Carla Vilela

Assistant Professor

Biography

Carla Vilela, born in Aveiro (Portugal), graduated in Chemical Engineering in 2004 and obtained a MSc degree in Materials Science and Engineering (EMMS) in 2008 at the University of Aveiro (UAVR, Portugal). During her MSc studies, she was awarded with a merit grant from the Joint European Masters Programme in Materials Science (EMMS). In 2008, CVilela started working as a grant holder on a National project (034/7.1/ADI/NOR) with Association Network for Competence in Polymers (Faculty of Engineering of University of Porto, FEUP, Portugal), which set the stage for the beginning of her PhD studies at UAVR (PhD grant SFRH/BD/44884/2008 awarded by the Portuguese Foundation from Science and Technology (FCT)) concerning the valorisation of vegetable oils as sources of novel macromolecular materials derived from renewable resources.

After finishing her PhD in 2012, she participated as a grant holder in the National project PTDC/QUI-QUI/120982/2010 – Creating value from bio-wastes: suberin extraction and biotransformation in biocompatible ionic liquids aiming on novel biomaterials and compounds (University NOVA of Lisbon and University of Aveiro, Portugal). From June 2013 to December 2018, she was a post-doctoral researcher at CICECO – Aveiro Institute of Materials holding a postdoctoral fellowship (SFRH/BPD/84168/2012) awarded by FCT. From January 2019 to June 2020, she was a Doctoral Researcher under the "Norma Transitória DL 57/2016 - Lei 57/2017" awarded by FCT, and again a visiting researcher at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source (UK). From July 2020 to May 2022, she was an Assistant Researcher (CEEC Individual research contract awarded by FCT, CEECIND/00263/2018) and, from June 2022 to January 2024, she was a Principal Researcher (research contract awarded by FCT, 2021.01571.CEECIND) at the same institute.

Currently, she is an Assistant Professor of Sustainable Materials at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Aveiro and a Principal Researcher (CEEC Individual research contract awarded by FCT, 2021.01571.CEECIND) at CICECO, where she is a member of the research group (G4) on Renewable Materials and Circular Economy and the coordinator of the research line (L3) on Sustainability. She is also the coordinator of the SusChem PT – National Technology Platform on Sustainable Chemistry and a Principal Investigator of one national project (Cell4Janus, PTDC/BII-BIO/1901/2021) and one PRIMA project (Im-Pack). She carries out research at the forefront of Sustainable Materials Science and Engineering, more specifically in the domain of Cellulose and Renewable Materials as sustainable alternative solutions to meet the demands of different fields of application (e.g., water remediation, food packaging and textiles).

CVilela is the author of 92 SCI papers (h-index: 38; citations: >4500), 3 books, 5 book chapters, 10 filed patents, 2 datasets, 8 abstracts of papers of the American Chemical Society, 15 conference proceedings, and more than 170 communications in national and international conferences. She was featured in the list of the World's Top 2% Scientists by the Stanford University as one of the most cited scientists in 2020, 2021 and 2022. She already supervised 50 students (at BSc, MSc and PhD levels), 2 post-doctoral researchers and 7 research fellows. Her current research team includes 2 junior researchers, and 2 MSc and 5 PhD students.

CVilela is an Associate Editor of Chemistry Africa (Springer Nature), Early Career Advisory Board Member of ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering (ACS), Editorial Board Member of Discover Polymers (Springer) and Polysaccharides (MDPI), and Topic Advisory Panel Member of Nanomaterials (MDPI) and was an Editorial Board Member of the journal Cogent Chemistry (Taylor & Francis Group, 2018-2020). She has acted as invited Guest Editor for Applied Science (2018), Materials (2019-2022) and Nanomaterials (2019-2022) journals (MDPI) and is an active reviewer for international journals (e.g., Nature Commun., ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., Carbohydr. Polym., Sci. Reports, Environ. Sci. Technol., ACS Nano). She was a participant of the COST Action FP1405 (ActInPak, 2015-2019), and is a member of the European Polysaccharide Network of Excellence (EPNOE).

Research group

BioPol4fun - Innovation in biopolymer based functional materials and bioactive compounds

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Follow the group activities at:

https://pt.linkedin.com/in/biopol4fun-group-1398a315b

https://twitter.com/BioPol4 

Selected Publications

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Ongoing Supervisions

Projects

Bioeconomia para Têxtil e Vestuário (BE@T)

PartnerIndustry National
Apoiada pelo Plano de Recuperação e Resiliência (PRR), a indústria têxtil nacional vai investir 138 milhões de euros na bioeconomia sustentável, procurando a mudança de paradigma para o setor e a criação de produtos de alto valor ...

Cell4Janus - Engineering self-propelled cellulose-based Janus microrobots (Cell4Janus)

CoordinatorFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

From Fossil To Forest (FF2F (Biocomposites))

PartnerIndustry National
This Innovation Pact is aimed at developing cellulose-based packaging and products to replace fossil-based plastics. In this context, it comprises the following six work packages: (1) high yield pulp and brown paper; (2) paper with increased mechanical strength; (3) paper with barrier properties; (4) biocomposites; (5) paper sensors for...

Inovação na Fileira da Resina Natural para Reforço da Bioeconomia Nacional (RN21)

PartnerIndustry National
A transição para uma economia mais sustentável, oferece inúmeras oportunidades para revitalizar os setores mais tradicionais da economia portuguesa, onde destacamos a produção e transformação da resina natural.O Projeto Integrado RN21 – Ino...

Pacto da Bioeconomia azul (BIOECOAZUL (Termoendurecíveis))

PartnerIndustry National
The world needs a new business model capable of economic growth decoupling raw materials from natural resources. Thus the Blue Bioeconomy Pact has embraced the challenge of reindustrialising Portuguese industries with the integration of blue biotechnology solutions in the value chains, enhancing the sustainable use of marine bio-resourc...

Pacto da Bioeconomia azul (BIOECOAZUL (Termoplásticos a desenvolver))

PartnerIndustry National
The world needs a new business model capable of economic growth decoupling raw materials from natural resources. Thus the Blue Bioeconomy Pact has embraced the challenge of reindustrialising Portuguese industries with the integration of blue biotechnology solutions in the value chains, enhancing the sustainable use of marine bio-resourc...

Pacto da Bioeconomia azul (BIOECOAZUL (Plásticos já existentes))

PartnerIndustry National
The world needs a new business model capable of economic growth decoupling raw materials from natural resources. Thus the Blue Bioeconomy Pact has embraced the challenge of reindustrialising Portuguese industries with the integration of blue biotechnology solutions in the value chains, enhancing the sustainable use of marine bio-resourc...

Publications

Nanostructured Bacterial Cellulose-Poly(4-styrene sulfonic acid) Composite Membranes with High Storage Modulus and Protonic Conductivity

Gadim, TDO; Figueiredo, AGPR; Rosero-Navarro, NC; Vilela, C; Gamelas, JAF; Barros-Timmons, A; Neto, CP; Silvestre, AJD; Freire, CSR; Figueiredo, FML
2014, ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES, 6, 10, 7864-7875.

Screening of lipophilic and phenolic extractives from different morphological parts of Halimione portulacoides

Vilela, C; Santos, SAO; Coelho, D; Silva, AMS; Freire, CSR; Neto, CP; Silvestre, AJD
2014, INDUSTRIAL CROPS AND PRODUCTS, 52, 373-379.

Lipophilic phytochernicals from banana fruits of several Musa species

Vilela, C; Santos, SAO; Villaverde, JJ; Oliveira, L; Nunes, A; Cordeiro, N; Freire, CSR; Silvestre, AJD
2014, FOOD CHEMISTRY, 162, 247-252.

The quest for sustainable polyesters - insights into the future

Vilela, C; Sousa, AF; Fonseca, AC; Serra, AC; Coelho, JFJ; Freire, CSR; Silvestre, AJD
2014, POLYMER CHEMISTRY, 5, 9, 3119-3141.

Thermoreversible nonlinear diels-alder polymerization of furan/plant oil monomers

Vilela, C; Silvestre, AJD; Gandini, A
2013, JOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE PART A-POLYMER CHEMISTRY, 51, 10, 2260-2270.

High valuable compounds from the unripe peel of several Musa species cultivated in Madeira Island (Portugal)

Villaverde, JJ; Oliveira, L; Vilela, C; Domingues, RM; Freitas, N; Cordeiro, N; Freire, CSR; Silvestre, AJD
2013, INDUSTRIAL CROPS AND PRODUCTS, 42, 507-512.

Novel sustainable composites prepared from cork residues and biopolymers

Vilela, C; Sousa, AF; Freire, CSR; Silvestre, AJD; Neto, CP
2013, BIOMASS & BIOENERGY, 55, 148-155.

The ripe pulp of Mangifera indica L.: A rich source of phytosterols and other lipophilic phytochemicals

Vilela, C; Santos, SAO; Oliveira, L; Camacho, JF; Cordeiro, N; Freire, CSR; Silvestre, AJD
2013, FOOD RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL, 54, 2, 1535-1540.

Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry applied to the identification of valuable phenolic compounds from Eucalyptus wood

Santos, SAO; Vilela, C; Freire, CSR; Neto, CP; Silvestre, AJD
2013, JOURNAL OF CHROMATOGRAPHY B-ANALYTICAL TECHNOLOGIES IN THE BIOMEDICAL AND LIFE SCIENCES, 938, 65-74.

Plant Oil-Based Long-Chain C-26 Monomers and Their Polymers

Vilela, C; Silvestre, AJD; Meier, MAR
2012, MACROMOLECULAR CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS, 213, 21, 2220-2227.

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