|
Antonio Salgado PhD
Coordinating Investigator
University of Minho
Portugal
|
António Salgado is a biologist with a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering- Tissue Engineering and Hybrid Materials, and a Habilitation in Health Sciences, from the University of Minho. Currently he is Coordinating Investigator and Vice-Dean for research at the School of Medicine – University of Minho, and lead the thematic Team ReNEU at the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS). His research interests are focused on the development of innovative therapies for CNS repair, namely Spinal Cord Injury and Parkinson’s Diease, using stem cells secretome. His lab has made important contributions to this field by: 1) Showing how MSCs secretome modulates CNS biology, particularly how neurogenic niches react to it and impacts on in vitro and in vivo neuronal differentiation; 2) Performing several in depth proteomic based analysis on the contents of the secretome of MSCs from different sources, making thus important contributions for its overall characterization; 3) Using bioreactors to modulate and enrich the secretome of MSCs for CNS applications; 4) Establishing the use of secretome based approaches for the development of regenerative strategies within SCI and PD; 5) Introducing the use of peptide modified gellan gum hydrogels for SCI applications, including the in vivo proof of concept in animal models. He is currently an author of more than 145 papers (over 7000 citations; h-Index=43,), has delivery over 70 invited talks worldwide. He also serves as President of the Portuguese Society for Stem Cells and Cell Therapies since 2019. He has received several distinctions for his work including the Gulbenkian Award on Cutting Edge Research in Life Sciences, the Prize Melo e Castro for Spinal Cord Injury Research and the Prize for Scientific Merit of the University of Minho