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I am a talented early career researcher who specialises in combining interdisciplinary knowledge to tackle human diseases such as cancer. My specific research ambitions are to harness the immune system to develop new or improved immunotherapeutic strategies. My academic path has spanned several disciplines including biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology and immunology, resulting in 19 peer-reviewed publications to date (17 original articles and 2 reviews) with over 600 citations in total. During my Masters in the Vectors and Gene Therapy Group at CIBB (Coimbra), I worked on targeted multimodal strategies combining chemotherapy and gene modulation for the treatment of glioblastoma. During my PhD at the University of Cambridge and as a visiting researcher at the Karolinska Institutet, I worked on projects on immune cell biology, immunometabolism and immunotherapy. My work resulted in 3 original first-author and 1 co-first author publications, including one describing a novel strategy based on the fine-tuning of oxygen levels to boost T cell-based immunotherapy (eLife; PMID: 37166103) and another describing the previously unknown role of T cell intrinsic nitric oxide in facilitating tumour infiltration (Cancer Immunology Research; PMID: 36574610). During my career of more than 10 years as a researcher in 3 different laboratories across 3 countries, I have engaged in several collaborative projects. These collaborations resulted in 7 original second-author manuscripts, including one describing the role of glutarate as a new immunometabolite in T cells (Nature Metabolism; PMID: 37605057) and another employing a targeted delivery of nucleic acids to glioblastoma using lipid-based nanoparticles (Journal of Controlled Release; PMID: 25861727). I secured funding from the FCT (Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) to conduct my graduate studies outside of Portugal. I also attended and presented at more than 5 international scientific conferences, having won two best Poster presentation prizes on two occasions. To pursue my career path in innovative immunology-related projects, after my PhD, in 2023, I joined the laboratory of Dr. Filipe Pereira (CIBB, Coimbra), who is at the forefront of using direct cellular reprogramming to generate rare subsets of immune cells with therapeutic potential, as recently published in Science (PMID: 39236156). Since joining the Pereira lab, I set out to understand the molecular determinants of dendritic cell reprogramming. By combining my knowledge of genetic manipulation, metabolism, and immunotherapy, I have collected preliminary data that will lead to the improvement of a new immunotherapy modality based on dendritic cell reprogramming.
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Identificação

Identificação pessoal

Nome completo
Pedro Miguel Pacheco de Jesus da Cunha

Nomes de citação

  • Pedro P. Cunha

Identificadores de autor

Ciência ID
861B-C9D3-9F08
ORCID iD
0000-0002-3814-6289

Endereços de correio eletrónico

  • pedrocunha@cnc.uc.pt (Profissional)
  • pedrocunha37@gmail.com (Pessoal)

Moradas

  • UcBiotech - Parque Biotecnologico de Cantanhede, Lote 8, 3060-197, Cantanhede, Coimbra, Portugal (Profissional)

Domínios de atuação

  • Ciências Médicas e da Saúde - Medicina Básica - Imunologia
  • Ciências Naturais - Ciências Biológicas - Biologia Celular
  • Ciências Médicas e da Saúde - Biotecnologia Médica - Diagnóstico e Terapias de Base Genética

Idiomas

Idioma Conversação Leitura Escrita Compreensão Peer-review
Inglês Utilizador proficiente (C2) Utilizador proficiente (C2) Utilizador proficiente (C2) Utilizador proficiente (C2) Utilizador proficiente (C2)
Português (Idioma materno)
Formação
Grau Classificação
2017/09/01 - 2022/11/26
Concluído
 Development, Physiology and Neuroscience (Doctor of Philosophy)
University of Cambridge Queens' College, Reino Unido
"The role of hypoxia in T cell function and immunotherapy" (TESE/DISSERTAÇÃO)
2013 - 2015
Concluído
 Cellular and Molecular Biology (Mestrado integrado)
Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
"On the development of a novel targeted miRNA-based therapy towards glioblastoma" (TESE/DISSERTAÇÃO)
 19 out of 20
2010 - 2013
Concluído
 Bioquímica (Licenciatura)
Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
"Using metabolic modulation to sensitize breast cancer cells to chemotherapy" (TESE/DISSERTAÇÃO)
 16 out of 20
Percurso profissional

Ciência

Categoria Profissional
Instituição de acolhimento 		Empregador
2023/03/29 - Atual Pós-doutorado (Investigação) Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Inovação em Biomedicina e Biotecnologia, Portugal
2022/04 - 2023/01/31 Investigador Contratado (Investigação) University of Cambridge Queens' College, Reino Unido
2019/03 - 2022/12 Investigador visitante (Investigação) Karolinska Institutet, Suécia
2016/07 - 2017/08 Investigador Contratado (Investigação) Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Inovação em Biomedicina e Biotecnologia, Portugal

Outros

Categoria Profissional
Instituição de acolhimento 		Empregador
2017/09 - 2022/03 PhD student University of Cambridge Queens' College, Reino Unido
2014/08 - 2016/08 Master Student Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Inovação em Biomedicina e Biotecnologia, Portugal
2012/01 - 2014/06 Bachelor Student Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Inovação em Biomedicina e Biotecnologia, Portugal
Projetos

Bolsa

Designação Financiadores
2023/02/14 - Atual CInTech: Technological Hub for Innovation, Translation and Industrialization of Complex Injectable Drugs
C644865576-00000005
Investigador Pós-doutorado
Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Inovação em Biomedicina e Biotecnologia, Portugal
Em curso
2022/04 - 2022/12 Hypoxia, HIF function and immunotherapy
CAN2018/808
Bolseiro de Cientista Convidado
Karolinska Institutet, Suécia
 Cancerfonden
Em curso
2017/09 - 2022/12 Oxygen and the immune response
214283/Z/18/Z
Bolseiro de Investigação
University of Cambridge Queens' College, Reino Unido
 Wellcome Foundation Ltd
Em curso
2017 - 2022 The role of hypoxia in T cell function and Imunotherapy
SFRH/BD/115612/2016
Bolseiro de Doutoramento
University of Cambridge Queens' College, Reino Unido
 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Concluído
2017/01 - 2017/08 Differentiation therapy toward glioblastoma stem-like cells
POCI-01-0145- FEDER-016390
Bolseiro de Investigação
Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Inovação em Biomedicina e Biotecnologia, Portugal
 Autoridade de Gestão do Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização
Concluído
Produções

Publicações

Artigo em revista
  1. Brennan J Wadsworth; Marina Leiwe; Eleanor A Minogue; Pedro P Cunha; Viktor Engman; Carolin Brombach; Christos Asvestis; et al. "A 2-hydroxybutyrate-mediated feedback loop regulates muscular fatigue". eLife (2024): https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.92707.2.
    10.7554/eLife.92707.2
  2. Iosifina P. Foskolou; Pedro P. Cunha; Elena Sánchez-López; Eleanor A. Minogue; Benoît P. Nicolet; Aurélie Guislain; Christian Jorgensen; et al. "The two enantiomers of 2-hydroxyglutarate differentially regulate cytotoxic T cell function". Cell Reports (2023): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113013.
    10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113013
  3. Eleanor Minogue; Pedro P. Cunha; Brennan Wadsworth; Guinevere L. Grice; shiv kumar Sah-Teli; Rob Hughes; David Bargiela; et al. "Glutarate regulates T cell metabolism and anti-tumour immunity". Nature Metabolism (2023): http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s42255-023-00855-2.
    10.1038/s42255-023-00855-2
  4. Pedro P Cunha; Eleanor Minogue; Lena CM Krause; Rita M Hess; David Bargiela; Brennan J Wadsworth; Laura Barbieri; et al. "Oxygen levels at the time of activation determine T cell persistence and immunotherapeutic efficacy". eLife (2023): https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.84280.
    10.7554/eLife.84280
  5. Laura Barbieri; Pedro Veliça; Paulo A. Gameiro; Pedro P. Cunha; Iosifina P. Foskolou; Eric Rullman; David Bargiela; Randall S. Johnson; Helene Rundqvist. "Lactate exposure shapes the metabolic and transcriptomic profile of CD8+ T cells". Frontiers in Immunology 14 (2023): http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2023.1101433.
    10.3389/fimmu.2023.1101433
  6. Pedro P. Cunha; David Bargiela; Eleanor Minogue; Lena C.M. Krause; Laura Barbieri; Carolin Brombach; Milos Gojkovic; et al. "Infiltration of tumors is regulated by T cell-intrinsic nitric oxide synthesis". Cancer Immunology Research (2022): https://doi.org/10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-22-0387.
    10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-22-0387
  7. David Bargiela; Pedro P. Cunha; Pedro Veliça; Iosifina P. Foskolou; Laura Barbieri; Helene Rundqvist; Randall S. Johnson. "Vitamin B6 Metabolism Determines T Cell Anti-Tumor Responses". Frontiers in Immunology 13 (2022): http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.837669.
    10.3389/fimmu.2022.837669
  8. Foskolou, I. P.; Cunha, P. P.; Minogue, E.; Nicolet, B.; Guislain, A.; Jorgensen, C.; Zandhuis, N. D.; et al. "The two enantiomers of 2-hydroxyglutarate differentially regulate cytotoxic T cell function". BioRxiv (2022): https://publons.com/wos-op/publon/58339254/.
    10.1101/2022.08.18.504372
  9. Gojkovic, M.; Cunha, P.P.; Darmasaputra, G.S.; Barbieri, L.; Rundqvist, H.; Veliça, P.; Johnson, R.S.. "Oxygen-Mediated Suppression of CD8+ T Cell Proliferation by Macrophages: Role of Pharmacological Inhibitors of HIF Degradation". Frontiers in Immunology 12 (2021): http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85107036662&partnerID=MN8TOARS.
    10.3389/fimmu.2021.633586
  10. Cardoso, A.M.; Morais, C.M.; Pena, F.; Marante, T.; Cunha, P.P.; Jurado, A.S.; Pedroso de Lima, M.C.. "Differentiation of glioblastoma stem cells promoted by miR-128 or miR-302a overexpression enhances senescence-associated cytotoxicity of axitinib". Human Molecular Genetics 30 3-4 (2021): 160-171. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85106069155&partnerID=MN8TOARS.
    10.1093/hmg/ddab011
  11. Matuleviciute, R.; Cunha, P.P.; Johnson, R.S.; Foskolou, I.P.. "Oxygen regulation of TET enzymes". FEBS Journal (2021): http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85099991597&partnerID=MN8TOARS.
    10.1111/febs.15695
  12. Veliça, P.; Cunha, P.P.; Vojnovic, N.; Foskolou, I.P.; Bargiela, D.; Gojkovic, M.; Rundqvist, H.; Johnson, R.S.. "Modified hypoxia-inducible factor expression in CD8þ T cells increases antitumor efficacy". Cancer Immunology Research 9 4 (2021): 401-414. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85104428121&partnerID=MN8TOARS.
    10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-20-0561
  13. Barbieri, L.; Velica, P.; Gameiro, P. A.; Cunha, P. P.; Foskolou, I. P.; Bargiela, D.; Rundqvist, H.; Johnson, Randall S.. "Lactate regulation of activation in CD8+ T cells". BioRxiv (2021): https://publons.com/wos-op/publon/58339252/.
    10.1101/2021.12.14.472728
  14. Iosifina P. Foskolou; Laura Barbieri; Aude Vernet; David Bargiela; Pedro P. Cunha; Pedro Velica; Eunyeong Suh; et al. "The S enantiomer of 2-hydroxyglutarate increases central memory CD8 populations and improves CAR-T therapy outcome". Blood Advances (2020): https://doi.org/10.1182/bloodadvances.2020002309.
    10.1182/bloodadvances.2020002309
  15. Cunha, Pedro. "miRNA-31 Improves Cognition and Abolishes Amyloid-ß Pathology by Targeting APP and BACE1 in an Animal Model of Alzheimer’s Disease". Molecular Therapy - Nucleic Acids (2020): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.omtn.2020.01.010.
    10.1016/j.omtn.2020.01.010
  16. Catarina M Morais; Pedro P Cunha; Tânia Melo; Ana M Cardoso; Pedro Domingues; M Rosário Domingues; Maria C Pedroso de Lima; Amália S Jurado. "Glucosylceramide synthase silencing combined with the receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor axitinib as a new multimodal strategy for glioblastoma". Human Molecular Genetics (2019): https://doi.org/10.1093/hmg/ddz152.
    10.1093/hmg/ddz152
  17. Morais, C.M.; Cardoso, A.M.; Cunha, P.P.; Aguiar, L.; Vale, N.; Lage, E.; Pinheiro, M.; et al. "Acylation of the S413-PV cell-penetrating peptide as a means of enhancing its capacity to mediate nucleic acid delivery: Relevance of peptide/lipid interactions". Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Biomembranes 1860 12 (2018): 2619-2634. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85054439165&partnerID=MN8TOARS.
    10.1016/j.bbamem.2018.10.002
  18. Pedro P Cunha; Pedro M Costa; Catarina M Morais; Inês R Lopes; Ana M Cardoso; Ana L Cardoso; Miguel Mano; Amália S Jurado; Maria C Pedroso de Lima. "High-throughput screening uncovers miRNAs enhancing glioblastoma cell susceptibility to tyrosine kinase inhibitors". Human Molecular Genetics 26 22 (2017): 4375-4387. https://doi.org/10.1093/hmg/ddx323.
    10.1093/hmg/ddx323
  19. Cunha, Pedro. "MiRNA-21 silencing mediated by tumor-targeted nanoparticles combined with sunitinib: A new multimodal gene therapy approach for glioblastoma". Journal of Controlled Release (2015): http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168365915002205.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jconrel.2015.04.002
  20. Cunha, P. P.; Costa, P.; Costa, R.; Custodia, C.; Branco, R.; Morais, C. M.; Cardoso, A. M.; et al. "MicroRNA modulation renders glioblastoma cells sensitive to chemotherapy". European Journal of Clinical Investigation (2015): https://publons.com/wos-op/publon/11264927/.
Capítulo de livro
  1. Cardoso, A.M.; Guedes, J.R.; Cardoso, A.L.; Morais, C.; Cunha, P.; Viegas, A.T.; Costa, R.; Jurado, A.; Pedroso de Lima, M.C.. "Recent Trends in Nanotechnology Toward CNS Diseases: Lipid-Based Nanoparticles and Exosomes for Targeted Therapeutic Delivery". 1-40. 2016.
    10.1016/bs.irn.2016.05.002
Poster em conferência
  1. Morais, Catarina; Cunha, Pedro; Cardoso, A.M.; et al. "Membrane perturbations induced by acylated S4(13)-PV analogs: relevance to nucleic acid delivery". Trabalho apresentado em 34th European Peptide Symposium, 2016.
  2. Cunha, Pedro; Costa, Pedro; Costa, Raquel; Custódia, Carlos; Branco, Ruben; Morais, Catarina; Cardoso, A.M.; et al. "MicroRNA modulation renders glioblastoma cells sensitive to chemotherapy". Trabalho apresentado em 49th Annual Scientific Meeting of the European Society for Clinical Investigation, 2015.
  3. Cunha, Pedro; Costa, Raquel; Costa, Pedro; Cardoso, A.M.; et al. "A promising targeted strategy to overcome drug-resistance in glioblastoma". Trabalho apresentado em EMBO workshop: Modern DNA concepts and tools for safe gene transfer and modification, 2015.
  4. Cunha, Pedro; Costa, Pedro; Costa, Raquel; Branco, Ruben; Morais, Catarina; Cardoso, A.M.; et al. "MicroRNA-21 and micro RNA-128 modulation sensitizes glioblastoma cells to sunitinib treatement". Trabalho apresentado em XVIII Congress of the Portuguese Biochemical Society, 2014.
Pré-impressão
  1. Rundqvist, H.; Veliça, P.; Barbieri, L.; Gameiro, P.A.; Cunha, P.P.; Gojkovic, M.; Bargiela, D.; et al. "Lactate potentiates differentiation and expansion of cytotoxic T cells". 2019. http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/571745.
    10.1101/571745

Outros

Outra produção
  1. Modified Hypoxia Inducible Factor expression in CD8+ T cells increases anti-tumor efficacy. 2020. Pedro Veliça; Pedro Pacheco Cunha; Nikola Vojnovic; Iosifina Petrina Foskolou; David Bargiela; Milos Gojkovic; Helene Rundqvist; Randall Scott Johnson. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.18.159137.
    10.1101/2020.06.18.159137
Atividades

Apresentação oral de trabalho

Título da apresentação Nome do evento
Anfitrião (Local do evento)
2024/09/27 cDC1 reprogramming immunotherapy Innovative Therapies 4th CiBB retreat
CIBB (Coimbra, Portugal)
2021/07 Endogenous nitric oxide production modulates CD8+ T cell function PDN symposium 2021
(Cambridge, Reino Unido)
2018/03 Understanding the role of Arginase and Nitric oxide synthase in CD8+ T cell function PDN symposium 2018
(Cambridge, Reino Unido)
2016/07 On the development of a novel targeted miRNA-based therapy towards glioblastoma I Gala of Biochemistry
(Porto, Portugal)

Orientação

Título / Tema
Papel desempenhado 		Curso (Tipo)
Instituição / Organização
2020/11/05 - 2021/08/05 Modulating ex vivo oxygen tensions to improve CAR-T cell therapy
Coorientador
 Master Programme Molecular Medicine
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Medizinische Fakultät, Alemanha

Participação em evento

Descrição da atividade
Tipo de evento 		Nome do evento
Instituição / Organização
2024/07/26 - 2024/07/28 Metabolic cues enhance the generation of dendritic cells via direct cell reprogramming (poster presentation)
Congresso
 1st European ImmunoMetabolism Conference
2023/09 - 2023/09 Science communication - shared our research and interacted with the general public, in a valuable opportunity to communicate the relevance of our daily work and its potential societal impact.
Exposição
 European Night of Investigators
Universidade de Coimbra Centro de Inovação em Biomedicina e Biotecnologia, Portugal
2023/03 - 2023/03 XLVIII Annual Meeting of the Portuguese Society for Immunology
Encontro
 XLVIII Annual Meeting of the Portuguese Society for Immunology
2022/09 - 2022/09 Tuned hypoxic response in CD8+ T cells improves antitumour function (Poster presentation)
Conferência
 Keystone Immunometabolism (Colorado, USA)
2021/11 - 2021/11 Tuned hypoxic response in T cells improves antitumour function (Poster presentation)
Oficina (workshop)
 EMBO Workshop - Cancer immunometabolism (Barcelona, Spain)
2020/01 - 2020/01 Endogenous nitric oxide production modulates T cell function (Poster presentation)
Conferência
 Keystone Hypoxia (Colorado, USA)
2019/03 - 2019/03 Endogenous nitric oxide production modulates T cell function (Poster presentation)
Conferência
 Keystone Cancer Metastasis (Florance, Italy)
2015/05 - 2015/05 MicroRNA modulation renders glioblastoma cells sensitive to chemotherapy (Poster presentation)
Encontro
 49th Annual Scientific Meeting of the European Society for Clinical Investigation (Cluj, Romania)
2015/03 - 2015/03 A promising targeted strategy to overcome drug-resistance in glioblastoma (Poster presentation)
Oficina (workshop)
 EMBO workshop: Modern DNA concepts and tools for safe gene transfer and modification (Paris, France)
2014/12 - 2014/12 Vectorized oligonucleotide delivery renders glioblastoma cells sensitive to chemotherapy (Poster presentation)
Congresso
 XVIII Congress of the Portuguese Biochemical Society (Coimbra, Portugal)

Júri de grau académico

Tema
Tipo de participação 		Nome do candidato (Tipo de grau)
Instituição / Organização
2024/10/10 Exploring the impact of dietary lipids on iPSC pluripotency
Arguente principal
 Nathan James Hunter (Mestrado)
Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal

Tutoria

Tópico Nome do aluno
2024/09 - Atual Chemical reprogramming of dendritic cells Mariana Gonçalves
2024/09 - Atual RNA driven dendritic cell reprogramming Beatriz Vaz
Distinções

Prémio

2021 Best Poster Award
2014 Best Poster Award

Outra distinção

2017 PhD research studentship
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal