Location

Rua Câmara Pestana, 6 1150-082 Lisboa
Phone: 218803100

Miguel Seabra

Researcher Professor Catedrático
Principal Investigator

Miguel Seabra's career encompasses 30 years in three countries, first his PhD studies and initial independent position as Assistant Professor at UT Southwestern, Dallas (1988-2007), then as Associate Professor and full Professor at Imperial College London (1997-2015) and since 2007 back in his home country in a variety of roles, from science policy and administration to research institute director and head of laboratory.

His research has focused on cell biology, molecular mechanisms of disease and translational research in gene therapy. He published 180 peer-reviewed papers attracting over 21,000 citations with an h-index of 76. His main international collaborator is Clare Futter at UCL Institute of Ophthalmology with 24 joint papers published since 2004.

Since 2021 upon invitation of the Champalimaud Foundation, Miguel Seabra heads the Ocular Low-cost Gene Therapy Initiative in collaboration with the LV Prasad Institute in India with the goal of developing and implementing low-cost solutions for common eye diseases.

  • Coelho R, Antas P, Fonseca AF, Oliveira D, Carvalho C, Pedro ML, Hall MJ, Falcão AS, Seabra MC, Lopes-da-Silva M. Loss of REP-1 in retinal pigment epithelial cells leads to impaired phagosome processing and altered lysosomal pathway function.. Mol Biol Cell. 2025 Sep 1;36(9):ar116. doi: 10.1091/mbc.E24-11-0497. PMID: 40768322
  • Falcão AS, Pedro ML, Tenreiro S, Seabra MC.Targeting Lysosomal Dysfunction and Oxidative Stress in Age-Related Macular Degeneration.. Antioxidants (Basel). 2025 May 16;14(5):596. doi: 10.3390/antiox14050596. PMID: 40427478
  • Rojo AI, Buttari B, Cadenas S, Carlos AR, Cuadrado A, Falcão AS, López MG, Georgiev MI, Grochot-Przeczek A, Gumeni S, Jimenez-Villegas J, Horbanczuk JO, Konu O, Lastres-Becker I, Levonen AL, Maksimova V, Michaeloudes C, Mihaylova LV, Mickael ME, Milisav I, Miova B, Rada P, Santos M, Seabra MC, Strac DS, Tenreiro S, Trougakos IP, Dinkova-Kostova AT. Model organisms for investigating the functional involvement of NRF2 in non-communicable diseases.. Redox Biol. 2025 Feb;79:103464. doi: 10.1016/j.redox.2024.103464. Epub 2024 Dec 16. PMID: 39709790
  • Fonseca AF, Coelho R, da-Silva ML, Lemos L, Hall MJ, Oliveira D, Falcão AS, Tenreiro S, Seabra MC, Antas P. Modeling Choroideremia Disease with Isogenic Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells.. Stem Cells Dev. 2024 Oct;33(19-20):528-539. doi: 10.1089/scd.2024.0105. Epub 2024 Aug 16. PMID: 39078329
  • Neto MV, De Rossi G, Berkowitz BA, Seabra MC, Luthert PJ, Futter CE, Burgoyne T. Daily Light Onset and Plasma Membrane Tethers Regulate Mitochondria Redistribution within the Retinal Pigment Epithelium. Cells. 2024 Jun 25;13(13):1100. doi: 10.3390/cells13131100. PMID: 38994953
  • Carvalho C, Lemos L, Antas P, Seabra MC. Gene therapy for inherited retinal diseases: exploiting new tools in genome editing and nanotechnology.. Front Ophthalmol (Lausanne). 2023 Sep 19;3:1270561. doi: 10.3389/fopht.2023.1270561. eCollection 2023. PMID: 38983081
  • Antas P, Carvalho C, Cabral-Teixeira J, de Lemos L, Seabra MC. Toward low-cost gene therapy: mRNA-based therapeutics for treatment of inherited retinal diseases. Trends Mol Med. 2023 Dec 2:S1471-4914(23)00271-X. doi: 10.1016/j.molmed.2023.11.009. Online ahead of print. PMID: 38044158
  • Cardoso MH, Hall MJ, Burgoyne T, Fale P, Storm T, Escrevente C, Antas P, Seabra MC, Futter CE. Impaired Lysosome Reformation in Chloroquine-Treated Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2023 Aug 1;64(11):10. doi: 10.1167/iovs.64.11.10. PMID: 37548963
  • Flores R, Fradinho AC, Pereira RS, Mendes JM, Seabra MC, Tenreiro S, Carneiro Â. Identifying Imaging Predictors of Intermediate Age-Related Macular Degeneration Progression. Transl Vis Sci Technol. 2023 Jul 3;12(7):22. doi: 10.1167/tvst.12.7.22. PMID: 37490304
  • Escrevente C, Falcão AS, Hall MJ, Lopes-da-Silva M, Antas P, Mesquita MM, Ferreira IS, Cardoso MH, Oliveira D, Fradinho AC, Ciossek T, Nicklin P, Futter CE, Tenreiro S, Seabra MC. Formation of Lipofuscin-Like Autofluorescent Granules in the Retinal Pigment Epithelium Requires Lysosome Dysfunction.. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2021 Jul 1;62(9):39. doi: 10.1167/iovs.62.9.39. PMID: 34313720
  • 2024 NOVA Research Impact Narratives Challenge
  • 2024 Career Award, Portuguese Biochemical Society
  • 2024 European Society for Pigment Cell Research Prize
  • 2024 Bluepharma Innovation Award
  • 2015 Grande Prémio BIAL de Medicina, Portugal
  • Ciência ID: 2512-FAEF-E26F
  • ResearcherID: M-3280-2013
  • Scopus Author ID: 7004369652
  • ORCID