SCERG Banner

Research Associate

Education and Training

Post-Doctoral Fellow, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal, 2011-2016

PhD in Bioengineering, MIT Portugal Program, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal, 2011

MSc in Biological Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal, 2007

Diploma in Biological Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal, 2005

Research activities

My research at SCERG focuses on the development and operation of bioreactor culture systems for the large-scale expansion and controlled differentiation of human Plutipotent Stem Cells (PSC), which are able of extensive self-renewal and can differentiate into virtually all cell types of the human body. PSC technology holds great potential for the development of regenerative medicine therapies and also for drug discovery. However, the success of these approaches is still limited by the difficulty to generate large quantities of cells. The goal of my research is the design of biporocesses for the generation of large numbers of PSC and PSC-derived cells maintaining biological functionality and safety in a reproducible manner

Selected publications

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).

Nogueira, D.E.S, Rodrigues, C.A.V., Carvalho, M.S., Miranda, C.C., Hashimura, Y., Jung, S., Lee, B., Cabral, J.M.S. Strategies for the expansion of human induced pluripotent stem cells as aggregates in single-use Vertical-Wheel™ bioreactors. J Biol Eng 13:74 (2019).

Rodrigues, A.L., Rodrigues, C.A.V., Gomes, A.R., Vieira, S.F., Badenes, S.M., Diogo, M.M., Cabral, J.M.S. Dissolvable Microcarriers Allow Scalable Expansion And Harvesting Of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Under Xeno‐Free Conditions. Biotechnol J 14(4):e1800461 (2019).

Rodrigues, C.A.V., Nogueira, D.E.S., Cabral, J.M.S. Next-Generation Stem Cell Expansion Technologies. Cell Gene Therapy Insights 4(8):791-804 (2018).

Rodrigues, C.A.V., Silva, T.P., Nogueira, D.E.S., Fernandes, T.G., Hashimura, Y., Wesselschmidt, R., Diogo, M.M., Lee, B., Cabral, J.M.S. Scalable Culture Of Human Induced Pluripotent Cells On Microcarriers Under Xeno‐Free Conditions Using Single‐Use Vertical‐Wheel™ Bioreactors. J Chem Technol Biotechnol 93(12):3597-3606 (2018).

Pires, F., Ferreira, Q., Rodrigues, C.A.V., Morgado, J., Ferreira, F.C. Neural stem cells differentiation by electrical stimulation using a cross-linked PEDOT substrate: expanding the use of biocompatible conjugated conductive polymers for neural tissue engineering. BBA-Gen Subjects 1850:1158-1168 (2015).