Ana Grenha, who has a degree in Pharmacy from the Polytechnic of Porto and a PhD in the same area from the University of Santiago de Compostela, won (ex-aequo) the Robalo Cordeiro Prize, worth 10 thousand euros, awarded every year by the Portuguese Society of Pneumology in partnership with Novartis.
Currently a lecturer and researcher at the University of the Algarve, Ana Grenha presented the project "Inhalation Immunisation - A Strategy for Respiratory Diseases", which puts forward an alternative to conventional vaccination for respiratory infections.
The project, in general terms, proposes that, as the lungs are the organ most affected, vaccination should be done locally, by inhalation (as in the case of antiasthmatics), as opposed to the traditional injectable method.
The vaccine would consist of microparticles (dry powders) that the patient would inhale in order, Ana Grenha argues, to preserve the lung in case of respiratory infection.
