Marta Figueiredo, PhD,  managing science editor—

Marta holds a biology degree, a master’s in evolutionary and developmental biology, and a PhD in biomedical sciences from the University of Lisbon, Portugal. She was awarded a research scholarship and a PhD scholarship, and her research focused on the role of several signaling pathways in thymus and parathyroid glands embryonic development. She also previously worked as an assistant professor of an annual one-week embryology course at the University of Lisbon’s Faculty of Medicine.

Articles by Marta Figueiredo

Immune NKT Cells May Suggest Early Heart Involvement

The blood levels of natural killer T-cells (NKT), a type of immune cell, are reduced significantly in sarcoidosis patients with subclinical signs of heart involvement relative to those without, a small study shows. Notably, low NKT cell levels were associated significantly with imaging markers of heart inflammation, suggesting that…

aTyr’s Immunomodulatory Therapy ATYR1923 Wins Orphan Drug Status

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted orphan drug designation to aTyr Pharma’s experimental immunomodulatory molecule ATYR1923 for the treatment of sarcoidosis. The therapy is being developed for severe inflammatory diseases affecting the lungs, which in sarcoidosis patients is called pulmonary sarcoidosis. Orphan drug status is given to…

ATYR1923 Found Safe, Effective for Pulmonary Sarcoidosis Patients

aTyr Pharma’s experimental therapy ATYR1923 safely and effectively improves lung function and reduces symptoms in adults with pulmonary sarcoidosis, while lowering the need for oral corticosteroids, top-line data from a Phase 1b/2a clinical trial show. Notably, while all three tested therapy doses were well-tolerated, greater clinically meaningful…

Xentria Readies First Trial of XTMAB-16 for Sarcoidosis

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved beginning clinical trials testing XTMAB-16, Xentria’s investigational TNF-alpha inhibitor for the treatment of sarcoidosis. The first, a Phase 1 trial evaluating the therapy in healthy volunteers, is expected to start in July at the Parexel Baltimore Early Phase…

Sarcoidosis Advocate Appointed Patient Advisor at aTyr

aTyr Pharma, which is developing a candidate therapy for pulmonary sarcoidosis called ATYR1923, has appointed Andrea Wilson — a sarcoidosis patient and advocate who co-founded the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research (FSR) — as a patient advisor. “We are pleased during Sarcoidosis Awareness Month to welcome Andrea, a…