Where Ideas Grow
Carla Cunha
Associate Researcher

Carla Cunha is an Assistant Researcher at i3S. She obtained her PhD in Biology in 2007 from the Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, as a fellow of the GABBA PhD programme, in collaboration with the San Raffaele Research Institute, Milan. Since then, she worked in Biomedical Engineering in Italy (Università di Milano-Bicocca and Institute of Science and Technology for Ceramics), USA (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) and Australia (Garvan Institute of Medical Research), gathering expertise in self-assembling peptides, hydrogels and calcium phosphates, in combination with stem cells, for engineering of nerve, osteochondral and bone tissues. In 2012 she joined i3S/INEB and since then she is dedicated to the preclinical validation of intervertebral disc therapeutic strategies.

Selected Publications

Cunha C., Pereira C.L., Ferreira J.R., Ribeiro-Machado C., Grad S., Santos S.G., Gonçalves R.M.,
Therapeutic strategies for IVD regeneration through hyaluronan/SDF-1-based hydrogel and intravenous administration of MSCs. International Journal of Molecular Sciences22(17):, 2021. [Journal: Article] [CI: 6] [IF: 6,2]
DOI: 10.3390/ijms22179609 SCOPUS: 85114252859.


Silva A.J., Ferreira J.R., Cunha C., Corte-Real J.V., Bessa-Gonçalves M., Barbosa M.A., Santos S.G., Gonçalves R.M.,
Macrophages down-regulate gene expression of intervertebral disc degenerative markers under a proinflammatory microenvironment. Frontiers in Immunology10(JUL):, 2019. [Journal: Article] [CI: 50] [IF: 5,1]
DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2019.01508 SCOPUS: 85069037178.


Cunha C., Silva A.J., Pereira P., Vaz R., Gonçalves R.M., Barbosa M.A.,
The inflammatory response in the regression of lumbar disc herniation. Arthritis Research and Therapy20(1):, 2018. [Journal: Review] [CI: 114] [IF: 4,1]
DOI: 10.1186/s13075-018-1743-4 SCOPUS: 85056278077.


Cunha C., Almeida C.R., Almeida M.I., Silva A.M., Molinos M., Lamas S., Pereira C.L., Teixeira G.Q., Monteiro A.T., Santos S.G., Gonçalves R.M., Barbosa M.A.,
Systemic delivery of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells for in situ intervertebral disc regeneration. Stem Cells Translational Medicine6(3):1029-1039, 2017. [Journal: Article] [CI: 32] [IF: 4,9]
DOI: 10.5966/sctm.2016-0033 SCOPUS: 85017568310.


Cunha C., Lamas S., Gonçalves R.M., Barbosa M.A.,
Joint analysis of IVD herniation and degeneration by rat caudal needle puncture model. Journal of Orthopaedic Research35(2):258-268, 2017. [Journal: Article] [CI: 28] [IF: 3,4]
DOI: 10.1002/jor.23114 SCOPUS: 85005992195.


Cunha C., Panseri S., Sandri M., Marcacci M., Tampieri A.,
Inspired by nature: Bio-inspired artificial scaffolds and the quest to replicate biology. Materials Today15(5):223, 2012. [Journal: Note] [CI: 4] [IF: 6,1]
DOI: 10.1016/S1369-7021(12)70098-6 SCOPUS: 84861656518.