGC) defended at IST (1984). As Fulbright Visiting Assist. Prof., she carried out post-doctoral studies (Molecular Biology of Bacteria, with A M Chakrabarty) at Univ. Illinois at Chicago, Medical Center, Chicago, USA (1985/86). Current research activities are in the fields of Molecular & Cellular, Functional & Comparative Genomics and Diversity of Yeasts with impact in Microbial Biotechnology. President, Portuguese Soc. Microbiol. (SPM) & FEMS Council delegate (2009-2020). (Co)Founder and (co)Organizer of the International Microorganism Day. Full member of Academia das Ciências de Lisboa (Biological Sci.). SPM van Uden Career Awarded 2021; FEMS Special Merit Awarded 2022.

Research Focus:

Physiological Genomics of Yeasts under stresses of biotechnological relevance

Mechanistic insights into adaptation and increased robustness to acetic acid and other weak acids toxicity in yeasts (FCT- 2022.01501.PTDC), Dec 2022 to 2025, PI

Move2LowC-Biologically Based Fuels (coordinator of the IST/iBB research team) , Oct 2020-2023, POCI-01-0247-FEDER-046117; https://www.move2lowc.com/

COST Action: CA18229 – YEAST4BIO-Non-conventional yeasts for the production of bioproducts (management committee) Contract ongoing since 2019; https://yeast4bio.eu/

EraNet-IB-2 Project YEASTPEC-Engineering of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae for bioconversion of pectin-containing agro-industrial side-streams 2017-2021 ERA-IB-2/0003/2015

Biodata.pt, Portuguese Biological Data Network (Principal Investigator of the IST-iBB team), co-funded through FEDER, POCI, PORL, POA and national funds through FCT2017-2022
22231-01/SAICT/2016; https://www.biodata.pt/

Antunes, M., Mota, M. N., & Sá-Correia, I. (2024). Cell envelope and stress-responsive pathways underlie an evolved oleaginous Rhodotorula toruloides strain multi-stress tolerance. Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts, 17(1), 71. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-024-02518-0

Mota, M. N., Matos, M., Bahri, N., & Sá-Correia, I. (2024). Shared and more specific genetic determhttps://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-024-02518-0inants and pathways underlying yeast tolerance to acetic, butyric, and octanoic acids. Microbial Cell Factories, 23(1), 71. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12934-024-02309-0

Antunes, M., Kale, D., Sychrová, H., & Sá-Correia, I. (2023). The Hrk1 kinase is a determinant of acetic acid tolerance in yeast by modulating H+ and K+ homeostasis. Microbial Cell, 10(12), 261–276. https://doi.org/10.15698/mic2023.12.809

Sá-Correia, I., & Godinho, C. P. (2022). Exploring the biological function of efflux pumps for the development of superior industrial yeasts. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 74, 32–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2021.10.014

Ribeiro, R. A., Bourbon-Melo, N., & Sá-Correia, I. (2022). The cell wall and the response and tolerance to stresses of biotechnological relevance in yeasts. Frontiers in Microbiology, 13, 953479. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.953479

iBB People

Isabel Sá-Correia