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My career has been driven mostly by my innate curiosity. My work focuses on advancing Parkinson’s Disease research by developing novel experimental models and investigating stem cell–based secretome strategies to modulate neurodegenerative processes. During my Biochemistry degree, I contributed to published research on aging-associated changes in mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) and iMSC secretomes (Stem Cell Reviews and Reports) and later helped evaluate the therapeutic potential of iMSC secretome in a 6-OHDA rat model. These early experiences established my long-term interest in stem-cell–based neuroprotection and regenerative medicine. During my master’s in health sciences, I developed a genetic–toxin mouse model of early-onset PD (manuscript in preparation), expanding my expertise in neurodegeneration, and in vivo modeling. Alongside research, I took on leadership roles within AAUMinho and NEBQUM and helped organize major events, strengthening my ability to coordinate teams, communicate science, and contribute to the academic community. I am now a second-year PhD student in Biomedicine and Health Sciences at the University of Minho, focusing on iMSC-derived secretome as a modulator of proteostasis in PD. I have supervised seven undergraduate students, each completing their work with high distinction (including one recipient of the Scientific Initiation UMinho Award 2025) and two master students. I have contributed to teaching in an advanced course and scientific outreach initiatives such as Brain Awareness Week and International Stem Cell Day. To date, I have published four peer-reviewed papers, delivered more than four oral presentations and seven poster communications at national and international meetings, and helped organize four scientific gatherings. Moreover, I was distinguished with the Animal Research Tomorrow 2025 Award that enable me to fund my first project based on an alternative, non-invasive, secretome-based therapies delivery method. More recently, my PhD research was awarded the 8th edition CNS Award José Ferreira Júnior & João Januário Coutinho.
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Identification

Personal identification

Full name
Filipa Ferreira Antunes

Citation names

  • Ferreira-Antunes

Author identifiers

Ciência ID
C319-A9E3-529E

Email addresses

  • id11400@alunos.uminho.pt (Professional)

Websites

Knowledge fields

  • Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Biochemistry
  • Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Molecular Biology
  • Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Cell Biology
  • Medical and Health Sciences - Medical Biotechnology - Technologies Involving the Manipulation of Cells, Tissues, Organs or the Whole Organism
  • Medical and Health Sciences - Basic Medicine - Neurosciences

Languages

Language Speaking Reading Writing Listening Peer-review
Portuguese (Mother tongue)
English Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1) Advanced (C1)
French Beginner (A1) Beginner (A1) Beginner (A1) Beginner (A1) Beginner (A1)
Education
Degree Classification
2024/04/01 - 2027
Ongoing
 Biomedicina e Ciências da Saúde (Doutoramento)
Universidade do Minho Escola de Medicina, Portugal
2021/09/13 - 2023/10/19
Concluded
 Ciências da Saúde (Mestrado)
Universidade do Minho Instituto de Investigação em Ciências da Vida e Saúde, Portugal
"Noradrenergic degeneration in a DJ-1 Knockout mouse model" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
 18
2018/09/09 - 2021/06/30
Concluded
 Bioquímica (Licenciatura)
Universidade do Minho, Portugal
"“Avaliação do impacto da idade celular no efeito terapêutico do secretoma das células estaminais mesenquimatosas humanas”" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
 16
Affiliation

Science

Category
Host institution 		Employer
2024/02/02 - 2024/04/01 Researcher (Research) Universidade do Minho Instituto de Investigação em Ciências da Vida e Saúde, Portugal
Outputs

Publications

Conference poster
  1. Ferreira-Antunes. "Decoding the Functional and Transcriptomic Effects of Stem Cell Secretome in Immunocompetent Human-Derived Assembloids for Parkinson's Disease". Paper presented in Brain Organoids Summer School, 2025.
  2. Ferreira-Antunes; Belém Sampaio-Marques; Campos, Jonas; Monteiro-Fernandes, Daniela; Barata Antunes, Sandra; Pinho, A.G; de Sousa, Nídia; et al. "Noradrenergic Degeneration in a DJ-1 Knockout mouse model". Paper presented in UMinho Research and Innovation Open Days, 2024.
  3. Ferreira-Antunes; Monteiro-Fernandes, Daniela; Barata Antunes, Sandra; Campos, Jonas; Pinho AG; de Sousa N; Mendes-Pinheiro, Bárbara; Marote, Ana; Salgado AJ. Corresponding author: Salgado AJ. "Noradrenergic Degeneration in a DJ-1 Knockout mouse model". Paper presented in CONGRESSO SPDMOV 2023, 2023.
Journal article
  1. Ferreira-Antunes. "Caloric Restriction Mimetics as Priming Agents of Mesenchymal Stem Cells Secretome to Enhance Regenerative Responses to Parkinson's Disease". Biomolecules (2025):
    Published
  2. Marques, Cláudia Raquel; Campos, Jonas; Sampaio-Marques, Belém; Antunes, Filipa Ferreira; dos Santos Cunha, Raquel Medina; Silva, Deolinda; Barata-Antunes, Sandra; et al. "Secretome of bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells cultured in a dynamic system induces neuroprotection and modulates microglial responsiveness in an a-synuclein overexpression rat model". Cytotherapy (2024): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcyt.2024.02.008.
    10.1016/j.jcyt.2024.02.008
  3. Marote, Ana; Santos, Diogo; Mendes-Pinheiro, Bárbara; Serre-Miranda, Cláudia; Anjo, Sandra I.; Vieira, Joana; Ferreira-Antunes; et al. "Cellular Aging Secretes: a Comparison of Bone-Marrow-Derived and Induced Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Their Secretome Over Long-Term Culture". Stem Cell Reviews and Reports (2022): http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12015-022-10453-6.
    10.1007/s12015-022-10453-6
Preprint
  1. Ferreira-Antunes. "iPSC-derived MSC secretome activates distinct neuroprotective pathways in a preclinical model of Parkinson’s disease". 2025. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.07.687231v1.
Activities

Oral presentation

Presentation title Event name
Host (Event location)
2025/11/20 The Therapeutic Signature of iMSC Secretome: Multi-Pathway Modulation in Parkinson’s Disease. 14th International Meeting of the SPCE-TC
SPCE-TC (Porto, Portugal)
2025/07 Intranasal Administration as a minimally invasive alternative for stem-cell based therapies in Parkinson’s Disease ART 2025 Award Ceremony and Conference
Animal Research Tomorrow (Basel, Switzerland)
2025/05 Advancing Secretome-Based Therapies for Parkinson’s Disease: From Mechanistic Insights to Translational Strategies III Encontro sobre a utilização de animais com fins experimentais: desafios éticos e soluções alternativas
University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (Vila Real, Portugal)
2024/11/28 Secretome of bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells cultured in a dynamic system induces neuroprotection and modulates microglial responsiveness in an a-synuclein overexpression rat model Biomanufactors Without Borders
Instituto Superior Técnico (Lisbon, Portugal)
2024/07/05 Noradrenergic Degeneration in a DJ-1 Knockout mouse model ICVS Summer Retreat
ICVS (Braga, Portugal)

Supervision

Thesis Title
Role 		Degree Subject (Type)
Institution / Organization
2025/12 - 2026/03 “Neuromelanin-based models for the study of Parkinson’s Disease”
Co-supervisor
 Medicina
Universidade do Minho, Portugal
2025/09 - 2025/12 Investigation the effect of iMSCs-derived secretome in modulating autophagy in PD
Co-supervisor
 Medicina (Degree)
Universidade do Minho, Portugal
2025/09 - 2025/12 “Caloric Restriction Mimetics as Priming Agents of Mesenchymal Stem Cells Secretome: insights from C. elegans”
Co-supervisor
 Medicina
Universidade do Minho, Portugal
2025/09 - 2025/12 “Histological assessment of intranasal administration of iMSCs-derived secretome in a PD Mouse Model”
Co-supervisor
 Medicina
Universidade do Minho, Portugal
2025/06 - 2025/09 “The therapeutic Effect of MSC-derived secretome in neuroprotection and oxidative stress in Parkinson’s Disease” awarded the “Prémio de Iniciação Científica UMinho 2025”
Co-supervisor
 Bioquímica
Universidade do Minho, Portugal
2024/09/05 - 2024/11/24 Investigating the Role of DJ-1 in Parkinson's Disease: Effects of DJ-1 Knockout on Disease Progression in Mice
Co-supervisor
 Medicina (Degree)
Universidade do Minho Instituto de Investigação em Ciências da Vida e Saúde, Portugal
2024/04/01 - 2024/06/29 Refining Parkinson's disease Treatment: Maximizing Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) Secretome Potential
Co-supervisor
 Biologia Aplicada (Degree)
Universidade do Minho, Portugal

Event organisation

Event name
Type of event (Role) 		Institution / Organization
2025/02/15 - 2025/10/16 AIM-SCI (Azores International Meeting on Spinal Cord Injury) 2025 (2025/10/15 - 2025/10/16)
Conference (Member of the Organising Committee)
 Universidade do Minho Instituto de Investigação em Ciências da Vida e Saúde, Portugal
2024/04/18 - 2024/04/20 UPA - UMinho de Portas Abertas (2024/04/18 - 2024/04/20)
Exhibition (Member of the Organising Committee)
2023/09/29 - 2023/09/29 Posgraduate Students Retreat MSc or PhD, grab your future (2023/09/29 - 2023/09/29)
Other (Member of the Organising Committee)
 Universidade do Minho Escola de Medicina, Portugal
2021/04/08 - 2021/04/10 "III Jornadas da Ciência" (2021/04/08 - 2021/04/10)
Symposium (Member of the Organising Committee)
 Universidade do Minho, Portugal
2019/03/11 - 2019/03/15 " IJornadas Da Ciência" (2019/03/11 - 2019/03/15)
Symposium (Member of the Organising Committee)
 Universidade do Minho, Portugal

Event participation

Activity description
Type of event 		Event name
Institution / Organization
2023/03/17 - 2023/03/18 CONGRESSO SPDMOV 2023 - Sintomas não motores em doenças do movimento
Congress
 CONGRESSO SPDMOV 2023
2021/05/07 - 2021/05/09 "Investigação Científica: Na Vanguarda da Inovação em Saúde"
Symposium
 "Investigação Científica: Na Vanguarda da Inovação em Saúde"
Universidade do Porto, Portugal
2021/05/07 - 2021/05/08 Speaker at the debate session "Ciência em Tempos de Pandemia"
Round table
 VI Jornadas de Bioquímica do Porto
Universidade do Porto, Portugal
2021/04/10 - 2021/04/10 "Estudo de auto-organização de géis supramoleculares e avaliação como transportadores de fármacos usando modelos de biomembranas "
Workshop
 III Jornadas Da Ciência
Universidade do Minho, Portugal
2021/04/09 - 2021/04/09 "Técnicas de análise de expressão genética "
Workshop
 III Jornadas Da Ciência
Universidade do Minho, Portugal
2021/04/08 - 2021/04/08 "Development of 3D culture systems for in vitro study of tumour pathophysiology"
Workshop
 III Jornadas Da Ciência
Universidade do Minho, Portugal
2021/01/29 - 2021/01/31 "II Simpósio em Bioquímica Aplicada
Symposium
 "II Simpósio em Bioquímica Aplicada
Universidade do Minho, Portugal
2019/03 - 2019/03 "Estudos de localização subcelular de proteínas marcadas com GFP em folhas de tabaco após agroinfiltração"
Workshop
 I Jornadas da Ciência
Universidade do Minho, Portugal

Association member

Society Organization name Role
2025 - Current Portuguese Society for Stem Cells and Cell Therapy (SPCE-TC) Member
2025 - Current Early Career Network of the Portuguese Society for Stem Cells and Cell Therapy Member
2022/01/22 - 2023/01/21 Associação Académica da Universidade do Minho (AAUMinho) Vice-president of the Cultural and Academic Traditions Department
2020/12 - 2021/11 Núcleo de Estudantes de Bioquímica da Universidade do Minho (NEBQUM) President of the Direction
2019/12 - 2020/11 Núcleo de Estudantes de Bioquímica da Universidade do Minho (NEBQUM) President of the General Assembly Table
2018/12 - 2019/11 Núcleo de Estudantes de Bioquímica da Universidade do Minho (NEBQUM) Member of the Direction

Course / Discipline taught

Academic session Degree Subject (Type) Institution / Organization
2025/04 - 2025/05 Advanced course "Advances in Neural Regenerative Medicine" Universidade do Minho Instituto de Investigação em Ciências da Vida e Saúde, Portugal
Distinctions

Award

2025 3R ART Award 2025
2025 8th edition of the CNS Award José Ferreira Júnior & João Januário Coutinho
Campus Neurológico, Portugal
2024 Best Porter Award "at the crossroads of neuroscience & immunology"
Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Portugal