People

Simões Laboratory

STAFF

Maria Luísa Simões, PhD

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Maria Luísa was Faculty Research Associate at Johns Hopkins University (USA) and Assistant Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (UK) before joining ITM as Associate Professor in 2023. She graduated in 2014 with a PhD in Biomedical Sciences (Nova University Lisbon, Portugal, and Imperial College London, UK). She is the Chair for the American Committee of Medical Entomology (ACME), and member of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) annual meeting scientific committee.

Thais Lemos-Silva, PhD

RESEARCH FELLOW

Thais graduated in 2022 with a PhD degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the Oswaldo Cruz Institute – Fiocruz, Brazil. She also trained at the National Institutes of Health (USA) and Charles University Prague (Czech Republic).

She works on the impacts of climate change on Anopheles innate immunity, and the modulation of the iron metabolism pathways in malaria mosquitoes.

Yarno Valgaerts, MSc

LABORATORY TECHNICIAN

Yarno has a MSc degree in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Antwerp, Belgium. He is responsible for the rearing of Anopheles mosquitoes for the lab and works on projects related to climate change and Anopheles innate immunity.

Osman Archaga Vargas, MSc

PRE-DOCTORAL CANDIDATE (Johnson & Johnson)

Osman has a BSc in Microbiology from the National Autonomous University of Honduras and an MSc in Tropical Medicine from ITM. He investigates the interplay between our trademark climate fluctuations, the Anopheles innate immunity, and the microbiome.

Luna Dael, MSc

RESEARCH ASSISTANT

Luna conducted her MSc thesis in the Simões Lab. Her project focuses on the role of humidity on diverse Anopheles biological processes, innate immunity, and mosquito fitness.

Isabel Lafuente, BSc

MSc STUDENT (Erasmus+)

Isabel thesis explores the climatic modulation of Anopheles innate immunity and melanization to entomopathogenic biopesticides. She is an MSc student (Biomedical Biotechnology) at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain).

ALUMNI

Siem Adriaenssens, MSc student (2025)