Joana Margarida Silva (PhD) graduated in Applied Biology in 2010, at the School of Sciences – University of Minho, followed by MSc in Molecular Genetics in 2012. She obtained in 2017 her PhD in Health Sciences in the School of Medicine, University of Minho.
She received a post-doc fellowship by Canon Foundation (2018), extended her international training by working at the lab of Prof Takashima (Imperial University, Japan), a well-known expert in the field of Tau biology, where she further monitored different parameters of Tau role in nucleus related to RBPs. In 2021 she was granted a Junior Research by FCT to develop her own research line on understanding the role of RNA metabolism and the pathological load of RNA granules in stress-driven brain pathologies such as AD and depression. She is currently supervising 2 MSc and 3 graduate students (e.g. ERASMUS). Her publication list includes high impact factor publications while her research achievements have been independently recognized by research foundations prizes, e.g. AD/PD Junior faculty Award 2017.
Joana is a member of the International Society for Neurochemistry and the Portuguese Society of Neuroscience.
Joana Margarida Silva (PhD) graduated in Applied Biology in 2010, at the School of Sciences – University of Minho, followed by MSc in Molecular Genetics in 2012. She obtained in 2017 her PhD in Health Sciences in the School of Medicine, University of Minho.
She received a post-doc fellowship by Canon Foundation (2018), extended her international training by working at the lab of Prof Takashima (Imperial University, Japan), a well-known expert in the field of Tau biology, where she further monitored different parameters of Tau role in nucleus related to RBPs. In 2021 she was granted a Junior Research by FCT to develop her own research line on understanding the role of RNA metabolism and the pathological load of RNA granules in stress-driven brain pathologies such as AD and depression. She is currently supervising 2 MSc and 3 graduate students (e.g. ERASMUS). Her publication list includes high impact factor publications while her research achievements have been independently recognized by research foundations prizes, e.g. AD/PD Junior faculty Award 2017.
Joana is a member of the International Society for Neurochemistry and the Portuguese Society of Neuroscience.
Publications:
1. Monteiro-Fernandes D, Silva JM, Soares-Cunha C, Dalla C, Kokras N, François A, Billiras R, Bretin S, Sousa N, Sotiropoulos I, “ Allosteric modulation of AMPA receptors counteracts Tau-related excitotoxic synaptic signaling and memory deficits in Stress and Aβ-evoked hippocampal pathology”, Molecular Psychiatry 2019;
2. Silva JM, Rodrigues S, Marques MB, Gomes P, Neves-Carvalho A, Soares-Cunha C, Takashima A, Ludovico P, Takashima A, Wolozin B, Sousa N, Sotiropoulos I, “Dysregulation of autophagy and stress granule-related proteins in stress-driven Tau pathology”, Cell Death & Differentiation August 2019. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41418-018-0217-1
3. Sotiropoulos I*, Galas MC*, Silva JM, Skoulakis E, Wegmann S, Maina M, Blum D, Sayas CL, Mandelkow EM, Mandelkow E, Spillantini MG, Sousa N, Avila J, Medina M, Mudher A, Bueé L, “Atypical, non-standard functions of the microtubule associated Tau protein”, Acta Neuropathological Communications 2018, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40478-017-0489-6
4. Silva J*, Pinheiro S*, Mota C, Vaz-Silva J, Veloso A, Pinto V, Sousa N, Cerqueira J, Sotiropoulos I “Tau mislocation in glucocorticoid-triggered hippocampal pathology.”, Molecular Neurobiology, September 2015, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035-015-9356-2
5. Sotiropoulos I, Silva J, Kimura T., Rodrigues AJ, Costa P, Almeida OFX, Sousa N, Takashima A. “Female hippocampus vulnerability to environmental stress as precipitating factor of Tau aggregation pathology”, Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 2015;43(3):763-74. https://doi.org/10.3233/JAD-140693
Awards:
1. FCT Contract for Junior Researcher 2021.00204.CEECCIND – “The unique biology of RNA-granules in vulnerability and treatment of brain pathologies”, awarded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science
2. ICVS-INL innovative ideas challenge – Winning project on “WINERVED – Wireless NEural Repair Via Electric and Drug delivery” – financial support of €20.000
3. 2018 Canon Foundation Fellowship, Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), Braga, Portugal/Gakushuin University, Tokyo, Japan
4. AD/PD Junior Faculty Award, 13th International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease 2017, Vienna, Austria
5. FCT PhD fellowship SFRH/BD/88932/2012 – “Tau (mal)function in brain plasticity and pathology – a gateway beyond Alzheimer’s Disease”, awarded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science
Although the recent approval of anti-amyloid therapies has marked an important milestone for Alzheimer’s disease, their modest clinical benefit underscores the need for alternative disease-modifying strategies…
This project aims to elucidate the role of the RNA-binding protein TIA1 in regulating synaptic RNA metabolism and neuronal plasticity under physiological and chronic stress conditions…
Although cumulative evidence suggests a continuum between depression and AD, and stress is suggested to play a detrimental role in both diseases…
Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the leading cause of dementia, affects nearly 44 million people worldwide and costs over $600 billion/year (1% of the world’s GDP)…
While Tau protein is originally described as a mainly axonal, microtubule-associated protein, accumulating evidence supports the multiple roles of Tau in different cell…
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 ©2025 ICVS. All Rights Reserved. Developed by TCIT
Copyright ©2025 ICVS. All Rights Reserved. Developed by TCIT
Life and Health Sciences
Research Institute (ICVS)
School of Medicine,
University of Minho,
Campus de Gualtar
4710-057 Braga
Portugal
Copyright ©2025 ICVS. All Rights Reserved
Life and Health Sciences
Research Institute (ICVS)
School of Medicine,
University of Minho,
Campus de Gualtar
4710-057 Braga
Portugal
