Fernanda Marques

  • Neuroimmunology
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Alzheimer disease
  • Aging
  • Cerebrospinal fluid
  • immune cell migration
  • Lipocalin 2
  • Glial cells
  • Brain barriers

I am an Assistant Researcher at the School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.
I received my PhD in 2008 from Minho University where I studied choroid plexus (CP), a brain immune barrier. During that period, I found that CP act as a sensor of peripheral inflammation.
In 2013, I successfully acquired funding from the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) to study LCN2 role in brain physiology and in MS and to establish myself as an Assistant researcher. The project developed so far, and that I intended to foster, is key in bidirectional translational research.
In 2018, starting in 2019, I successfully acquired funding from the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) as a Principal investigator.
Stemming from the hypothesis that perpetuation of brain inflammation by local glia is leading to neurodegeneration even when there is no brain immune cell infiltration from the periphery, it is our aim to: 1) Perform basic translational experiments to answer the question if decreasing glia mediated inflammation is able to influence MS outcomes in a mouse model of disease; 2) Perform clinical translational experiments to answer the question if previous findings from mouse models are also implicated in the human disease. Besides ongoing experiments directed to continue the studies in LCN2, and further extend these studies to other astrocytic and microglia markers, we are now partnering with Braga Hospital, starting the consolidation of a biobank of MS patients.

Scientific Highlights

1. das Neves SP, Serre-Miranda C, Sousa JC, Costa PS, Sousa N, Cerqueira JJ, Marques F. Lipocalin-2 does not influence EAE clinicak score but increases inflammation in central nervous system. J Neuroimmunol. 2022 Jul 15;368:577872. doi: 10.1016/j.jneuroim.2022.577872.
2. das Neves SP, Sousa JC, Sousa N, Cerqueira JJ, Marques F. Altered astrocytic function in experimental neuroinflammation and Multiple Sclerosis. Glia. 2021 Jun;69(6):1341-1368. doi: 10.1002/glia.23940.
3. Ferreira AC, Novais A, Sousa N, Sousa JC, Marques F. Voluntary running rescues the defective hippocampal neurogenesis and behaviour observed in lipocalin 2-null mice. Sci Rep. 2019 Feb 7;9(1):1649. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-38140-y.
4. das Neves SP, Serre-Miranda C, Nobrega C, Roque S, Cerqueira JJ, Correia-Neves M, Marques F. Immune thymic profile of the MOG-induced experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis mouse model. Front Immunol. 2018 Oct 11;9:2335. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2018.02335. eCollection 2018.
5. Ferreira AC, Sousa N, Bessa JM, Sousa JC, Marques F. Metabolism and adult neurogenesis: towards an understanding of the role of lipocalin-2 and iron-related oxidative stress. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2018 Dec;95:73-84. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.09.014.
6. Ferreira AC, Santos T, Sampaio-Marques B, Novais A, Mesquita SD, Ludovico P, Bernardino L, Correia-Neves M, Sousa N, Palha JA, Sousa JC, Marques F. Lipocalin-2 regulates adult neurogenesis and contextual discriminative behaviours. Mol Psychiatry. 2018 Apr;23(4):1031-1039. doi: 10.1038/mp.2017.95.
7. Marques F, Sousa JC, Brito MA, Pahnke J, Santos C, Correia-Neves M, Palha JA. The choroid plexus in health and in disease: Dialogues into and out of the brain. Neurobiol Dis. 2017 Nov;107:32-40. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2016.08.011.
8. Dá Mesquita S, Ferreira AC, Sousa JC, Correia-Neves M, Sousa N, Marques F. Insights on the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease: The crosstalk between amyloid pathology, neuroinflammation and the peripheral immune system. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2016 Sep;68:547-562. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.06.014. Review.
9. Marques, F, Sousa, JC. The choroid plexus is modulated by various peripheral stimuli: implications to diseases of the central nervous system. Front Cell Neurosci. 2015 Apr 13;9:136. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2015.00136. eCollection 2015.
10. Ferreira AC, Dá Mesquita S, Sousa JC, Correia-Neves M, Sousa N, Palha JA, Marques F. From the periphery to the brain: Lipocalin-2, a friend or foe? Prog Neurobiol. 2015 Aug;131:120-36. doi: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2015.06.005. Review.
11. Mesquita SD, Ferreira AC, Gao F, Coppola G, Geschwind DH, Sousa JC, Correia-Neves M, Sousa N, Palha JA, Marques F. The choroid plexus transcriptome reveals changes in type I and II interferon responses in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. Brain Behav Immun. 2015 Oct;49:280-92. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2015.06.008.
12. Mesquita SD, Ferreira AC, Falcao AM, Sousa JC, Oliveira TG, Correia-Neves M, Sousa N, Marques F*, Palha JA*. Lipocalin 2 modulates the cellular response to amyloid beta. Cell Death Differ. 2014 Oct;21(10):1588-99. doi: 10.1038/cdd.2014.68. Epub 2014 May 23. *equal contribution, co-last authors.
13. Marques F, Sousa JC, Sousa N, Palha JA. Blood-brain-barriers in aging and in Alzheimer’s disease. Mol Neurodegener. 2013 Oct 22;8:38. doi: 10.1186/1750-1326-8-38. Review.
14. Ferreira AC, Vitor P, Mesquita SD, Novais A, Sousa JC, Correia-Neves M, Sousa N, Palha JA, Marques F. Lipocalin-2 is involved in emotional behaviors and cognitive function. Front Cell Neurosci. 2013 Jul 29;7:122. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2013.00122. eCollection 2013.
15. Marques F, Mesquita SD, Sousa JC, Coppola G, Gao F, Geschwind DH, Columba-Cabezas S, Aloisi F, Degn M, Cerqueira JJ, Sousa N, Correia-Neves M, Palha JA. Lipocalin 2 is present in the EAE brain and is modulated by natalizumab. Front Cell Neurosci. 2012 Aug 9;6:33. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2012.00033. eCollection 2012.
16. Marques F, Sousa JC, Coppola G, Gao F, Puga R, Brentani H, Geschwind DH, Sousa N, Correia-Neves M, Palha JA. Transcriptome signature of the adult mouse choroid plexus. Fluids Barriers CNS. 2011 Jan 18;8(1):10. doi: 10.1186/2045-8118-8-10.
17. Marques F, Sousa JC, Coppola G, Geschwind DH, Sousa N, Palha JA, Correia-Neves M. The choroid plexus response to a repeated peripheral inflammatory stimulus. BMC Neurosci. 2009 Nov 18;10:135. doi: 10.1186/1471-2202-10-135.
18. Marques F, Sousa JC, Coppola G, Falcao AL, Rodrigues AJ, Geschwind DH, Sousa N, Correia-Neves M, Palha JA. Kinetic profile of the transcriptome changes induced in the choroid plexus by peripheral inflammation. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2009 May;29(5):921-32. doi: 10.1038/jcbfm.2009.15.
19. Marques F, Falcao AM, Sousa JC, Coppola G, Geschwind D, Sousa N, Correia-Neves M, Palha JA. Altered iron metabolism is part of the choroid plexus response to peripheral inflammation. Endocrinology. 2009 Jun;150(6):2822-8. doi: 10.1210/en.2008-1610
20. Marques F, Rodrigues AJ, Sousa JC, Coppola G, Geschwind DH, Correia-Neves M, Sousa N, Palha JA. Lipocalin 2 is a choroid plexus acute phase protein. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2008 Mar;28(3):450-5. doi: 10.1038/sj.jcbfm.9600557.

Projects

MetabolicMS

Recently, we used a MS animal model to perform high-throughput sequencing of astrocytes’ transcriptome during disease progression. Our data shows a surprising up-regulation of glycolytic and tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle…

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