Bio

I am a computational biologist interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms behind tumour development. Biological questions are my main passion and computational approaches my way of life!

Currently, I am working on the mechanisms of centrosome amplification and their therapeutic value in cancer, in collaboration with Mónica Bettencourt-Dias’ Lab at Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência and Gonçalo Bernardes at iMM. Using computational methods, I am integrating data from a screen for centrosome number, done in Mónica’s lab on the NCI-60 panel of human cancer cell lines, with publicly available molecular (genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic) and drug-sensitivity data for that panel, to identify novel diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic directions in cancer. I am also interested in the role of the non-coding genome in cancer and in the impact of cancer-associated DNA variants on oncogenic splicing dysregulation.

I got my undergraduate degree in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Algarve, in 2015. After graduating, I started a Master’s degree in Oncobiology at the same University and did my Master’s thesis project with Nuno Morais, at iMM. Before joining iMM, I have spent a month with Daniel Gaffney’s group, at the Sanger Institute, working on a map of histone Quantitative Trait Loci in human induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, with data from the HipSci project. Earlier still, I trained with Ana Teresa Maia at the Centre for Biomedical Research (CBMR) in Algarve, where I worked on the identification of new genetic risk markers and on cis-regulation of somatic mutations, both in breast cancer.

My Master's thesis in one minute:

Publications

Gomes I, de Almeida BP, Dâmaso S, Mansinho A, Correia I, Henriques S, Cruz-Duarte R, Vilhais G, Félix P, Alves P, Corredeira P, Barbosa-Morais NL, Costa L, Casimiro S. "Expression of receptor activator of NFkB (RANK) drives stemness and resistance to therapy in ER+HER2- breast cancer." Oncotarget, 2020 May 12;11(19):1714-1728. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.27576. [PUBMED]

Rodrigues T, de Almeida BP, Barbosa-Morais NL, Bernardes GJL. "Dissecting celastrol with machine learning to unveil dark pharmacology." Chem Commun (Camb), 2019 May 30;55(45):6369-6372. doi: 10.1039/c9cc03116b. [PUBMED]

Baker C, Rodrigues T, de Almeida BP, Barbosa-Morais NL, Bernardes GJL. "Natural product-drug conjugates for modulation of TRPV1-expressing tumors." Bioorg Med Chem, 2019 Jun 15;27(12):2531-2536. doi: 10.1016/j.bmc.2019.03.025. [PUBMED]

de Almeida BP, Vieira AF, Paredes J, Bettencourt-Dias M, Barbosa-Morais NL. "Pan-cancer association of a centrosome amplification gene expression signature with genomic alterations and clinical outcome." PLoS Computational Biology, 2019 Mar 11;15(3):e1006832. [PUBMED]
. Media coverage in Portugal: "Investigadores portugueses criam novo método para definir agressividade de cancros" (DN) [RTP] [TSF] [Visão] [RTP video]
. International media coverage: "When a cell's 'fingerprint' can be a weapon against cancer" (Science Daily) [InfoSalus (ES)] [ANSA (IT)] [il Fatto Quotidiano (IT)] [TuniseSoir - Tunisia] [Vaaju - Singapore]

Braun S, Enculescu M, Setty S, Cortés-López M, de Almeida B, Sutandy FXR, Schulz L, Busch A, Seiler M, Ebersberger S, Barbosa-Morais NL, Legewie S, Konig J, Zarnack K. "Decoding a cancer-relevant splicing decision in the RON proto-oncogene using high-throughput mutagenesis". Nat Commun, 2018 Aug 17;9(1):3315. [PUBMED]

Marteil G, Guerrero A, Vieira AF, de Almeida BP, Machado P, Mendonça S, Mesquita M, Villarreal B, Fonseca I, Francia ME, Dores K, Martins NP, Jana SC, Tranfield EM, Barbosa-Morais NL, Paredes J, Pellman D, Godinho SA, Bettencourt-Dias M. "Over-elongation of centrioles in cancer promotes centriole amplification and chromosome missegregation". Nat Commun, 2018 Mar 28;9(1):1258. [PUBMED]
. "Finding the Achilles heel of cancer"
. "Cancers of Many Kinds Give Centriole Amplification Starring Role"
. "Identificadas características das células cancerosas que podem ser o seu calcanhar de Aquiles"
. "Identificadas características das células cancerígenas que podem ajudar médicos"
. "Equipa liderada por portuguesa dá mais um passo no combate ao cancro"
. "Cientistas portugueses descobrem “calcanhar de Aquiles“ das células cancerígenas"
. "Portuguesa lidera equipa que descobriu novos traços das células do cancro"

Abstracts

de Almeida BP, , Marteil G, Bettencourt-Dias M, Barbosa-Morais NL. "Discovery of novel mechanisms of centrosome amplification and their therapeutic value in cancer." Porto Biomedical Journal, 2017 Sep-Oct; 2(5):182. doi: 10.1016/j.pbj.2017.07.019