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PhD Student

Education and Training

MSc in Biotechnology, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal, 2017

BSc in Biology (Molecular Biology and Genetics), Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, Portugal, 2015

Research activities

Interested in tissue engineering, I enrolled my master thesis at SCERG for cardiomyocyte differentiation of hiPSCs in 2D and 3D culture systems. I performed a comparative study and a transcriptomic analysis to unveil how the microenvironment of each platform can be translated into distinct cardiomyocyte properties. At the moment, I remain interested in 3D culture systems with emphasis on organoid technology and its potential for therapeutic approaches. Thus, my PhD project is focused on liver organoid technology and its potential for disease modelling and drug screening aiming the generation of patient-specific organoids and the identification of molecules capable of hepatic function restoration.

Selected publications

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).

Cotovio, J.P., Fernandes, T.G., Diogo, M.M., Cabral, J.M.S. Pluripotent Stem Cell Biology and Engineering in Engineering Strategies for Regenerative Medicine (T.G. Fernandes, M.M. Diogo & J.M.S. Cabral, Eds.), Academic Press, ISBN 9780128162217 (2019).

Branco, M.A., Cotovio, J.P., Rodrigues, C.A.V., Vaz, S.H., Fernandes, T.G., Moreira, L.M., Cabral, J.M.S., Diogo, M.M. Transcriptomic analysis of 3D Cardiac Differentiation of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Reveals Faster Cardiomyocyte Maturation Compared to 2D Culture. Sci Rep 9:9229 (2019).

Silva, T.P., Cotovio, J.P., Bekman, E., Carmo-Fonseca, M., Cabral, J.M.S., Fernandes, T.G. Design Principles for Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Organoid Engineering. Stem Cells Int 2019:1-17 (2019).