António Sousa, Research Fellow NanoSTIMA

«Under tutor of Phd Bruno Travassos, our team work has been developed together with several sporting modalities (football, basketball, among others), in which we intervene with the purpose of evaluating the muscular strength so that we can define the training load more effectively in order to minimize the risk of injuries. As a tool to help our proposed goal, we are still monitoring a professional football team to quantify the internal game and training load using FirstBeat. In parallel with this investigation, we also intend to verify the reliability and validity of the Smart Groin Trainer dynamometer by comparing results with the Globus Meter.»

Carla Correia de Sá, Research Fellow NanoSTIMA

«I’m currently involved in different projects, namely ‘Diabetes em Movimento’, among others. She is also responsible for the analysis of the output of the questionnaire about the use of wearable devices in Portugal, in particular how often people use it and how they use it to monitor exercise/physical activity.»

Diogo Coutinho, FCT Granted Student

«My main focus is to study how different environmental information based on the manipulation of tasks constraints, such as pitch reference lines, players number or game rules, modifies the players physical, technical and tactical behavior during football small-sided games. In addition, I am also studying how mental fatigue induced by ecological tasks modified players perforamnce during football game based tasks.»

Eduardo Teixeira, Research Fellow NanoSTIMA

«I’m addressing two main research fields: exercise in chronic kidney disease (CKD), and non-invasive exercise physiology. In the field of exercise in CKD, we are studying the effects of exercise and physical activity in the skeletal muscle quality and function of CKD patients. Concurrently, we are  also researching the scientific value of non-invasive biomarkers as a strategy to monitor acute exercise-induced alterations, comparing blood biomarkers with those present in saliva, sweat and tears.»

Henrique Pereira Neiva, Post-Doc Research Fellow NanoSTIMA

«The study of the effects of water-aerobics in a real life context on health indicators and physical fitness in adults and their habbits on monitoring aquatic exercitation. We are trying to understand long-term physiological and metabolic changes of aquatic exercitation, and their causes, to provide useful feedbacks for wearables design and development. Moreover, several swimming pools of the interior region of Portugal and their users are being investigated to understand either their motivations for aquatic practices or habbits on using wearables to monitor their aquatic activities.»

Isabel Machado, FCT Granted Student

«‘PASSUS saudáveis na Doença Arterial Periférica’ program, we intend to study the long-term effects of a supervised exercise program in patients with peripheral arterial disease and intermittent claudication to improve the walking performance and to treat and prevent the disease, combining the treadmill walking with resistance exercises of the lower limbs.»

Jorge Arede, FCT Granted Student

«Effects of training programs to improve power, body stabilization, neuromuscular control, using eccentric-overload training and velocity based-training in high-intensity actions in sport talents. Analysis of effects of maturational status and previous sport experiences in high-intensity actions performance.»

Juliana Exel, Post-Doc Research Fellow NanoSTIMA

«Changes in the complexity of kinematic and physiological variables responses according to different environments of exercise practice: we aim to understand how the variability of heart rate, GPS monitoring and cognitive measures are related to different environments of practice and group behavior. Physical activity and sedentary behavior profiles of young athletes and amateur runners: we aim to quantify, describe and interpret how these two distinct domains behave in populations considered physically active.»

Mónica Matos, Research Fellow NanoSTIMA

«This research focuses on the effect of exercise and physical activity on risk of diabetic foot in people with type 2 diabetes participating in a community program. Patients with diabetes mellitus develop a variety of foot problems and if untreated can cause serious complications, being the diabetic foot one of the most common cause of non-traumatic lower limb amputation. Therefore, the aim is to analyze the impact of exercise on problems associated with this foot condition.»

Nuno Mateus, Research Fellow NanoSTIMA 

«During the life-span, the cognitive system undergoes alterations as result of maturation and aging of brain cells, as well as their innumerable and complex interactions. Physical activity already revealed potential for preserving cognitive health, improve cognitive capability and retard cognitive decline in late life; However the effects of team sports on cognitive function (and vice-versa) remains a quite unexplored topic. So, my aim is to improve the knowledge about the effect of team sports activities on cognitive and cerebral functioning, as well as, verify how the cognitive system influence athletes’ physical, technical and tactical performance.»

Soraia Ferreira, Research Fellow NanoSTIMA 

«On the present year we are preparing a study with the reliability of physical and functional tests for institutionalized older adults. The remaining activities are related to the association of physical activity with other variables, in particular sleep quality, cognitive aspects, body composition and physical fitness. Regarding the intervention, we are waiting for the services of a company that will develop virtual reality application, with which we will develop an exercise program for the institutionalized older adults.»