Leonor Saúde

Maria Leonor Tavares Saúde
Instituto de Medicina Molecular (iMM), Lisbon
Project Leader

Targeting induced-senescent cells: a novel approach to promote spinal cord regeneration in mammals.

Persistent senescent cells (SCs) are known to underlie aging-related chronic disorders, but it is now recognized that SCs may be at the center of tissue remodeling events, namely during development or organ repair. In this project, we show that two distinct senescence profiles are induced in the context of a spinal cord injury between the regenerative zebrafish and the scarring mouse. Whereas induced SCs in zebrafish are progressively cleared out, they accumulate over time in mice. Depletion of SCs in spinal-cord-injured mice, with different senolytic drugs, improves locomotor, sensory, and bladder functions. This functional recovery is associated with improved myelin sparing, reduced fibrotic scar, and attenuated inflammation, which correlate with a decreased secretion of pro-fibrotic and pro-inflammatory factors. Targeting SCs is a promising therapeutic strategy not only for spinal cord injuries but potentially for other organs that lack regenerative competence.

Leonor Saúde is a group leader at the Instituto de Medicina Molecular, in Portugal, where she is also the head of the Fish Facility, member of the Training Hub Executive Committee, member of the Scientific Commission of the Master in Biomedical Research, and Commissioner of the Communication Office. She obtained a PhD in Developmental Biology from UCL, UK and did her postdoc at Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Portugal. Leonor Saúde won the Pfizer Award for Basic Science (2005, 2021), the Fundación ”la Caixa” Award (2019) and the Santa Casa Neurosciences Award (2020). Leonor Saúde is the co-founder of the Portuguese Society for Developmental Biology (SPBD), where she served as a Secretary (2011-2013), Vice-President (2013-2015) and President (2015-2017) and the co-founder and Vice-President of Associação Viver a Ciência, a science outreach initiative launched in 2004 (read full CV).

Her main research interests are focused on:

• Tissue Microenvironment in Development and Regeneration

• Repair and Regeneration of the Spinal cord

• Developmental Biology | Organogenesis

Instituto de Medicina Molecular
Faculdade de Medicina Universidade de Lisboa
Av. Prof. Egas Moniz, 1649-028 Lisboa
Tel.: (+351) 217 99 94 11

Email: [email protected]
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