Maria Pereira (born 1986, Leiria, Portugal) is a Portuguese bioengineering scientist, creator of a glue to close open wounds without damaging tissues.
She holds a degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Coimbra, in Portugal, and a PhD in Bioengineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in the United States, thanks to the scholarship she was awarded by the MIT-Portugal Program in 2007.
[1][2] She is known for having created a glue to close open wounds without damaging tissue, which is used, for example, for delicate heart operations and to treat babies with congenital heart defect, one in 100, which happens to be the leading cause of infant death in the United States.
In 2012, she succeeded and met even more criteria: the glue she invented only adheres where it is intended, when the surgeon shines a light on it, thus giving him total control over the process.
[1][2][7] On December 28, 2015, at the age of 29, she was presented for Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa's national representative in his candidacy for the 2016 presidential elections.