Ana Margarida Madeira Viegas de Barros Timmons

Education: (i) PhD in Chemistry from the University of Manchester under the supervision of Professor Philip Hodge, Thesis: “The Synthesis and Study of Novel Materials for Use as Functional LB Films” (1997);  (ii) M.Sc. in Bioactive Molecules, University of North London (1992); (iii) 4th year of the Course of Applied Chemistry - Organic Chemistry, Univ. Nova de Lisboa (1990); (iv) B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering, ISEL (1988).

Professional Experience:

Since July 1996 - Universidade de Aveiro – Assistant Professor at the Dept. of Chemistry responsible for a variety of courses on Polymers and Chemical Engineering laboratories. During this period, amongst various administrative jobs, has participated in the preparation of two Erasmus Mundus MSc programmes in the field of Materials Science which she coordinated and/or was/is member of the coordination team;

1993 - 1996 - University of Manchester - Dept. of Chemistry (Polymer Section) - Research Assistant. Synthesis of amphiphilic polymers and calixarenes; Study of monolayer properties, fabrication and characterization of the derived Langmuir-Blodgett films.

1993 - 6 months contract at SHELL (Kent) - Dept. of Environment - Research Assistant. Bioremediation and analyses of soils and ground waters.

1991 - 1993 KODAK (London) - Dept. of Emerging Technologies - Synthetic Chemist. Synthesis of new polymeric surfactants for drug delivery and imaging; use of a computer controlled reactor.

1987 - 1990 LNETI (Queluz) - Dept. of Chemical Technologies - Research Assistant. Synthesis, scale-up and purification of resinic acids derivatives.

Synthesis and characterization of functional polymer based nanocomposites (PFN) via in situ polymerization techniques namely emulsion and miniemulsion; Radical controlled/living polymerization mechanisms namely ATRP and RAFT; Surface modification of inorganic nanoparticles for the preparation of PFN; Use of polysaccharides to prepare nanocomposites and hybrid materials;Thermal analysis; Biosensors and Colloids.

- FCT-IUPAC/0001/2009-Encircle-Polymer-ENCapsulation of anisotropic InoRganic partiCLEs by RAFT-mediated emulsion polymerization” , 1-07-2011 -30_06-2014 (95.000,00 €) ; National Project Coordinator.

- EXPL/CTM-ENE/0548/2012 – “CelFuelCel – Bacterial Cellulose membranes for proton exchange fuel cells”; 1-1-2013 to: 31-12-2013  (48.082,00 €); - team member.

- RECI/CTM-CER/0336/2012 – “Heat@UA  Facing the challenges of characterizing novel thermal materials and processes”; 1/3/2013 to 31/12/2015 (425.134,00 €); - team member.

Research funded via QREN

-  Greenpec, July 2013 - June 2015 ( 351.524, 88 €); - team member.

List of most representative publications during the last 5 years  

Book Chapter

Esteves ACC, Barros-Timmons A (2011) “Synthetic Strategies for Polymer Based - Nanocomposite Particles”. In Trindade T, Daniel-da-Silva AL (ed.). In “Nanocomposite Particles for Bio-Applications – Materials and Bio-Interfaces”, Singapore, Pan Stanford Publishing, pp.  115-143. ISBN:13 978-981-4267-78-6.

 Scientific Papers

• M Ghislandi, K Schulte, A. Barros-Timmons and Luis A. S. A. Prado, “Effect of filler functionalization on thermo-mechanical properties of Polyamide 12 / Carbon nanofibers composites: A study of filler-matrix molecular interactions”, Accepted by Journal of Materials Science,  August 2013.
• Sónia O. Pereira, Ana Barros-Timmons, Tito Trindade, “Biofunctionalization of colloidal gold nanoparticles via polyelectrolytes assemblies”, Colloid and Polymer Science 2013. In press.
• P. R. Figueiredo, A. Alonso-Varona, S. C. M. Fernandes, T. Palomares, E. Rubio, A. Barros-Timmons, A.J. D. Silvestre, C.P. Neto and C. S. R. Freire, “Biocompatible Bacterial Cellulose–Poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) Nanocomposite Films”, BioMed Research International, April 2013. In press.
• Paula S. S. Lacerda, Ana M. M. V. Barros-Timmons, Carmen S. R. Freire, Armando J. D. Silvestre, Carlos P. Neto, “Nanostructured composites obtained by ATRP sleeving of bacterial cellulose nanofibers with acrylate polymers”, Biomacromolecules, 14, 2063−2073 (2013).
• Adriano A. Torrano, Ângela S. Pereira, Osvaldo N. Oliveira Jr and Ana Barros-Timmons, “Probing the Interaction of Oppositely Charged Gold Nanoparticles with DPPG and DPPC Langmuir Monolayers as Cell Membrane Models”, Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, 108 (2013) 120– 126.
• Gil Gonçalves,Paula A. A. P. Marques,^, Ana Barros-Timmons,Igor Bdkin, Manoj K. Singh, Nazanin Emami and José Grácio, "Graphene oxide modified with PMMA via ATRP as reinforcement filler", J. Mater. Chem., 20 (44): 9927 – 9934 (2010).
• Fabiane Oliveira, Sónia R. Monteiro, Ana Barros-Timmons, J.A. Lopes-da-Silva, “Weak-gel formation in dispersions of silica particles in a matrix of a nonionic polysaccharide: Structure and rheological characterization”,Carbohydrate Polymers, 82: 1219–1227 (2010).
• Belete A. Gonfa, A. F. da Cunha and Ana B. Timmons, “ZnO Nanostructures for Photovoltaic Cells”, Physica Status Solidi  B, 247:1633-1636 (2010). 
• Oliveira, F. C., Barros-Timmons, A., Lopes-da-Silva, J.A., “Preparation and characterization of chitosan/SiO₂ composite films”, J. Nanosc. Nanotech., 10(4): 2816 (2010). 
• Pavinatto, Adriana, Pavinatto, Felippe, Barros-Timmons, Ana, Oliveira, Osvaldo, “Electrostatic interactions are not sufficient to account for the chitosan bioactivity", ACS Applied Materials &  Interfaces, 2, 1, 246–251 (2010).
• A.C.C: Esteves, P. Hodge, T. Trindade and A.M.M. V Barros-Timmons, “Preparation of nancomposites by Reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer /RAFT) Polymerization from the surface of Quantum Dots in Miniemulsion”, J. Polym. Sci.: Part A: Polymer Chemistry, 47: 5367-5377(2009).
• F. Amaral, C.P.L. Rubinger, F. Henry, L.C. Costa, M.A. Valente, A. Barros-Timmons, “Dielectric properties of polystyrene–CCTO composite”,  J Non-Cryst Solids, 354: 5321–5322 (2008).
• S. Pereira, P. Rauwel, M. S. Reis, N. J. O. Silva, A. Barros-Timmons, T. Trindade, ^“Polymer encapsulation effects on the magnetism of EuS nanocrystals”, J. Mater. Chem., 18: 1–8 (2008).  
• Marián Lehocký, Priscilla Filomena Fonseca Amaral, Pavel Sťahel, Maria Alice Zarur Coelho, Ana Margarida Barros-Timmons and João Araújo Pereira Coutinho, “Deposition of Yarrowia lipolytica on Plasma Prepared Teflon-Like Thin Films”, Surface Engineering, 24: 23-27 (2008).
• M.G. Ghislandi, L.A.S.A. Prado, A.V. Oyerviedes, H. Wittich, K. Schulte, A. Barros- Timmons, “Functionalisation of Carbon Nanofibres (CNFs) through Atom Transfer Radical Polymerisation for the Preparation of Poly(tert-butyl acrylate)/CNF Materials: Spectroscopic, Thermal, Morphological and Physical Characterisations”, J. Polym. Sci.: Part A: Polymer Chemistry: 46, 3326–3335 (2008).
• C.P.L. Rubinger, L.C. Costa, A.C.C. Esteves, A. Barros-Timmons,J.A. Martins, “Hopping conduction on PPy/SiO₂ nanocomposites obtained via in situ emulsion polymerisation”, J. Mater Sci , 43: 3333–3337 (2008).
• R. J. B. Pinto, P. A. A. P. Marques, A. M. Barros-Timmons, T. Trindade, C. Pascoal Neto, “Novel SiO₂/cellulose nanocomposites obtained by in situ synthesis and via polyelectrolytes assembly”,  Compos Sci Technol. 68: 1088–1093(2008).
• A.C. Esteves, L. Bombalski, K. Matyjaszewski, T. Trindade and A.M. Barros-Timmons, “polymer grafting from CdS Quantum Dots via AGET ATRP in Miniemulsion”, Small, 3: 7, 1230-1236 (2007).
• Marián Lehocký, Priscilla Filomena Fonseca Amaral, Pavel Sťahel, Maria Alice Zarur Coelho, Ana Margarida Barros-Timmons, João Araújo Pereira Coutinho, “Preparation and characterization of organosilicon thin films for selective adhesion of Yarrowia lipolytica yeast cells”, J. Chem. Technol.  Biotechnol, 82:360–366 (2007).