E-mail: tfernandes@ist.utl.pt
Visiting Professor, Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, 2020
Research Associate, Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal, 2016
Post-Doctorate, Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal, 2010-2015
Research Trainee, Dublin City University, Ireland, 2012
PhD in Biotechnology, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal, 2009
Research Assistant, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA, 2006-2008
Diploma in Biological Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal, 2004
Dr. Tiago G. Fernandes completed a PhD in Biotechnology in 2009 at Instituto Superior Técnico, in collaboration with the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY, USA). Currently, he is an Assistant Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, and a Research Scientist at the Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Lisbon, Portugal. In 2020, he held a temporary position as Invited Faculty at the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, USA.
He has published over 40 research articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals. He has contributed to 10 book chapters and has edited 2 books. He has received several awards and honors, including the prestigious Malcolm Lilly Award, presented by the European Society of Biochemical Engineering Science to a young researcher working in the field of bioprocessing engineering in 2008.
His research work is focused on providing an integrated platform that brings together engineering and biology, to accelerate progress towards designing the stem cell fate and its microenvironment. The development of artificial cellular niches for studying the mechanisms that affect human stem cell pluripotency is of foremost importance and represents a major goal of his research. Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) are used as model systems to establish in vitro artificial microenvironments that better mimic the extracellular environment. In addition to the influence of mechanical and matrix-related responses, the effects of microenvironmental conditions (e.g. small molecules and growth factors) have been extensively studied due to their capacity to modulating intracellular pathways.
This systems-based approach is expected to contribute for the development of innovative cell culture models that better reflect in vivo function, and the final goal is to generate cells and tissues to advance our understanding of biology and tissue regeneration, which will lead to further development of cell-based therapies.
His specific areas of activity include:
a) Mechanistic understanding of human organogenesis, through the
establishment of in vitro platforms to study the cellular events
involved in lineage commitment and further maturation of hPSCs.
b) Tissue and organ-based bioassembly, particularly understanding
the development of the human central nervous system, with special
focus on cerebellar development, using organoids as model
systems.
c) Understanding the formation of brain microvasculature,
particularly the establishment of the neural vascular unit, and
ultimately of the blood brain barrier.
d) Exploitation of the inherent organogenic capacity of hPSCs to
produce complex 3D microtissues through bioassembly, with special
focus on definitive endoderm commitment, hepatic cell
differentiation and further maturation of liver functions.
Fernandes, T.G. Organoids as Complex (Bio)systems. Front Cell Dev Biol 11:1268540 (2023).
Soares, B.X., Miranda, C.C., Fernandes, T.G. Systems bioengineering approaches for developmental toxicology. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 21:3272–3279 (2023).
Tenreiro, M.F., Branco, M.A., Cotovio, J.P., Cabral, J.M.S., Fernandes, T.G., Diogo, M.M. Advancing Organoid Design through Co-Emergence, Assembly, and Bioengineering. Trends Biotechnol 41(7):923–938 (2023).
Miranda, C.C., Akenhead, M.L., Silva, T.P., Derr, M.A., Vemuri, M.C., Cabral, J.M.S., Fernandes, T.G. A Dynamic 3D Aggregate-Based System for the Successful Expansion and Neural Induction of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells. Front Cell Neurosci 16:838217 (2022).
Borges, A.C., Broersen, K., Leandro, P., Fernandes, T.G. Engineering Organoids for in vitro Modeling of Phenylketonuria. Front Mol Neurosci 14:787242 (2022).
Silva, T.P., Sousa-Luís, R., Fernandes, T.G., Bekman, E.P., Rodrigues, C.A.V., Vaz, S.H., Moreira, L.M., Hashimura, Y., Jung, S., Lee, B., Carmo-Fonseca, M., Cabral, J.M.S. Transcriptome profiling of human pluripotent stem cell-derived cerebellar organoids reveals faster commitment under dynamic conditions. Biotechnol Bioeng 118(7):2781-2803 (2021).
Gomes, A.R., Fernandes, T.G., Cabral, J.M.S., Diogo, M.M. Modeling Rett Syndrome with Human Pluripotent Stem Cells: Mechanistic Outcomes and Future Clinical Perspectives. Int J Mol Sci 22(7) (2021).
Gomes, A.R., Fernandes, T.G., Vaz, S.H., Silva, T.P., Bekman, E.P., Xapelli, S., Duarte, S., Ghazvini, M., Gribnau, J., Muotri, A.R., Trujillo, C.A., Sebastião, A.M., Cabral, J.M.S., Diogo, M.M. Modeling Rett Syndrome With Human Patient-Specific Forebrain Organoids. Front Cell Dev Biol 8:610427 (2020).
Silva, T.P., Fernandes, T.G., Nogueira, D.E.S., Rodrigues, C.A.V., Bekman, E.P., Hashimura, Y., Jung, S., Lee, B., Carmo-Fonseca, M., Cabral, J.M.S. Scalable Generation of Mature Cerebellar Organoids from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells and Characterization by Immunostaining. J Vis Exp 160: e61143 (2020).
Cotovio, J.P., Fernandes, T.G. Production of Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Hepatic Cell Lineages and Liver Organoids: Current Status and Potential Applications. Bioengineering 7(2):36 (2020).
Silva, T.P., Bekman, E., Fernandes, T.G., Vaz, S.H., Rodrigues, C.A.V., Diogo, M.M., Cabral J.M.S., Carmo-Fonseca, M. Maturation of human pluripotent stem cell-derived cerebellar neurons in the absence of co-culture. Front Bioeng Biotechnol doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2020.00070 [Epub ahead of print] (2020).
Dias, T.P., Fernandes, T.G., Diogo, M.M., Cabral, J.M.S. Multifactorial Modeling Reveals a Dominant Role of Wnt Signaling in Lineage Commitment of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells. Bioengineering 6(3):71 (2019).
Fernandes, T.G., Baptista, R.P., Kim, H. Engineering Cell Systems. Stem Cells Int 2019:4685137 (2019).
Miranda, C.C., Fernandes, T.G., Diogo, M.M., Cabral, J.M.S. Towards Multi-Organoid Systems for Drug Screening Applications. Bioengineering (Basel) 5(3). pii: E49 (2018).
Miranda, C.C., Fernandes, T.G., Pinto, S.N., Prieto, M., Diogo, M.M., Cabral, J.M.S. A scale out approach towards neural induction of human induced pluripotent stem cells for neurodevelopmental toxicity studies. Toxicol Lett 294:51-60 (2018).
Dias, T.P., Pinto, S.N., Santos, J.I., Fernandes, T.G., Fernandes, F., Diogo, M.M., Prieto, M., Cabral, J.M.S. Biophysical study of human induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived cardiomyocyte structural maturation during long-term culture. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 499(3):611-617 (2018).
Miranda, C.C., Fernandes, T.G., Diogo, M.M., Cabral, J.M.S. Scaling up a chemically-defined aggregate-based suspension culture system for neural commitment of human pluripotent stem cells. Biotechnol J 11(12):1628-1638 (2016).
Badenes, S.M., Fernandes, T.G., Cordeiro, C.S., Boucher, S., Kuninger, D., Vemuri, M.C., Diogo, M.M., Cabral, J.M.S. Defined Essential 8™ Medium and Vitronectin Efficiently Support Scalable Xeno-Free Expansion of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells in Stirred Microcarrier Culture Systems. PLoS One 11(3):e0151264 (2016).