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Credit Name
Simoes-Correia J
 
Name
Simões-Correia, Joana
 
Variants
Correia JR
Correia J
 
 
Biography
Joana Simoes Correia (JSC) is graduated in Chemistry of Biological Processes by the University of Coimbra (2003) and a PhD in Human Biology, by the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto. Her PhD was developed within the context of a prestigious Doctoral Program in Portugal, GABBA (http://gabba.up.pt/; Graduated Program in Areas of Basic and Applied Biology), which was essential to introduce her to the different areas of Biology and Biomedicine. Her PhD was developed between IPATIMUP (Institute of Pathology and Immunology of the University of Porto) and Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB, Gent, Belgium), and was dedicated to understand the relevance of subcellular trafficking for the regulation of cadherin-dependent cell adhesion and migration. She found a new mechanism for the regulation of E-cadherin-dependent cell adhesion that relies on post-translational quality control at the Endoplasmic Reticulum, and results in premature degradation of misfolded E-cadherin mutants in the proteasome (2). In parallel, and in collaboration with the group of “Wirtz Lab” at Johns Hopkins (Baltimore, USA), she found that alpha-catenin is a key factor for the strengthening of cadherin-dependent cell adhesion, published in PNAS (3). She has also contributed to characterize the functional consequences of new E-cadherin missense mutations associated to Hereditary Diffuse Gastric Cancer (HDGC). She published a Book Chapter describing the experimental workflow designed to characterize the pathogenicity of the mutants (4) and co-authored several manuscripts reporting the functional characterization of new E-cadherin mutants, commonly leading to impaired cell adhesion and migration (5-8). JSC and colleagues also found a genotype-phenotype correlation regarding cell motility, and clarified the motility-associated signaling pathways leading to the invasiveness of cells expressing E-cadherin mutations (9).
As a postdoc, JSC was awarded an EMBO fellowship to start her research project in the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG, Barcelona, Spain), and an FCT postdoctoral fellowship to continue these studies, about the mechanisms of Protein Quality Control (PQC) that regulate cell adhesion and migration. She developed a multidisciplinary work, and in collaboration with the “Systems Biology Group” of CRG, found a correlation between the structural constrains induced by E-cadherin missense mutations, and the consequences for cell adhesion and migration, a paper where she is the corresponding author (10). In another work, she contributed to the demonstration that chemical chaperones (organic molecules that promote protein folding) optimize subcellular trafficking towards the stabilization of cell adhesion molecules, and thus stimulate cell adhesion (11).
JSC co-authored 19 peer-reviewed papers, including HMG and PNAS (amongst the highest impact factors in Multidisciplinary Sciences), Gut (in top 10 of Gastroenterology and Hepatology), and ACS Nano. Most of the publications of JSC result from multidisciplinary collaborative work, and reflect the significant international network associated to her scientific career. She is an inventor of two international patents.
In 2014 , Joana participated in the Technology Transfer program COHiTEC and together with two partners, founded Exogenus Therapeutics in 2015, assuming the roles of Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer. In Exogenus Therapeutics, she has been leading the development of innovative biological medicines for diseases of high unmet needs such as chronic wounds and Autoimmune Diseases. Since 2015, she has been distinguished several times, such as with the 17th Edition of the Young Entrepreneur Award (2015), by the Portuguese Association of Young Entrepreneurs (ANJE) and the Everis Award in 2016. She has won the Best Pitch presentation at the Startup Slam competition in Bio Europe Autumn 2017, the 2nd place at the Venture Lounge 2017 competition in Darmstadt (Life Sciences and Medtech, organized by H2020 SME Instrument Business Acceleration Services), and was a finalist Wound Care Innovation Award 2017 (at the EWMA- European Wound Management Association conference), and won Pre´mio Empreendedor XXI in 2019 (attributed by BPI/CaixaBank). Under her leadership, was distinguished with the SME Instrument Phase I and Seal of Excellence in Phase II, from the European Commission, and was selected as one of the top-500 deeptech startups recognized worldwide by the Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge.
During her career, Joana has been involved in many R&D projects, corresponding to more than 3,5 million euros, including above 1,7 million under her direct management.
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Publications
(All)

Results 1-4 of 4 (Search time: 0.004 seconds).

Issue DateTitleAuthor(s)TypeAccess
1Jun-2021Development of an optimized and scalable method for isolation of umbilical cord blood-derived small extracellular vesicles for future clinical useCardoso, Renato M. S.; Rodrigues, Sílvia C. ; Gomes, Claudia F.; Duarte, Filipe V. ; Romao, Maryse; Leal, Ermelindo C. ; Freire, Patricia C.; Neves, Ricardo ; Correia, Joana Simões articleopenAccess
22012E-cadherin destabilization accounts for the pathogenicity of missense mutations in hereditary diffuse gastric cancerSimões-Correia, Joana ; Figueiredo, Joana; Lopes, Rui; Stricher, François; Oliveira, Carla; Serrano, Luís ; Seruca, Raquel articleopenAccess
32013SERPINA2 is a novel gene with a divergent function from SERPINA1Marques, Patrícia Isabel; Ferreira, Zélia; Martins, Manuella; Figueiredo, Joana; Silva, Diana Isabel; Castro, Patrícia ; Morales-Hojas, Ramiro; Correia, Joana Simões ; Seixas, SusanaarticleopenAccess
424-Aug-2021Toxicological Profile of Umbilical Cord Blood-Derived Small Extracellular VesiclesRodrigues, Sílvia C. ; Cardoso, Renato M. S.; Gomes, Claudia F.; Duarte, Filipe Valente ; Freire, Patricia C.; Neves, Ricardo ; Correia, Joana Simões articleopenAccess