Table of Contents

Sandra Aguiar

Bio

Full Name: Sandra Isabel Rodrigues Aguiar

Academic Qualification:

Current Position

Post-doc Student
Molecular Microbiology and Infection Unit, Instituto de Medicina Molecular
Instituto de Microbiologia,Faculdade de Medicina de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa

Research Interests

In the last five years I have been interested in the molecular epidemiology of Streptococcus pneumoniae associated with infection. S. pneumoniae is recognized as an important cause of morbidity and mortality especially among pre-school children. Nevertheless this pathogen is also a normal colonizer of the nasopharynx of healthy individuals. The aim of the study is to characterize pneumococcal strains isolated from infections, using several phenotypic and genotypic methodologies, and identify characteristics of more virulent strains for further studies such as host-pathogen interaction.

Websites

Contacts

Emails:

Publications

Use of the 13-valent conjugate vaccine has the potential to eliminate pilus carrying isolates as causes of invasive pneumococcal disease.Aguiar SI, Melo-Cristino J, Ramirez M. 2012.Vaccine 30(37):5487-90. (PMID:22749798)

Serotype changes in adult invasive pneumococcal infections in Portugal did not reduce the high fraction of potentially vaccine preventable infectionsHorácio, A. N., J. Diamantino-Miranda, S. I. Aguiar, M. Ramirez, J. Melo-Cristino and the Portuguese Group for the Study of Streptococcal Infections. 2012. Vaccine 30:218-224. (PMID: 22100892)

Analysis of invasiveness of pneumococcal serotypes and clones circulating in Portugal before widespread use of conjugate vaccines reveals heterogeneous behavior of clones expressing the same serotype.Sá-Leão R., F. Pinto, S. I. Aguiar, S. Nunes, J. A. Carriço, N. Frazão, N. Gonçalves-Sousa, J. Melo-Cristino, H. de Lencastre, and M. Ramirez. 2011 J. Clin. Microbiol 49:1369-1375. (PMID: 21270219)

Serotypes 1, 7F and 19A became the leading causes of pediatric invasive pneumococcal infections in Portugal after 7 years of heptavalent conjugate vaccine use. Aguiar SI, Brito MJ, Gonçalo-Marques J, Melo-Cristino J, Ramirez M. Vaccine. 2010 Jul 19;28(32):5167-73.

Increase of Denmark14-230 clone as a cause of pneumococcal infection in Portugal within a background of diverse serotype 19A lineages. Aguiar SI, Pinto FR, Nunes S, Serrano I, Melo-Cristino J, Sá-Leão R, Ramirez M, de Lencastre H. J. Clin. Microbiol. 2009 Oct 28.

Changes in Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes causing invasive disease with non-universal vaccination coverage of the seven-valent conjugate vaccine. Aguiar SI, Serrano I, Pinto FR, Melo-Cristino J, Ramirez M; Portuguese Surveillance Group for the Study of Respiratory Pathogens. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2008 Sep;14(9):835-43.

Optimal control and analysis of two-color genomotyping experiments using bacterial multistrain arrays. Pinto FR, Aguiar SI, Melo-Cristino J, Ramirez M. BMC Genomics. 2008 May 19;9:230.

The presence of the pilus locus is a clonal property among pneumococcal invasive isolates. Aguiar SI, Serrano I, Pinto FR, Melo-Cristino J, Ramirez M. BMC Microbiol. 2008 Feb 28;8:41.

Emergence of optochin resistance among Streptococcus pneumoniae in Portugal. Aguiar SI, Frias MJ, Santos L, Melo-Cristino J, Ramirez M; Portuguese Surveillance Group For Study Of Respiratory Pathogens. Microb Drug Resist. 2006 Winter;12(4):239-45.

DNA methylase activity as a marker for the presence of a family of phage-like elements conferring efflux-mediated macrolide resistance in streptococci. Figueiredo TA, Aguiar SI, Melo-Cristino J, Ramirez M. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2006 Nov;50(11):3689-94. Epub 2006 Sep 5.