Where Ideas Grow
João Morais Cabral
Group leader
Undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from University of Porto, followed by a research assistant position at the University´s Chemistry department. From 1988 to 1993 I did my PhD at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland after which I went for a postdoc with Robert Liddington, first at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard University in Boston and then at the University of Leicester in the UK. From 1997 to 2000 I did a second postdoc with Roderick MacKinnon at Rockefeller University in New York. I then joined the faculty of the MBB department at Yale University as Assistant professor. In 2007 I was promoted to Associate professor. In 2008 I moved to the IBMC as a Principal Investigator.

Selected Publications

Celestino R., Gama J.B., Castro-Rodrigues A.F., Barbosa D.J., Rocha H., D’Amico E.A., Musacchio A., Carvalho A.X., Morais-Cabral J.H., Gassmann R.,
JIP3 interacts with dynein and kinesin-1 to regulate bidirectional organelle transport. Journal of Cell Biology221(8):, 2022. [Journal: Article] [CI: 11] [IF: 7,8]
DOI: 10.1083/jcb.202110057 SCOPUS: 85134435160.


Cereija T.B., Guerra J.P.L., Jorge J.M.P., Morais-Cabral J.H.,
c-di-AMP, a likely master regulator of bacterial K+ homeostasis machinery, activates a K+ exporter. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America118(14):, 2021. [Journal: Article] [CI: 11] [IF: 12,8]
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2020653118 SCOPUS: 85103744229.


Harley C.A., Bernardo-Seisdedos G., Stevens-Sostre W.A., Jones D.K., Azevedo M.M., Sampaio P., Lorga-Gomes M., Trudeau M.C., Millet O., Robertson G.A., Morais-Cabral J.H.,
Conformation-sensitive antibody reveals an altered cytosolic PAS/CNBh assembly during hERG channel gating. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America118(44):, 2021. [Journal: Article] [CI: 3] [IF: 12,8]
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2108796118 SCOPUS: 85119299559.


Teixeira-Duarte C.M., Fonseca F., Morais-Cabral J.H.,
Activation of a nucleotide-dependent RCK domain requires binding of a cation cofactor to a conserved site. eLife8:, 2019. [Journal: Article] [CI: 7] [IF: 7,1]
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.50661 SCOPUS: 85077594921.


Castro-Rodrigues A.F., Zhao Y., Fonseca F., Gabant G., Cadene M., Robertson G.A., Morais-Cabral J.H.,
The Interaction between the Drosophila EAG Potassium Channel and the Protein Kinase CaMKII Involves an Extensive Interface at the Active Site of the Kinase. Journal of Molecular Biology430(24):5029-5049, 2018. [Journal: Article] [CI: 4] [IF: 5,1]
DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2018.10.015 SCOPUS: 85056216681.


Szollosi A., Vieira-Pires R.S., Teixeira-Duarte C.M., Rocha R., Morais-Cabral J.H.,
Dissecting the Molecular Mechanism of Nucleotide-Dependent Activation of the KtrAB K+ Transporter. PLoS Biology14(1):, 2016. [Journal: Article] [CI: 18] [IF: 9,8]
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002356 SCOPUS: 84961353773.


Marques-Carvalho M.J., Oppermann J., Muñoz E., Fernandes A.S., Gabant G., Cadene M., Heinemann S.H., Schönherr R., Morais-Cabral J.H.,
Molecular Insights into the Mechanism of Calmodulin Inhibition of the EAG1 Potassium Channel. Structure24(10):1742-1754, 2016. [Journal: Article] [CI: 10] [IF: 4,9]
DOI: 10.1016/j.str.2016.07.020 SCOPUS: 84989908805.


Harley C.A., Starek G., Jones D.K., Fernandes A.S., Robertson G.A., Morais-Cabral J.H.,
Enhancement of hERG channel activity by scFv antibody fragments targeted to the PAS domain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America113(35):9916-9921, 2016. [Journal: Article] [CI: 16] [IF: 9,7]
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1601116113 SCOPUS: 84984876913.