Present Members

Each of us in the Cell Cycle Regulation Lab works on a different, but complementary, project. Currently the group encompasses biologists, chemists, biochemists, and biological engineers, but we welcome people with other backgrounds, such as physics and informatics. Since we are housed in an open-plan lab we interact a lot with other groups that work on a different topics and model organisms. We currently share meetings with other groups with varied expertises, such as computational biology, genetics and biochemistry. We have ongoing collaborative projects with in-house groups, as well as with other labs around the world, including in the UK, US, Italy, Germany, and France. These collaborations complement our expertise and help our common projects to progress much faster. We welcome applications for post-doctoral positions.

Mónica Bettencourt-Dias

ImageGroup Leader. After 9 years outside of Portugal, it is great to be back and to see that we can do great Science here! Besides my interests in science, I think it is very important for us researchers to communicate our findings and the implications of our research to the general public, hence our activities in science communication. more

Mariana Faria

ImageLab manager. I study centriole biogenesis and elongation and manage the lab.



Paulo Duarte

Image Research Assistant. I have my own project on centriole biogenesis and manage lab resources. more


Carla Lopes

ImagePostdoctoral fellow (FCT fellowship). I aim to understand how centrosome abnormalities arise and contribute to cancer initiation and progression using Barrett’s esophagus as a model. more

Ana Marques

ImagePostdoctoral fellow (FCT). I am studying centrosome inactivation more

Swadhin Jana

ImagePostdoctoral fellow (FCT fellowship). I joined the lab in July 2011 to study the role of centriole in cilia biogenesis. more

Daisuke Ito

Image Postdoctoral fellow (Human Frontiers). I study centrosome evolution using fission yeast. more

Catarina Nabais

Image PhD Student (IGC PhD Programme). Co-Supervised by Ivo Telley I am studying centriole biogenesis in Drosophila extracts more


Irina Fonseca

Image2016 PGCD phD student I joined the lab in September 2016 to study the effects of centrosome abnormalities in cancer progression 


Catarina Peneda

Image2016 PGCD phD student I joined the lab in September 2017 to study centriole biogenesis coupling to cell cycle progression. 


Associated Members (collaborations & part time)

Marta Mesquita

Image PhD student. I have been a Pathology Laboratory Technician in the Pathology Service of IPOLFG for 12 years. Since December 2010, I have been participating in a research project sponsored by the Portuguese Harvard Medical School Program. We are using Barrett's Esophagus as a model to understand how centrosome abnormalities can influence tumor progression.


Alumni

Ksenia Volkova

Research Assistant. Ksenia joined the lab in November 2017 to study the mechanisms of centriole elimination. In January 2019 she moved to Austria to start her PHD.

Sihem Zitouni

Postdoctoral fellow. (FCT) - Joined the lab in November 2012 to study centriole assembly in Drosophila and Xenopus extracts. In November 2018 Sihem moved to Institute of Human Genetics in Montpellier, France as a PostDoc in the team of Jérome Dejardin.

Gaelle Marteil
Post-doctoral fellow (FCT) - Joined the lab in 2011 to study the causes and consequences of centriole abnormalities in cancer. In September 2018 Gaelle moved to Université Clermont Auvergne in France.
Patrícia Rodrigues
Masters Student and Research Assistant in the identification of new factors involved in centriole stability. In Sept 2018 Patrícia started her phD in his Pos-Doc in the group of Dr. Robert Zinzenat at the IST Austria: phD Program.
Sascha Werner
PhD Student (PIBS 2013) in the study of cilia maintenance in Drosophila and defended phD thesis in Nov 2017. In Jan 2018 Sascha started his Pos-Doc in the group of Dr. Robert Zinzenat at the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine
Ana Rodrigues Martins
PhD student and Post-doctoral fellow - focused on understanding centriole and flagella formation in Drosophila. In 2010 Ana moved to a biotech company (Bioalvo).

Jorge Beira
Undergraduate student - in Biomedical Engineering. Jorge was involved in a summer project about cell shape and polarity at Cancer Research UK in London, and later moved to Institut Curie for his master's project in epigenetics and chromatin dynamics with Genevieve Almouzni.
Joana Pinto Borrego
Undergraduate Student - working in the Centriole Database, performing centriole ultrastructural image analysis of the different organisms and tracing the evolutionary story of this singular structure. Then moved for her masters with Edgar Gomes in Paris.
Joana Lamego
Research Assistant. Moved for her PhD at ITQB.
Pedro Branco
Electronic Microscopy Technician. Helped the group in their EM work and taught the younger people in the group how to do electron microscopy.
Tiago Amado
Research Assistant. Focused on the role of microtubule associated proteins (MAPs) in centriole and flagella formation in the fruit fly. I then moved to Edgar Gomes lab at IMM.
Maria Francia
Postdoctoral fellow (EMBO). Joined the lab in March 2014 to study the regulation of centriole duplication and elongation. In Feb 2016 moved to the Institut Pasteur de Montevideo as a Research Associate.
Katharina Dores
Master Student - Joined the lab in Aug 2014 to study the implication of centrosome clustering in cancer, the topic of her Master thesis, which was defended in Sept 2015.

Inês Bento
PhD student (PDG 2008). - study of centriole disapearance during oogenesis and regulation of centriole biogenesis. In 2014 moved to IMM for her PostDoc in Maria Mota´s group.
Adán Guerrero
Postdoctoral fellow (FCT fellowship) - develop of imaging processing tools and computational models to understand how centrosome biogenesis is regulated in the cell. In July 2013 Adan moved to Mexico to start his own group at Laboratorio Nacional de Microscopía Avanzada.
Pedro Machado
Research Assistant. - optimized Electron Microscopy techniques in D.melanogaster samples for ultra-structural analysis of centrioles, basal bodies, and axonemes. Moved in to the EM facility of EMBL.
Filipe Leal
External PhD student. - in collaboration with Eric Karsenti at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany. Thesis defended in 2013.
Neuza Matias
Undergraduate Student  - in the creation of a database of centriolar evolution. Moved to the Curie Institute for her masters with Edith Heard in Paris.
Cláudia Ferreira
Research Assistant at CCR - moved for her PhD and then for her postdoctoral work at MRC-LMB with Sean Munro (Cambridge, UK).
Ojas Desphande
PhD student (PIBS 2013) - working on centriole elongation. Move to Ivo Telley group to finish his PhD.
Ana Isabel Cunha
Research Assistant@IGC and IPO and later moved to IPO.
Susana Mendonça
EM technician - joined the lab in June 2013 and was responsible for all the TEM in the lab studying mechanisms of centriole and cilia assembly, maintenance and function. In February 2017, Susana moved to I3S in Porto.