In 2005, Joana Caldeira graduated in Microbiology at the Biotechnology College of the Portuguese Catholic University and in 2011 got her PhD in Biomedicine (Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto). After finishing university, she went to Centro Andaluz de Biologia del Desarrollo (Seville, Spain) where she worked as a research assistant for almost one year. She started her PhD thesis there, in a collaboration between Dr. Fernando Casares´ and Dr. Raquel Seruca's lab. During this period, Joana's main focus was oncobiology, using Drosophila as an animal model to study novel genes involved in Gastric Cancer.
In 2012, she joined INEB in a collaboration between Prof. Mário Barbosa and her former supervisor Dr. Raquel Seruca. Since then, she has been interested in understanding the role of the extracellular matrix (both in cancer and in regeneration) and exploring the way it can be manipulated to recapitulate initial developmental stages, improving current regenerative therapies, namely of intervertebral disc disease.
Joana has received funding from national and international agencies like FCT, EUROSPINE and ON Foundation, and has been honored with the L'Oréal Portugal Medal of Honor for Women in Science 2018. In 2020 she was awarded with the 1st prize of the EIT Jumpstarter, an european pre-accelerator business programme and in 2021 she received the Amyris Innovation BIG Impact Award, having had her research highlighted by several news agencies. This year she has received funding from the European Commision under the Women TechEU scheme which supports deep-tech startups led by women entrepreneurs.
Besides supervising national and international MSc and PhD theses she has participated in several science communication initiatives either as a mentor, project coordinator or collaborator. Currently, Joana is also the chair of the i3S Fundraising Team.
Selected Publications
Macrophage-based therapy for intervertebral disc herniation: preclinical proof-of-concept. npj Regenerative Medicine8(1):, 2023. [Journal: Article] [CI: 3] [IF: 7,2 (*)]
DOI: 10.1038/s41536-023-00309-z SCOPUS: 85164248471
Molinos M., Fiordalisi M.F., Caldeira J., Almeida C.R., Barbosa M.A., Gonçalves R.M.
Alterations of bovine nucleus pulposus cells with aging. Aging Cell22(8):, 2023. [Journal: Article] [CI: 4] [IF: 8]
DOI: 10.1111/acel.13873 SCOPUS: 85161374790
Fiordalisi M.F., Ferreira J.R., Pinto M.L., Ribeiro-Machado C., Teixeira Pinto M., Oliveira M.J., Barbosa M.A., Madeira Gonçalves R., Caldeira J.
The impact of matrix age on intervertebral disc regeneration. Biomaterials Advances143:, 2022. [Journal: Article] [CI: 4] [IF: 5.5]
DOI: 10.1016/j.bioadv.2022.213192 SCOPUS: 85141918165
Caldeira J., Celiz A., Newell N.
A biomechanical testing method to assess tissue adhesives for annulus closure. Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials129:, 2022. [Journal: Article] [CI: 2] [IF: 3,9]
DOI: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2022.105150 SCOPUS: 85125796813
Fiordalisi M., Silva A.J., Barbosa M., Gonçalves R., Caldeira J.
Decellularized Scaffolds for Intervertebral Disc Regeneration. Trends in Biotechnology38(9):947-951, 2020. [Journal: Short Survey] [CI: 29] [IF: 19,5]
DOI: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2020.05.002 SCOPUS: 85085290982
Caldeira J., Santa C., Osório H., Molinos M., Manadas B., Goncalves R., Barbosa M.
Matrisome Profiling during Intervertebral Disc Development and Ageing. Scientific Reports7(1):, 2017. [Journal: Article] [CI: 43] [IF: 4,1]
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-11960-0 SCOPUS: 85029508543
Silva A.C., Rodrigues S.C., Caldeira J., Nunes A.M., Sampaio-Pinto V., Resende T.P., Oliveira M.J., Barbosa M.A., Thorsteinsdóttir S., Nascimento D.S., Pinto-do-Ó P.
Three-dimensional scaffolds of fetal decellularized hearts exhibit enhanced potential to support cardiac cells in comparison to the adult. Biomaterials104:52-64, 2016. [Journal: Article] [CI: 58] [IF: 8,4]
DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2016.06.062 SCOPUS: 84978822623
Caldeira J., Figueiredo J., Brás-Pereira C., Carneiro P., Moreira A.M., Pinto M.T., Relvas J.B., Carneiro F., Barbosa M., Casares F., Janody F., Seruca R.
E-cadherin-defective gastric cancer cells depend on Laminin to survive and invade. Human Molecular Genetics24(20):5891-5900, 2015. [Journal: Article] [CI: 29] [IF: 6]
DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddv312 SCOPUS: 84943762566
Caldeira J., Simões-Correia J., Paredes J., Pinto M.T., Sousa S., Corso G., Marrelli D., Roviello F., Pereira P.S., Weil D., Oliveira C., Casares F., Seruca R.
CPEB1, a novel gene silenced in gastric cancer: A Drosophila approach. Gut61(8):1115-1123, 2012. [Journal: Article] [CI: 43] [IF: 10,7]
DOI: 10.1136/gutjnl-2011-300427 SCOPUS: 84863719147
Paredes J., Figueiredo J., Albergaria A., Oliveira P., Carvalho J., Ribeiro A.S., Caldeira J., Costa A.M., Simões-Correia J., Oliveira M.J., Pinheiro H., Pinho S.S., Mateus R., Reis C.A., Leite M., Fernandes M.S., Schmitt F., Carneiro F., Figueiredo C., Oliveira C., Seruca R.
Epithelial E- and P-cadherins: Role and clinical significance in cancer. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Reviews on Cancer1826(2):297-311, 2012. [Journal: Review] [CI: 185] [IF: 9]
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbcan.2012.05.002 SCOPUS: 84861800037