The “Molecular Physical-Chemistry” R&D Unit – University of Coimbra (QFM-UC) is an inter-institutional/multidisciplinary Unit founded in 1994, under the supervision of Prof. José Teixeira Dias, and hosted in the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra (Portugal). This R&D Unit emerged from the research line with the same name which was part of the former INIC Chemistry Centre since 1979, where Prof. José Teixeira Dias was supervising six PhD thesis, and following the successful application to the “Programa Ciência” (0029/M/90), which allowed to equip the Vibrational Spectroscopy Laboratory with state-of-the-art highly versatile equipment.
The QFM-UC encompasses the VIBIMA laboratory (Vibrational Spectroscopy Laboratory for Bioprobing) which is a facility of excellence in the field of optical vibrational spectroscopy, comprising state-of-the-art versatile equipment. QFM-UC also includes laboratories for chemical preparation and characterisation and a fully equipped cell culture facility. The latter, in particular, is an important asset since it ensures easy access to complementary data on the systems studied, allowing to reliably link structure to biological activity, thus promoting an excellent interplay between physical-chemical methods and biological approaches very rarely found in R&D Units within the physical-chemistry (spectroscopy) area.
The Unit´s research activities, using vibrational spectroscopy techniques as the main methodology, is focused in the study of chemical and structural variations in biological samples, prompted by either chemopreventive or chemotherapeutic agents, pathological conditions or environmental changes.
Simultaneously, some members focus their research on Science Education and History & Philosophy of Science.
The QFM-UC has an extensive scientific networking (national and international) and encourages human mobility within international cooperation programs, especially for young graduate researchers.