Curriculum Vitae
Pedro Castelo Branco
Identification
Personal identification
- Full name
- Pedro Castelo Branco
Citation names
- Branco, Pedro
- Pedro Castelo-Branco
Author identifiers
- Ciência ID
- E015-7F8F-5CA1
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0002-3453-3978
- Google Scholar ID
- https://scholar.google.pt/citations?user=oEnd7XMAAAAJ&hl=pt-PT&oi=ao
Education
| Degree | Classification | |
|---|---|---|
|
2020
Concluded
|
Habilitation in biology (Título de Habilitação de Coordenação Científica)
Sorbonne Université, France
|
|
|
2000 - 2005
Concluded
|
Universidade de Oxford (Doutoramento)
Universidade do Algarve, Portugal
"Polypyrimidine Tract Binding Protein (PTB) Regulates mRNA 3' End Formation in Mammals" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
|
|
|
1993 - 1998
Concluded
|
Biologia (Licenciatura)
Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal
|
Affiliation
Science
| Category Host institution |
Employer | |
|---|---|---|
| 2008/11 - 2014/02 | Postdoc (Research) | University of Toronto - Mississauga, Canada |
| Hospital for Sick Children, Canada | ||
| 2006/02 - 2008/07 | Postdoc (Research) | Massachusetts General Hospital, United States |
| Harvard Medical School, United States | ||
| 1999/03 - 2000/10 | Research Trainee (Research) | Universidade do Porto Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Portugal |
| 1998/12 - 1999/03 | Research Trainee (Research) | Instituto Português do Desporto e Juventude, Portugal |
| 1997/10 - 1998/03 | Research Trainee (Research) | Université de Tours, France |
Teaching in Higher Education
| Category Host institution |
Employer | |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/02/01 - Current | Associate Professor (University Teacher) | Universidade do Algarve - Campus de Gambelas, Portugal |
| 2014 - 2018 | Assistant Professor (University Teacher) | Universidade do Algarve, Portugal |
Positions / Appointments
| Category Host institution |
Employer | |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/12/06 - Current | President | Algarve Biomedical Center, Portugal |
| 2014 - Current | Manager of Laboratory, Institute, Museum, Centre or Observatory | Universidade do Algarve Departamento de Ciências Biomédicas e Medicina, Portugal |
| 2019/09 - 2021/01/15 | President | Universidade do Algarve Departamento de Ciências Biomédicas e Medicina, Portugal |
| 2015 - 2018 | Conselho científico/técnico-científico ou orgão correspondente | Universidade do Algarve, Portugal |
Projects
Grant
| Designation | Funders | |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 - 2024 | Epigenetic Marks for Human Sepsis
Researcher
Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canada
|
|
| 2021/07/01 - 2023/12/30 | ALgarve Fit Ageing Score (ALFA Score): uma nova ferramenta integrada para melhorar a qualidade de vida e o envelhecimento
saudável.
ALG-01-0145-FEDER-072586
Principal investigator
Comissão de Coordenação e Desenvolvimento Regional do Algarve, Portugal
|
Ongoing
|
| 2022/01/25 - 2023/01/25 | “Epigenetic signatures of schizophrenia in an IPS derived model during neuronal differentiation”
ABC-RI exploratory grants
|
|
| 2018 - 2021 | Decoding breast cancer evolution through mutant allele differential expression signatures
FEDER/FCT, ALG-01-0145-FEDER-3147
|
N/A |
| 2015 - 2020 | Targeting the telomere maintenance pathway for cancer diagnostics and therapeutics.
Researcher
Canadian Cancer Society, Canada
|
|
| 2015 - 2020 | Novel implications of THOR hypermethylation in telomere maintenance and gliomagenesis.
Researcher
|
|
| 2018 - 2019 | Xenografting of bovine ovarian tissue as a model for testing new drugs and examining angiogenesis, follicle premature depletion
and dynamics
Researcher
|
|
| 2016 - 2018 | The role of telomere maintenance in urologic maligancies.
Supervisor
|
|
| 2015 - 2018 | The diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic role of THOR in breast cancer.
Supervisor
|
|
| 2016 - 2017 | Uncovering novel therapeutic targets that regulate the self-renewal capacity of colorectal cancer.
Supervisor
|
|
| 2015 - 2017 | Utilization of THOR hypermethylation for stratification and noninvasive detection of cancer
Researcher
|
|
| 2015 - 2016 | McLaughlin Centre Accelerator Grants in Genomic Medicine and Health Informatics. Epigenetic Profiling in Severe Sepsis (EPSIS).
Researcher
|
|
| 2015 - 2016 | Epigenetic Profiling in Severe Sepsis (EPSIS).
Researcher
|
|
| 2015 - 2016 | miRNAs marcadores séricos de doença testicular ativa
Researcher
|
|
| 2015 - 2016 | Diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic implications of THOR – Tert Hypermethylated Oncologic Region in breast cancer.
Principal investigator
|
|
| 2010 - 2015 | Prediction and Prevention of glioma recurrence by targeting telomere dependent self-renewal capacity of tumor initiating cells.
Other
|
|
| 2012 - 2014 | O papel da leptina no microambiente e oncogenese do carcinoma da prostata.
Researcher
|
|
| 2011 - 2013 | O efeito de terapeuticas usadas no carcinoma da prostata na subpopulação de células estaminais cancerosas prostáticas
PTDC/BIM-ONC/0377/2012
Researcher
|
|
| 2010 - 2013 | Exhaustion of tumor initiating cells by targeting their self-renewal capacity with telomerase inhibition
Other
|
|
| 2012 - 2012 | hTERT methylation as a diagnostic and predictive tool for various tumors.
Other
|
Outputs
Publications
| Book chapter |
|
| Journal article |
|
| Thesis / Dissertation |
|
Intellectual property
| Patent |
|
Activities
Oral presentation
| Presentation title | Event name Host (Event location) |
|
|---|---|---|
| 2019/12 | Marcadores epigenéticos: A nova era da genética molecular. | Jornadas ALTBiotech
Instituto Nacional de Investigação em Agronomia e Veterinária (Santarém, Portugal)
|
| 2019/02 | TERT regulation in cancer: a potential therapeutic target. | Epigenetic Chemical Biology COST CM1406 Scientific Workshop
Universidade do Algarve (Faro)
|
| 2019/01 | Epigenética no cancro colorectal. | I Jornadas de cirurgia colorrectal do Algarve
(Portimão)
|
| 2018/12 | Tumor Heterogeneity – what do we need to be aware of | …1st Portuguese Symposium on Research and Innovation in Urology
CUF Hospitals (Lisboa)
|
| 2018 | Clinical applications of epigenetic biomarkers in cancer diagnosis and prognosis | MEDLAB Europe, 18 Conferences
(Barcelona)
|
| 2016/11 | Epigenetics in cancer: From Bench to Clinic | V Simpósio Ciências Biomédicas
(Faro)
|
| 2016/06 | TERT: factor de prognóstico nos tumores cerebrais pediátricos | 2nd MEEting do MIM
Universidade do Algarve (Faro)
|
| 2015/06 | TERT Hypermethylated Oncologic Region - THOR: a new epigenetic cancer biomarker. |
IPATIMUP (Porto)
|
| 2015/03 | TERT Hypermethylated Oncologic Region - THOR: a new epigenetic cancer biomarker. | VI Jornadas de Ciencias Biomédicas |
| 2014/11 | TERT Hypermethylated Oncological Region - THOR predicts biochemical relapse amongst prostate cancer patients | 1st ASPIC International meeting |
| 2013/06 | THOR methylation provides insight into the telomere maintenance landscape of malignant gliomas |
(Quebec City, Canada)
|
| 2013/05 | Methylation of a specific region in the hTERT promoter is a cancer signature which correlates with tumor grade and patient survival. |
(Florida)
|
| 2013/04 | hTERT promoter methylation: a DNA based epigenetic cancer biomarker | Global Biomarker Conference
(Toronto, Canada)
|
| 2012/10 | hTERT promoter methylation: An epigenetic cancer biomarker. | CNC
Universidade de Coimbra
|
| 2012/10 | hTERT promoter methylation: A DNA-based cancer biomarker | Cancer Research Center |
| 2012/10 | From cancer stem cell therapies to the development of a brain tumor biomarker | PhD program
Faculdade de Medicina de Coimbra
|
| 2012/06 | A specific region in the hTERT promoter can predict malignancy and survival in patients with childhood brain tumors. | . 15th International Symposium on Pediatric Neuro-Oncology
ISPNO (Toronto)
|
| 2011/04 | Neural tumor initiating cells have distinct telomere maintenance and can be safely targeted for telomerase inhibition | 6th International Meeting of the Portuguese Society for Stem Cells and Cell Therapies |
| 2010/06 | Selective targeting of neural tumor initiating cells by telomerase inhibition | 14th International Symposium on Pediatric Neuro-Oncology
(Vienna)
|
| 2010/05 | Selective targeting of neural tumor initiating cells by telomerase inhibition | 7th Canadian Telomeres and Telomerase Symposium |
| 2010/04 | Selective Targeting of Pediatric Neural Stem Cells by Telomerase Inhibition | CNC
Universidade de Coimbra
|
| 2010/04 | Telomeres and Telomerase in Aging and Cancer. |
Universidade de Aveiro
|
| 2009/01 | Fighting Tumors with virus and telomerase inhibitors |
Universidade do Algarve
|
| 2003/08 | Polypyrimidine Tract Binding Protein modulates efficiency of polyadenylation | Eukaryotic mRNA processing meeting
(Cold Spring Harbor)
|
| 2000/09 | PTB, a multifunctional protein, is a component of the C2 mRNA 3´end formation machinery. | XII Congresso de Bioquímica |
Supervision
| Thesis Title Role |
Degree Subject (Type) Institution / Organization |
|
|---|---|---|
| 2019 - Current | Epidemiologia molecular de biomarcadores de cancro esófago-gástrico
Co-supervisor
|
Universidade Federal de São Paulo Departamento de Medicina, Brazil
|
| 2019 - Current | Modulating receptor activation, migration and epigenetics of cancer cells using UV light.
Co-supervisor
|
Universidade do Algarve Departamento de Ciências Biomédicas e Medicina, Portugal
|
| 2018 - Current | Uncovering differential DNA methylation alterations in subtypes of Acute Myeloid Leukemia.
Supervisor
|
|
| 2018 - Current | Epigenetics hotspots in cancer
Supervisor
|
|
| 2017 - Current | Epigenetic biomarker development and big data analysis in Colorectal Cancer
Supervisor
|
Universidade do Algarve Departamento de Ciências Biomédicas e Medicina, Portugal
|
| 2014 - Current | Endothelium non-codificant transcriptome in Neurofibromatosis type 1:“instructing cancer".
Co-supervisor
|
|
| 2015 - 2019 | The diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic role of THOR in breast cancer.
Supervisor
|
Universidade do Algarve Departamento de Ciências Biomédicas e Medicina, Portugal
|
| 2015 - 2019 | The role of telomere maintenance in urologic maligancies.
Supervisor
|
|
| 2013 - 2017 | Proliferación cellular y regulacíon de Telomerasa en el cáncer de mama.
Co-supervisor
|
Jury of academic degree
| Topic Role |
Candidate name (Type of degree) Institution / Organization |
|
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Melanoma in zebrafish disregards telomere maintenance mechanisms.
(Thesis) Main arguer
|
Joana Nabais (PhD)
Universidade do Porto Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar, Portugal
|
| 2017/06 | Thymic stromal factors promoting T-cell leukemia | Marinella Nobre Ghezzo (PhD) |
| 2017/06 | MicroRNA Deregulation in Prostate Cancer
(Thesis) Main arguer
|
João António Ramalho Carvalho (PhD)
Universidade do Porto Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar, Portugal
|
| 2017/06 | Biophysical modulation of cell fate through chromatin remodeling.
(Thesis) Main arguer
|
Ana Francisca Silva de Lima (PhD)
Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal
|
| 2017/06 | The impact f non-coding alterations in glioma: hints from HOTAIR and the TERT promoter
(Thesis) Main arguer
|
Ana Xavier Silva Magalhães (PhD)
Universidade do Minho Escola de Medicina, Portugal
|
| 2016 | Unravelling the genetics of neuroendocrine tumors
(Thesis) Main arguer
|
João Pedro Rico de Oliveira Vinagre (PhD)
Universidade do Porto Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar, Portugal
|
| 2016 | HOXA9 as a key regulator in glioma initiation, aggressiveness and response to therapy.
(Thesis) Main arguer
|
Marta Sofia Pojo Sousa (PhD) |
Association member
| Society Organization name | Role | |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 - Current | Algarve Biomedical Center | Member of the Executive Committee |
Committee member
| Activity description Role |
Institution / Organization | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 - Current | National Clinical Academic Centres Council
Member
|
|
| 2020 - Current | Doctoral Program in Clinical Research
Member
|
Universidade do Algarve, Portugal |
| 2020 - Current | Advisory Committee SciELO
Member
|
|
| 2018 - Current | Doctoral Program in Mechanisms of Disease and Regenerative Medicine, University of Algarve/Nova Lisbon University
- Board member
Member
|
|
| 2016 - Current | Algarve Biomedical Center
Member of the Executive Committee
President / Vice-president
|
Algarve Biomedical Center, Portugal |
| 2015 - Current | Department of Biomedical Sciences and Medicine Scientific Council
Member
|
|
| 2014 - Current | Genetic Toxicology – Master´s Degree in Oncobiology.
Coordinator
|
Universidade do Algarve, Portugal |
| 2014 - Current | Elective – Medical Degree.
Coordinator
|
Universidade do Algarve, Portugal |
| 2014 - Current | Epigenetics – Biomedical Sciences Degree.
Coordinator
|
Universidade do Algarve, Portugal |
| 2019 - 2021 | Integrated Masters in Medicine Appeal Committee
President / Vice-president
|
Universidade do Algarve, Portugal |
| 2019 - 2020 | Coordinating Section of the Academic Senate
Member
|
Universidade do Algarve, Portugal |
| 2018 - 2019 | Integrated Masters in Medicine Appeal Committee
Member
|
Universidade do Algarve, Portugal |
Course / Discipline taught
| Academic session | Degree Subject (Type) | Institution / Organization | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 - Current | Tumor Progression | (Mestrado) | Universidade do Algarve, Portugal |
| 2014 - Current | Eukaryotic Molecular Genetics - Master´s Degree in Microbial and Molecular Biology | (Mestrado) | Universidade do Algarve, Portugal |
| 2014 - Current | Oncolabs I – Master´s Degree in Oncobiology | (Mestrado) | Universidade do Algarve, Portugal |
| 2014 - Current | Problem Based Learning – Medical Degree. | (Mestrado integrado) | |
| 2014 - Current | Human Genetics – Biomedical Sciences Degree | (Licenciatura) | Universidade do Algarve, Portugal |
| 2014 - Current | Congenital Diseases – Biomedical Sciences Degree | (Licenciatura) | Universidade do Algarve, Portugal |
| 2019/06 - 2019/06 | How to communicate ideas, projects and results. | ||
| 2019/06 - 2019/06 | Epigenetic TERT regulation in cancer: from bench to bedside | ||
| 2018/05 - 2018/05 | Epigenetic TERT regulation in cancer: from bench to bedside | University of New South Wales, Australia | |
| 2016/11 - 2016/11 | TERT Hypermethylated Oncologic Region - THOR: a new epigenetic cancer biomarker | Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom | |
| 2016/10 - 2016/10 | Epigenetics in cancer: From Bench to Clinic. | Epigenética Aplicada ao Diagnóstico Laboratorial | Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa, Portugal |
| 2015/12 - 2015/12 | A metilação do promotor TERT como factor de prognóstico nos tumores cerebrais pediátricos | ||
| 2015/12 - 2015/12 | TERT Hypermethylated Oncologic Region - THOR: a new epigenetic cancer biomarker | ||
| 2006 - 2007 | Teaching fellow in Biological Sciences | Molecular Biology | Harvard University Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, United States |
| 2002 - 2003 | Molecular biology laboratory techniques | University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division, United Kingdom |
Mentoring / Tutoring
| Topic | Student name | |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 - 2008 | Biological Sciences | . |
Distinctions
Award
| 2013 | First Prize, Genetics & Genome Biology and Molecular Medicine Program Meeting, oral competition
University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine, Canada
|
| 2010 | The Hospital for Sick Children Genetics and Genome Biology Meeting poster competition
Hospital for Sick Children SickKids Learning Institute, Canada
|
| 1999 | Scientific Investigator’s Award
Governo da República Portuguesa, Portugal
|
Other distinction
| 2018 | Tech2Marquet Honourable Mention
Universidade do Algarve, Portugal
|
| 2003 | Gustav Born Scholarship in Biomedical Sciences |
| 2000 | Praxis XXI Pre-Doctoral Scholarship
Governo da República Portuguesa, Portugal
|
| 1997 | Erasmus Scholarship |