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Associate Professor

Education and Training

Post-Doctoral Fellow, Centre for Biological and Chemical Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal, 2006-2007

PhD in Biotechnology, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal, in collaboration with University of Nevada-Reno, NV, USA, 2006

Diploma in Chemical Engineering (Biotechnology), Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal (2001)

Appointments

Assistant Professor, Department of Bioengineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal (2011 – present)

Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal (2008 – 2011)

Invited Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal (2007 – 2008)

Research activities

My research interests are focused on the ex-vivo expansion of human stem cells, Cellular Therapies with human stem cells and bioreactors for stem cell culture. In particular, I have been involved in establishing optimal conditions for the maximization of the expansion of umbilical cord blood-derived hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells, as well as developing bioreactor strategies for the clinical-scale production of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSC) from different human sources. In this context, we have also been exploiting genetic engineering tools to improve MSC features for therapeutic use (e.g. angiogenic therapies).

Selected publications

Cabral, J.M.S:, Lobato da Silva, C. (Eds.) Bioreactors for Stem Cell Expansion and Differentiation. CRC Press, ISBN 9781498795906 (2018).

Serra, J., Alves, C.P.A., Brito, L., Monteiro, G.A., Cabral, J.M.S., Prazeres, D.M.F., da Silva, C.L. Engineering of human mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSC) with VEGF-encoding minicircles for angiogenic ex vivo gene therapy. Hum Gene Ther doi:10.1089/hum.2018.154 [Epub ahead of print] (2018).

Ferro, T., Santhagunam, A., Madeira, C., Salgueiro, J.B., da Silva, C.L., Cabral, J.M.S. Successful isolation and ex vivo expansion of human mesenchymal stem/stromal cells obtained from different synovial tissue-derived (biopsy) samples. J Cell Physiol doi:10.1002/jcp.27202 [Epub ahead of print] (2018).

Mizukami, A., Neto, M.S.D., Moreira, F., Fernandes-Platzgummer, A., Huang, Y.F., Milligan, W., Cabral, J.M.S., da Silva, C.L., Covas, D.T., Swiech, K. A Fully-Closed and Automated Hollow Fiber Bioreactor for Clinical-Grade Manufacturing of Human Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells. Stem Cell Rev 14(1):141-143 (2018).

Costa, M.H.G., de Soure, A.M., Cabral, J.M.S., Ferreira, F.C., da Silva, C.L. Hematopoietic Niche - Exploring Biomimetic Cues to Improve the Functionality of Hematopoietic Stem/Progenitor Cells. Biotechnol J doi:10.1002/biot.201700088 (2018).

Costa M.H.G., McDevitt, T.C., Cabral J.M.S., da Silva C.L., Ferreira F.C. Tridimensional configurations of human mesenchymal stem/stromal cells to enhance cell paracrine potential towards wound healing processes. J Biotechnol 262:28-39 (2017).

de Soure, A.M., Fernandes-Platzgummer, A., Moreira, F., Lilaia, C., S.-H., Ku, C.-P., Huang, Y.-F., Milligan, W., Cabral, J.M.S., Silva, C.L. Integrated culture platform based on a human platelet lysate supplement for the isolation and scalable manufacturing of umbilical cord matrix-derived mesenchymal stem/stromal cells. J Tissue Eng Regen Med 11:1630-1640 (2017).

Simões, I.N., Vale, P., Soker, S., Atala, A., Keller, D., Noiva, R., Carvalho, S., Peleteiro, C., Cabral, J.M.S., Eberli, D., da Silva, C.L., Baptista, P.M. Acellular Urethra Bioscaffold: Decellularization of Whole Urethras for Tissue Engineering Applications. Sci Rep 7:41934 (2017).

de Soure, A.M., Fernandes-Platzgummer, A., da Silva, C.L., Cabral, J.M.S. Scalable microcarrier-based manufacturing of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells. J Biotechnol 236:88-109 (2016).

Mizukami, A., Fernandes-Platzgummer, A., Carmelo, J.G., Swiech, K., Covas, D.T., Cabral, J.M.S., da Silva, C.L. Stirred tank bioreactor culture combined with serum-/xenogeneic-free culture medium enables an efficient expansion of umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem/stromal cells. Biotechnol J 11:1048-1059 (2016).