Andreia Teixeira-Castro obtained a B.Sc. in Biochemistry (2002) at the University of Porto, and a M.Sc. in Molecular Genetics (2007) and a Ph.D. in Health Sciences (2011) at the University of Minho, having developed her thesis and post-doctoral work at the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), University of Minho and at the Northwestern University, USA. During this period, Andreia established a drug discovery pipeline from C. elegans to mouse and to human cells and had the opportunity to collaborate with many scientists in different fields of expertise spanning from biochemistry, medicinal chemistry, automated behavioral analysis, high-throughput analysis laboratories and medicine.
Andreia is currently an Assistant Investigator at ICVS and an Assistant Professor at the School of Medicine, Univ. of Minho. Andreia has published 34 peer-reviewed papers. Andreia integrates the Translational Neurogenetics research team leading projects focusing on serotonergic signaling and protein homeostasis (aka proteostasis). She is currently supervising 2 post-doctoral researchers, 5 PhD students, 2 M.Sc. students and one research technician, in addition to 36 supervisions concluded with success. Andreia has one patent (EP3069718A1) on “Citalopram or escitalopram for use in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases”, currently issued by the European Patent Office and in expansion worldwide. Andreia’s main research interest is to study the imbalance of proteostasis associated with neurodegenerative diseases and to understand how proteostasis adaptation and/or enhancement may be beneficial to age-related disorders and constitute important therapeutic approaches. Her team utilizes an integrated approach, going from molecules to model systems to human patients, using pharmacology, chemical genetics, molecular genetics, transcriptomics, proteomics and behavioral analysis.
Andreia Teixeira-Castro obtained a B.Sc. in Biochemistry (2002) at the University of Porto, and a M.Sc. in Molecular Genetics (2007) and a Ph.D. in Health Sciences (2011) at the University of Minho, having developed her thesis and post-doctoral work at the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), University of Minho and at the Northwestern University, USA. During this period, Andreia established a drug discovery pipeline from C. elegans to mouse and to human cells and had the opportunity to collaborate with many scientists in different fields of expertise spanning from biochemistry, medicinal chemistry, automated behavioral analysis, high-throughput analysis laboratories and medicine.
Andreia is currently an Assistant Investigator at ICVS and an Assistant Professor at the School of Medicine, Univ. of Minho. Andreia has published 34 peer-reviewed papers. Andreia integrates the Translational Neurogenetics research team leading projects focusing on serotonergic signaling and protein homeostasis (aka proteostasis). She is currently supervising 2 post-doctoral researchers, 5 PhD students, 2 M.Sc. students and one research technician, in addition to 36 supervisions concluded with success. Andreia has one patent (EP3069718A1) on “Citalopram or escitalopram for use in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases”, currently issued by the European Patent Office and in expansion worldwide. Andreia’s main research interest is to study the imbalance of proteostasis associated with neurodegenerative diseases and to understand how proteostasis adaptation and/or enhancement may be beneficial to age-related disorders and constitute important therapeutic approaches. Her team utilizes an integrated approach, going from molecules to model systems to human patients, using pharmacology, chemical genetics, molecular genetics, transcriptomics, proteomics and behavioral analysis.
Articles
Duarte-Silva, S.*, Da Silva, J. D.*, Monteiro-Fernandes, D.*, Costa, M. D., Neves-Carvalho, A., Raposo, M., Soares-Cunha, C., Correia, J. S., Nogueira-Goncalves, G., Fernandes, H. S., Oliveira, S., Ferreira-Fernandes, A. R., Rodrigues, F., Pereira-Sousa, J., Vilasboas-Campos, D., Guerreiro, S., Campos, J., Meireles-Costa, L., Rodrigues, C. M. P., Cabantous, S., Sousa, S. F., Lima, M., Teixeira-Castro, A., & Maciel, P. (2024). Glucocorticoid receptor-dependent therapeutic efficacy of tauroursodeoxycholic acid in preclinical models of spinocerebellar ataxia type 3. The Journal of Clinical Investigation, 134(5), e162246. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI162246
Jalles, A.*, Vieira, C.*, Pereira-Sousa, J., Vilasboas-Campos, D., Mota, A. F., Vasconcelos, S., Ferreira-Lomba, B., Costa, M. D., Da Silva, J. D., Maciel, P., & Teixeira-Castro, A. (2022). Aripiprazole Offsets Mutant ATXN3-Induced Motor Dysfunction by Targeting Dopamine D2 and Serotonin 1A and 2A Receptors in C. elegans. Biomedicines, 10(2), 370. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines10020370
Pereira-Sousa, J., Ferreira-Lomba, B., Bellver-Sanchis, A., Vilasboas-Campos, D., Fernandes, J. H., Costa, M. D., Varney, M. A., Newman-Tancredi, A., Maciel, P., & Teixeira-Castro, A. (2021). Identification of the 5-HT1A serotonin receptor as a novel therapeutic target in a C. elegans model of Machado-Joseph disease. Neurobiology of disease, 152, 105278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbd.2021.105278
Esteves, S.*, Oliveira, S.*, Duarte-Silva, S., Cunha-Garcia, D., Teixeira-Castro, A., & Maciel, P. (2019). Preclinical Evidence Supporting Early Initiation of Citalopram Treatment in Machado-Joseph Disease. Molecular neurobiology, 56(5), 3626–3637. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035-018-1332-1
Ashraf, N. S., Duarte-Silva, S., Shaw, E. D., Maciel, P., Paulson, H. L., Teixeira-Castro, A., & Costa, M. D. C. (2019). Citalopram Reduces Aggregation of ATXN3 in a YAC Transgenic Mouse Model of Machado-Joseph Disease. Molecular neurobiology, 56(5), 3690–3701. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035-018-1331-2
Teixeira-Castro, A.*, Jalles, A.*, Esteves, S.*, Kang, S., da Silva Santos, L., Silva-Fernandes, A., Neto, M. F., Brielmann, R. M., Bessa, C., Duarte-Silva, S., Miranda, A., Oliveira, S., Neves-Carvalho, A., Bessa, J., Summavielle, T., Silverman, R. B., Oliveira, P., Morimoto, R. I., & Maciel, P. (2015). Serotonergic signalling suppresses ataxin 3 aggregation and neurotoxicity in animal models of Machado-Joseph disease. Brain: a journal of neurology, 138(Pt 11), 3221–3237. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awv262
Funding and Awards
Fundação Luso-America para o Desenvolvimento (FLAD) Long term Fellowship (2006)
Rafael Hervada Award (2010)
National Ataxia Foundation (NAF) Research Award (USA) (2016, 2018, 2021, 2024)
Ataxia UK Research Award (2022)
Patents
“Citalopram or escitalopram for use in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases” (EP3069718A1)
This project addresses an unmet medical need- the lack of effective treatment for any of the aging-associated neurodegenerative diseases. Due to the worldwide aging of the population, by 2050 it is expected that over 135 million people…
Departing from previous work in which we developped cellular and animal models of Machado-Joseph disease, a neurodegenerative disorder caused by expansion of a polyglutamine tract in the protein ataxin-3 (ATXN3)…
Phone: +351 253 604 967
Fax: +351 253 604 809
Email: icvs.sec@med.uminho.pt
Life and Health Sciences
Research Institute (ICVS)
School of Medicine,
University of Minho,
Campus de Gualtar
4710-057 Braga
Portugal
Copyright ©2022 ICVS. All Rights Reserved
Copyright ©2022 ICVS. All Rights Reserved
Life and Health Sciences
Research Institute (ICVS)
School of Medicine,
University of Minho,
Campus de Gualtar
4710-057 Braga
Portugal
Copyright ©2022 ICVS. All Rights Reserved
Life and Health Sciences
Research Institute (ICVS)
School of Medicine,
University of Minho,
Campus de Gualtar
4710-057 Braga
Portugal
