Samira Prado
Samira Prado Position: Associate Senior Lecturer School/office: School of Science and TechnologyEmail: c2FtaXJhLnByYWRvO29ydS5zZQ==
Phone: +46 19 303470
Room: B4120
- Nutrition-Gut-Brain Interactions Research Centre (NGBI)
-
Responsive Nutrition Research Centre
About Samira Prado
About Samira Prado
My research focuses on understanding how dietary components interact with the gut and systemically, bridging molecular nutrition with human health and sustainable diets. I joined Örebro University in 2020 through the Food & Health Centre. Since then, I have been working at the School of Medical Sciences, and more recently also at the School of Science and Technology. My work spans several collaborations, including with the PAN Sweden Centre (FORMAS) and the Nutrition–Gut–Brain Interactions Research Centre (NGBI).
Research
I am interested by what humans eat but do not digest, and how these undigested food structures influence our gut, metabolism, and overall health. My research explores how dietary components interact with the gastrointestinal tract and body functionality, linking molecular processes to real-world nutrition. To do this, I combine in vitro and ex vivo models (digestion, colonic fermentation, and intestinal cell cultures) with human dietary interventions, analysing biological samples such as blood, urine, breath, and faeces through metabolomics, peptidomics, and metagenomics. This integrative approach aims to understand how diet modulates gut functionality in healthy individuals and how these responses may explain susceptibility to chronic, non-communicable diseases.
Recent studies have focused on the effects of plant-based proteins and dietary fibres on gut and metabolic health.
My main research projects are:
- PanProtein - plant-based proteins contributing to a healthy and sustainable diet, which aims to create frameworks to measure the metabolic profiling related to plant-based protein intake.
- ADAPtide: decrypting sustainable and responsive nutrition by mapping the effects of plant-based foods on metabolic profiling, which will investigate the effects of specific plant-based compounds (peptides, fibres, metabolites) that trigger human biological functions.
Teaching and supervision
I teach in the Master’s Programme in Experimental Medicine and the Bachelor’s Programme in Environmental Science and Sustainable Food Systems. I designed and coordinate the courses Precision Nutrition: Impact of Individual Dietary Responses on Health and Wellbeing (MC809A, 7.5 credits) and The Food System, the EU and the World (MX303G, 7.5 credits). I have also contributed to medical education by tutoring basgrupp (problem-based learning groups). I supervise bachelor’s and master’s theses, including laboratory supervision, experimental protocol development, data analysis, and academic writing.
If you are interested in my research area and would like to do an internship or your thesis with me, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Others
Prizes: PhD thesis received the Best PhD Thesis Award in Food Science from the Ministry of Education (Brazil) and the Best Thesis Award in Agricultural Science from the University of São Paulo.
Awarded grants: FORMAS Mobility Grant (2022-2023; ca 2M SEK), Ekhagastiftelsen (2023-2014; 980 000 SEK), FORMAS Starting Grant (2024-2028, 4 M SEK).
Extra activities: chair of Örebro University Junior Faculty (2023-2024), representative of Medical School (2022-2023).
Research projects
Active projects
- Establishing a novel gut-brain axis model
- ImprUV+ - An analytical framework to explore the effects of UV during plant growth on human health
- Interaction between dietary protein and fibre fermentation - its functional consequences
- PAN Prodig - True Ileal Digestibility of Different Plant-Based Proteins in a Human Ileostomy Model
- PAN Protein - plant-based proteins contributing to a healthy and sustainable diet
- POPgut - The impact of persistent organic pollutants exposure on gut health
- The Blue Muffin Study - Impact of gut physiology and function on the formation of bioactive oligomers upon dietary fibre consumption
- Unpuzzle - Unravelling molecular motifs from dietary fibers responsible for interaction with recognition receptors in human cells
Research groups
Publications
Articles in journals
- Scharf, M. W. , Forsgård, R. A. , Prado, S. B. R. , Ganda Mall, J. P. , Repsilber, D. , Brummer, R. J. , Marques, T. M. & Wall, R. (2025). Acute effects of butyrate on intestinal permeability in patients with irritable bowel syndrome assessed by a novel colonoscopy research model. Gut microbes, 17 (1). [BibTeX]
- Guerreiro, C. d. A. , Andrade, L. A. , Fernández-Lainez, C. , Fraga, L. N. , López-Velázquez, G. , Marques, T. M. , Prado, S. B. R. , Brummer, R. J. & et al. (2025). Bioactive arabinoxylan oligomers via colonic fermentation and enzymatic catalysis: Evidence of interaction with toll-like receptors from in vitro, in silico and functional analysis. Carbohydrate Polymers, 352. [BibTeX]
- Donadio, J. L. S. , Ramos do Prado, S. B. , Soares, C. G. , Tamarossi, R. I. , Heidor, R. , Moreno, F. S. & Fabi, J. P. (2024). Ripe papaya pectins inhibit the proliferation of colon cancer spheroids and the formation of chemically induced aberrant crypts in rats colons. Carbohydrate Polymers, 331. [BibTeX]
- Seeburger, P. , Forsman, H. , Bevilacqua, G. , Marques, T. M. , Morales, L. O. , Prado, S. B. R. , Strid, Å. , Hyötyläinen, T. & et al. (2023). From farm to fork… and beyond! UV enhances Aryl hydrocarbon receptor-mediated activity of cruciferous vegetables in human intestinal cells upon colonic fermentation. Food Chemistry, 426. [BibTeX]
- Bernardino Ramos do Prado, S. , Minguzzi, B. T. , Hoffmann, C. & Fabi, J. P. (2021). Modulation of human gut microbiota by dietary fibers from unripe and ripe papayas: Distinct polysaccharide degradation using a colonic in vitro fermentation model. Food Chemistry, 348. [BibTeX]
- Soares, C. G. , Bernardino Ramos do Prado, S. , Andrade, S. C. S. & Fabi, J. P. (2021). Systems Biology Applied to the Study of Papaya Fruit Ripening: The Influence of Ethylene on Pulp Softening. Cells, 10 (9). [BibTeX]
- Prado, S. B. , Beukema, M. , Jermendi, E. , Schols, H. A. , de Vos, P. & Fabi, J. P. (2020). Pectin Interaction with Immune Receptors is Modulated by Ripening Process in Papayas. Scientific Reports, 10. [BibTeX]
- Ramos do Prado, S. B. , Santos, G. R. , Mourão, P. A. & Fabi, J. P. (2019). Chelate-soluble Pectin Fraction From Papaya Pulp Interacts With galectin-3 and Inhibits Colon Cancer Cell Proliferation. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 126, 170-178. [BibTeX]
- Ramos do Prado, S. B. , Shiga, T. M. , Horazono, Y. , Hogan, V. A. , Raz, A. , Carpita, N. C. & Fabi, J. P. (2019). Migration and proliferation of cancer cells in culture are differentially affected by molecular size of modified citrus pectin. Carbohydrate Polymers, 211, 141-151. [BibTeX]
- Ramos do Prado, S. B. , Ferreira, G. F. , Yosuke, H. , Shiga, T. M. , Raz, A. , Carpita, N. C. & Fabi, J. P. (2017). Ripening-induced chemical modifications of papaya pectin inhibit cancer cell proliferation. Scientific Reports, 7, 1-17. [BibTeX]
- de Menezes, E. W. , Grande, F. , Giuntini, E. B. , Cardoso Lopes, T. d. V. , Tanosov Dan, M. C. , Ramos do Prado, S. B. , Gombossy de Melo Franco, B. D. , Charrondierre, U. R. & et al. (2016). Impact of Dietary Fiber Energy on the Calculation of Food Total Energy Value in the Brazilian Food Composition Database. Food Chemistry, 193, 128-133. [BibTeX]
- Ramos do Prado, S. B. , Giuntini, E. B. , Grande, F. & de Menezes, E. W. (2016). Techniques to evaluate changes in the nutritional profile of food products. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 53, 1-6. [BibTeX]
Articles, reviews/surveys
- Donadio, J. L. S. , Bernardino Ramos do Prado, S. , Rogero, M. M. & Fabi, J. P. (2022). Effects of pectins on colorectal cancer: targeting hallmarks as a support for future clinical trials. Food & Function, 13 (22), 11438-11454. [BibTeX]
- Fabi, J. P. & Ramos do Prado, S. B. (2019). Fast and furious: Ethylene-triggered changes in the metabolism of papaya fruit during ripening. Frontiers in Plant Science, 10. [BibTeX]
Chapters in books
- Lopes, R. , do Prado, S. & Fabi, J. (2019). Nutrition, the Gastrointestinal Microbiota and Cancer Prevention. In: Thomas Prates Ong, Fernando Salvador Moreno, Nutrition and Cancer Prevention: From Molecular Mechanisms to Dietary Recommendations (pp. 261-293). . Royal Society of Chemistry. [BibTeX]