Leonor Saúde Lab
Spinal Cord Regeneration & Tissue Microenvironment
Spinal Cord Regeneration & Tissue Microenvironment
Spinal cord injuries in humans render patients with permanent impairments due to lack of regeneration. In contrast, the zebrafish spinal cord has an amazing ability to recover from injuries, allowing these fish to swim again. In zebrafish, a spinal cord injury promotes proliferation of neural stem cells that reside in the spinal cord, and the same is probably true in mammals. Yet, the mammalian spinal cord microenvironment strongly suppresses regeneration, while the zebrafish supports it.
Our lab is fully committed to understand the biology of the tissue microenvironment of an injured spinal cord in a regenerating animal (i.e. the zebrafish) and in a non-regenerating animal (i.e. the mouse).
We believe that if we create a permissive microenvironment that favours regeneration, like the one in zebrafish, we will be able to improve considerably the motor and sensitive impairments that arise from a spinal cord injury in mammals.
- Vascular remodelling
- Non scarring repair
- Inflammatory/Senescence states
2024/2027 MYLIP_PRINT: exploiting the role of MYLIP positive pericytes in SCI. Coordinator: Isaura Martins. Funding Agency: WFL Spinal Cord Research Foundation.
2024/2026 Uncovering competent angiogenic signals for a successful spinal cord re-vascularization. Coordinator: Leonor Saúde. Funding Agency: Morton Cure Paralysis Fund.
2023/2025 CD9/MYLIP AGEnts: Targeting pericytes to prevent neuroinflammation and promote barrier integrity after spinal cord injury. Coordinator: Isaura Martins. Funding Agency: Morton Cure Paralysis Fund.
2023/2025 Endothelial CD9 as a new anti-inflammatory target to promote spinal repair. Coordinator: Isaura Martins. Funding Agency: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia.
2022-2024 Do different telomere elongation mechanisms exist in regenerating spinal cords? Coordinator: Leonor Saúde. Funding Agency: FCT BIG2022.
de Sena-Tomás C, Rebola Lameira L, Rebocho da Costa M, Naique Taborda P, Laborde A, Orger M, de Oliveira S, Saúde L (2024) Neutrophil immune profile guides spinal cord regeneration in zebrafish. Brain Behav Immun. 120:514-531. DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2024.06.022
Ribeiro A, Rebocho da Costa M, de Sena-Tomás C, Rodrigues EC, Quitéria R, Maçarico T, Rosa Santos SC, Saúde L (2023) Development and repair of blood vessels in the zebrafish spinal cord. Open Biol. DOI: 10.1098/rsob.230103
Martins I, Neves-Silva D, Ascensão-Ferreira M, Dias AF, Ribeiro D, Isidro AF, Quitéria R, Paramos-de-Carvalho D, Barbosa-Morais NL, Saúde L (2023) Mouse spinal cord vascular transcriptome analysis identifies CD9 and MYLIP as injury-induced players. Int J Mol Sci. 24:6433. DOI: 10.3390/ijms24076433
Isidro AF, Medeiros AM, Martins I, Neves-Silva D, Saúde L, Mendes CS (2023) Using the MouseWalker to quantify locomotor dysfunction in a mouse model of spinal cord injury. JoVE. e65207. DOI: 10.3791/65207
Frederico B, Martins I, Chapela D, Gasparrini F, Chakravarty P, Ackels T, Piot C, Almeida B, Carvalho J, Ciccarelli A, Peddie CJ, Rogers N, Briscoe J, Guillemot F, Schäfer AT, Saúde L, Reis e Sousa C (2022) DNGR-1-tracing marks an ependymal cell subset with damage-responsive neural stem cell potential. Dev Cell. DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2022.07.012
Paramos-de-Carvalho D, Jacinto A, Saúde L (2021) The right time for senescence. eLife. 10. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.72449
Paramos-de-Carvalho D, Martins I, Cristóvão AM, Dias AF, Pereira T, Chapela D, Farinho A, Neves-Silva D, Jacinto A, Saúde L (2021) Targeting senescent cells improves functional recovery after spinal cord injury. Cell Rep. 36(1):109334. DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109334
2021 Pfizer Award for Basic Research awarded to Leonor Saúde and her team
2005 Pfizer Award for Basic Research awarded to Leonor Saúde and her team
Neuropal aims to help recognise risky situations and adopt safe behaviours that may prevent serious injuries, while also exploring the anatomy of the nervous system and the important functions it performs.
The game takes us on an adventure with two friends, Neuropal and Neuro, vacationing on a tropical paradise where unexpected events force everyone to escape. Neuropal will have to move through different landscapes and challenges to leave the island safely. Every completed level can be replayed as many times as we want, to show off our new safety skills and improve our score. Neuropal also includes quizzes about safety and a glossary where we can explore more about the nervous system.
Check more here.
Funders
Group leader
On the Verge of Discovery