Where Ideas Grow
José Bessa
Group leader
JBessa completed his PhD degree in Developmental Biology at ICBAS (University of Porto; 2008), acquiring advanced knowledge in the development of Drosophila and Zebrafish visual systems, under the supervision of Dr. FCasares. As a postdoc, JBessa has joined the lab of Dr. JLGomez-Skarmeta, an expert in zebrafish Functional Genomics. Currently JBessa is developing an independent research line on transcriptional cis-regulation and gene function in the zebrafish pancreas.

Selected Publications

Bordeira-Carriço R., Teixeira J., Duque M., Galhardo M., Ribeiro D., Acemel R.D., Firbas P.N., Tena J.J., Eufrásio A., Marques J., Ferreira F.J., Freitas T., Carneiro F., Goméz-Skarmeta J.L., Bessa J.,
Multidimensional chromatin profiling of zebrafish pancreas to uncover and investigate disease-relevant enhancers. Nature Communications13(1):, 2022. [Journal: Article] [CI: 3] [IF: 16,6]
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29551-7 SCOPUS: 85128076921.


Duque M., Amorim J.P., Bessa J.,
Ptf1a function and transcriptional cis-regulation, a cornerstone in vertebrate pancreas development. FEBS Journal289(17):5121-5136, 2022. [Journal: Review] [CI: 8] [IF: 5,4]
DOI: 10.1111/febs.16075 SCOPUS: 85108873510.


Ferreira F.J., Carvalho L., Logarinho E., Bessa J.,
Foxm1 modulates cell non-autonomous response in zebrafish skeletal muscle homeostasis. Cells10(5):, 2021. [Journal: Article] [CI: 6] [IF: 7,7]
DOI: 10.3390/cells10051241 SCOPUS: 85107456993.


Amorim J.P., Bordeira-Carriço R., Gali-Macedo A., Perrod C., Bessa J.,
CRISPR-Cas9-Mediated Genomic Deletions Protocol in Zebrafish. STAR Protocols1(3):, 2020. [Journal: Article] [CI: 1]
DOI: 10.1016/j.xpro.2020.100208 SCOPUS: 85108300986.


Eufrásio A., Perrod C., Ferreira F.J., Duque M., Galhardo M., Bessa J.,
In vivo reporter assays uncover changes in enhancer activity caused by type 2 diabetes–associated single nucleotide polymorphisms. Diabetes69(12):2794-2805, 2020. [Journal: Article] [CI: 2] [IF: 9,5]
DOI: 10.2337/db19-1049 SCOPUS: 85096579124.


Amorim J.P., Gali-Macedo A., Marcelino H., Bordeira-Carriço R., Naranjo S., Rivero-Gil S., Teixeira J., Galhardo M., Marques J., Bessa J.,
A Conserved Notochord Enhancer Controls Pancreas Development in Vertebrates. Cell Reports32(1):, 2020. [Journal: Article] [CI: 3] [IF: 9,4]
DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.107862 SCOPUS: 85087427741.


Seixas A.I., Loureiro J.R., Costa C., Ordóñez-Ugalde A., Marcelino H., Oliveira C.L., Loureiro J.L., Dhingra A., Brandão E., Cruz V.T., Timóteo A., Quintáns B., Rouleau G.A., Rizzu P., Carracedo Á., Bessa J., Heutink P., Sequeiros J., Sobrido M.J., Coutinho P., Silveira I.,
A Pentanucleotide ATTTC Repeat Insertion in the Non-coding Region of DAB1, Mapping to SCA37, Causes Spinocerebellar Ataxia. American Journal of Human Genetics101(1):87-103, 2017. [Journal: Article] [CI: 92] [IF: 8,9]
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2017.06.007 SCOPUS: 85021415706.


Fernández-Miñán A., Bessa J., Tena J.J., Gómez-Skarmeta J.L.,
Assay for transposase-accessible chromatin and circularized chromosome conformation capture, two methods to explore the regulatory landscapes of genes in zebrafish. Methods in Cell Biology135:413-430, 2016. [Book Series: Article] [CI: 19] [IF: 1,3]
DOI: 10.1016/bs.mcb.2016.02.008 SCOPUS: 84961124971.


Rodríguez-Seguí S.A., Bessa J.,
Gatekeepers of pancreas: TEAD and YAP. Oncotarget6(18):15736-15737, 2015. [Journal: Editorial] [CI: 2] [IF: 5]
DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.4607 SCOPUS: 84937964234.


Cebola I., Rodríguez-Seguí S.A., Cho C.H.H., Bessa J., Rovira M., Luengo M., Chhatriwala M., Berry A., Ponsa-Cobas J., Maestro M.A., Jennings R.E., Pasquali L., Morán I., Castro N., Hanley N.A., Gomez-Skarmeta J.L., Vallier L., Ferrer J.,
TEAD and YAP regulate the enhancer network of human embryonic pancreatic progenitors. Nature Cell Biology17(5):615-626, 2015. [Journal: Article] [CI: 152] [IF: 18,7]
DOI: 10.1038/ncb3160 SCOPUS: 84928938629.


Spieler D., Kaffe M., Knauf F., Bessa J., Tena J.J., Giesert F., Schormair B., Tilch E., Lee H., Horsch M., Czamara D., Karbalai N., Toerne C.V., Waldenberger M., Gieger C., Lichtner P., Claussnitzer M., Naumann R., Müller-Myhsok B., Torres M., Garrett L., Rozman J., Klingenspor M., Gailus-Durner V., Fuchs H., De Angelis M.H., Beckers J., Hölter S.M., Meitinger T., Hauck S.M., Laumen H., Wurst W., Casares F., Gómez-Skarmeta J.L., Winkelmann J.,
Restless Legs Syndrome-Associated intronic common variant in Meis1 alters enhancer function in the developing telencephalon. Genome Research24(4):592-603, 2014. [Journal: Article] [CI: 84] [IF: 14,6]
DOI: 10.1101/gr.166751.113 SCOPUS: 84898747287.


Bessa J., Luengo M., Rivero-Gil S., Ariza-Cosano A., Maia A.H.F., Ruiz-Ruano F.J., Caballero P., Naranjo S., Carvajal J.J., Gómez-Skarmeta J.L.,
A mobile insulator system to detect and disrupt cis-regulatory landscapes in vertebrates. Genome Research24(3):487-495, 2014. [Journal: Article] [CI: 9] [IF: 14,6]
DOI: 10.1101/gr.165654.113 SCOPUS: 84895553255.


Regadas I., Matos M.R., Monteiro F.A., Gömez-Skarmeta J.L., Lima D., Bessa J., Casares F., Reguenga C.,
Several Cis-regulatory Elements Control mRNA Stability, Translation Efficiency, and Expression Pattern of Prrxl1(Paired Related Homeobox Protein-like 1). Journal of Biological Chemistry288(51):36285-36301, 2013. [Journal: Article] [CI: 9] [IF: 4,6]
DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M113.491993 SCOPUS: 84890912110.


Ariza-Cosano A., Visel A., Pennacchio L.A., Fraser H.B., Gómez-Skarmeta J.L., Irimia M., Bessa J.,
Differences in enhancer activity in mouse and zebrafish reporter assays are often associated with changes in gene expression. BMC Genomics13(1):, 2012. [Journal: Article] [CI: 16] [IF: 4,4]
DOI: 10.1186/1471-2164-13-713 SCOPUS: 84871117732.


Royo J.L., Bessa J., Hidalgo C., Fernández-Miñán A., Tena J.J., Roncero Y., Gómez-Skarmeta J.L., Casares F.,
Identification and analysis of conserved cis-regulatory regions of the MEIS1 gene. PLoS ONE7(3):, 2012. [Journal: Article] [CI: 16] [IF: 3,7]
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0033617 SCOPUS: 84858638769.


Bessa J., Tena J.J., De La Calle-Mustienes E., Fernández-Miñán A., Naranjo S., Fernández A., Montoliu L., Akalin A., Lenhard B., Casares F., Gómez-Skarmeta J.L.,
Zebrafish Enhancer Detection (ZED) vector: A new tool to facilitate transgenesis and the functional analysis of cis-regulatory regions in zebrafish. Developmental Dynamics238(9):2409-2417, 2009. [Journal: Article] [CI: 116] [IF: 2,8]
DOI: 10.1002/dvdy.22051 SCOPUS: 70349085853.