Simão Rocha

Simão T. Rocha

assistant professor

ABG-4589-2020

Web of Science profile

iBB Group: scerg

simao.rocha@tecnico.ulisboa.pt

Expertise: Cell and Molecular BiologyEpigeneticsStem Cell BiologyGene EditingStem Cell-based Disease Modeling

Short Bio:

Simão T. da Rocha leads the Stem Cell Epigenetics Lab at the Stem Cell Engineering Research Group. His research centers on unraveling molecular mechanisms of epigenetic (dys)regulation in development and disease. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge under the guidance of Anne Ferguson-Smith, focusing on genomic imprinting. Subsequently, his postdoctoral research at Institut Curie, mentored by Edith Heard, delved into the study of X-chromosome inactivation. He also served as a staff scientist, where he applied his epigenetic expertise to stem cell biology in Maria Carmo-Fonseca’s lab at Instituto de Medicina Molecular. He transitioned to iBB in 2021.

Research Focus:

(1) Mechanisms of epigenetic regulation of gene expression(2) Epigenetic fidelity of stem cell models (3) Stem cell-based disease modeling of human disorders

Ongoing PI Grants:
X-HUMAN – Dissecting the molecular mechanisms of X-chromosome inactivation using human embryonic stem cells (2022.01532.PTDC)

STEM_CELL_ANGEL – Stem cell toolkit for modelling cerebellar dysfunction in Angelman Syndrome (Angelman syndrome Grant 2022)

Ongoing co-PI Grants:
PWS_Metabolite – Role of microbial metabolites in regulating hypothalamic pathways involved in feeding behavior (1029673)
https://www.fpwr.org/fpwr-funded-projects/role-of-microbial-metabolites-in-regulating-hypothalamic-pathways-involved-in-feeding-behavior

Ongoing Grants as Senior Researcher:
EURAS – EUropean network for neurodevelopmental RASopathies (101080580)
https://www.euras-project.eu/

Rocha, S. T. (2022). Imprinting fidelity in mouse iPSCs depends on sex of donor cell and medium formulation. Nat Commun, 13(1), 5432. doi:10.1038/s41467-022-33013-5

Bousard, A., Raposo, A. C., Zylicz, J. J., Picard, C., Pires, V. B., Qi, Y., . . . da Rocha, S. T. (2019). The role of Xist-mediated Polycomb recruitment in the initiation of X-chromosome inactivation. EMBO Rep, 20(10), e48019. doi:10.15252/embr.201948019

Klobucar, T., Kreibich, E., Krueger, F., Arez, M., Polvora-Brandao, D., von Meyenn, F., . . . Eckersley-Maslin, M. (2020). IMPLICON: an ultra-deep sequencing method to uncover DNA methylation at imprinted regions. Nucleic Acids Res, 48(16), e92. doi:10.1093/nar/gkaa567

Maranga, C., Pereira, C., Raposo, A. C., Vieira, A., Duarte, S., Bekman, E. P., . . . da Rocha, S. T. (2022). Generation and characterization of induced pluripotent stem cell line (IBBISTi004-A) from an Angelman syndrome patient carrying a class II deletion of the maternal chromosome 15q11.2-q13. Stem Cell Res, 61, 102757. doi:10.1016/j.scr.2022.102757

Polvora-Brandao, D., Joaquim, M., Godinho, I., Aprile, D., Alvaro, A. R., Onofre, I., . . . da Rocha, S. T. (2018). Loss of hierarchical imprinting regulation at the Prader-Willi/Angelman syndrome locus in human iPSCs. Hum Mol Genet, 27(23), 3999-4011. doi:10.1093/hmg/ddy274

iBB People

Simão T. Rocha