João Miguel Nogueira is a PhD student in the Vertebrate Development and Regeneration Group at i3S. His research focuses on understanding how non-coding DNA sequences regulate gene expression and contribute to cellular function and disease. By combining genome editing, molecular and cell biology, and high-throughput approaches such as Massively Parallel Reporter Assays (MPRAs), his work investigates how sequence variation affects the activity of cis-regulatory elements and how these effects relate to human disease and phenotypic diversity.
João holds a Bachelor’s degree in Genetics and Biotechnology from University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, where he worked on electrochemical biosensors for DNA detection, and a Master’s degree in Molecular Genetics from the University of Minho. He has also collaborated on projects studying the role of transcriptional enhancers in fibroblast senescence. His research reflects a strong interest in integrating genetics, epigenetics, and functional genomics to unravel the principles of gene regulation in health and disease.