Helder Henrique Ribeiro Rocha (B713-8548-E41C)

Curriculum Vitae

Helder Henrique Ribeiro Rocha

Helder Rocha concluded a PhD in Bomedical Sciences in 2019 by the University of Porto - Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar, a MSc in Molecular and Cellular Biology in 2013 by the University of Aveiro and a degree in Thanatologic, Cytologic and Pathologic Anatomy in 2010 by the Polithecnic of Porto - Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde. To date, his work resulted in the publication of 7 papers in international peer-reviewed journals (3 as first author). He was part of the teams that successfully concluded 5 research projects (plus one ongoing): 4 financed by FCT , an EMBO installation grant and an ERC starting grant. His PhD work was fully funded by a FCT PhD fellowship. Additionally, I participated in national and international meetings, presenting 20 abstracts, 4 of which as oral communications, and was invited to give two seminars and teach in two workshops. He has made important contributions to our understanding of the mechanisms that regulate mitotic fidelity, namely the involvement of Protein phosphatase 4 in timely kinetochore assembly. Recently, he has been dedicated to the study of how opposite-polarity molecular motors (dynein and kinesin) are regulated by cargo adaptor proteins in axonal transport.

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Identification

Personal identification

Full name: Helder Henrique Ribeiro Rocha

Author identifiers

Ciência ID: B713-8548-E41C

Email addresses

helder.rocha@ibmc.up.pt (Professional)
hhr@ess.ipp.pt (Professional)

Knowledge fields

Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Cell Biology
Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Molecular Biology

Education

	Degree	Classification
2014/11/19 - 2019/11/20 Concluded	Ciências Biomédicas (Doutoramento) Universidade do Porto Instituto de Ciencias Biomedicas Abel Salazar, Portugal "Identification of novel conserved dynein pathway genes using a genome-wide synthetic lethal sreen in C. elegans" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
2011/09 - 2013/02/04 Concluded	Biologia Molecular e Celular (Mestrado) Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal "The genetic basis of lifespan in Drosophila americana" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)	17
2006/09 - 2010/07/03 Concluded	Anatomia Patológica, Citológica e Tanatológica (Licenciatura) Instituto Politecnico do Porto Escola Superior de Saude, Portugal "Molecular detection of polymorphisms in genes IL-1b and IL-1RN in patients with Helicobacter pylori infection" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)	16

Affiliation

Science

	Category Host institution	Employer
2023/10/01 - Current	Visiting Researcher (Research)	Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigacao e Inovacao em Saude, Portugal
	Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigacao e Inovacao em Saude, Portugal
2022/01/16 - 2023/09/30	Postdoc (Research)	Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigacao e Inovacao em Saude, Portugal
	Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigacao e Inovacao em Saude, Portugal
2019/12/01 - 2020/12/31	Postdoc (Research)	Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigacao e Inovacao em Saude, Portugal
	Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigacao e Inovacao em Saude, Portugal
2015/03/01 - 2019/11/30	Researcher (Research)	Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, Portugal
	Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigacao e Inovacao em Saude, Portugal
2013/03/01 - 2015/02/28	Researcher (Research)	Universidade do Porto Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Portugal

2010/10/01 - 2012/11/30	Researcher (Research)	Universidade do Porto Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Portugal

2010/02/08 - 2010/06/30	Research Trainee (Research)	Universidade do Porto Instituto de Patologia e Imunologia Molecular, Portugal

Teaching in Higher Education

	Category Host institution	Employer
2023/09/18 - Current	Invited Adjunct Teacher (Polytechnic Teacher)	Instituto Politecnico do Porto Escola Superior de Saude, Portugal
	Instituto Politecnico do Porto Escola Superior de Saude, Portugal

Others

	Category Host institution	Employer
2021/01/25 - 2021/11/30	Molecular Biology Technician	Unilabs Portugal, Portugal

Projects

Grant

	Designation	Funders
2015/03/01 - 2019/02/28	Identification of Novel Conserved Dynein Pathway Genes Using a Genome-Wide Synthetic Lethal Screen in C. elegans SFRH/BD/103495/2014 PhD Student Fellow Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, Portugal	Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia Concluded

Contract

	Designation	Funders
2022/01/16 - Current	Axonal transport regulation by motor-cargo adaptors PTDC/BIA-CEL/1321/2021 Post-doc Universidade do Porto Instituto de Investigacao e Inovacao em Saude, Portugal	Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia Ongoing
2019/12/01 - 2020/12/31	Molecular mechanisms of the dynein-dynactin transport machinery in health and disease PTDC/BIA-CEL/30507/2017 NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-030507 Post-doc Fellow Universidade do Porto Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Concluded
2019/03/01 - 2019/10/31	Cytoplasmic Dynein: Mechanisms of Regulation and Novel Interactors ERC-2013-StG-338410-DYNEINOME PhD Student Fellow Universidade do Porto Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Portugal	European Research Council Concluded
2013/01/03 - 2015/02/28	Molecular Mechanisms of Cytoplasmic Dynein Regulators EMBO Installation Grant 2545 Research Fellow Universidade do Porto Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Portugal	Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Lebenswissenschaften Heidelberg GmbH Concluded
2011/04/01 - 2012/11/30	Can polymorphism in the same set of genes explain within-species variation in life-history traits in divergent species? PTDC/BIA-BEC/099933/2008 Provided by PTCRIS: 99933 99933 Research Fellow Universidade do Porto Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Portugal	Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia Concluded
2010/10/01 - 2011/03/31	The evolution of ecologically relevant genes PTDC/BIA-BDE/66765/2006 Provided by PTCRIS: 66765 66765 Research Fellow Universidade do Porto Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Portugal	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia Concluded

Outputs

Publications

Journal article	Carvalho, Cátia; Moreira, Matilde; Barbosa, Daniel J.; Chan, Fung-Yi; Koehnen, Carlota Boal; Teixeira, Vanessa; Rocha, Helder; et al. "ZYG-12/Hook's dual role as a dynein adaptor for early endosomes and nuclei is regulated by alternative splicing of its cargo binding domain". Molecular Biology of the Cell 36 2 (2025): https://doi.org/10.1091/mbc.e24-08-0364. Open access • Published • 10.1091/mbc.e24-08-0364 Andrade, Patrícia; Silva, Regina A; Rocha, H.. "Cervical Cancer Prevention: The Angolan Case". Citotech online 8 (2025): https://doi.org/10.26537/citotech.vi8.6082. Open access • Published • 10.26537/citotech.vi8.6082 Almeida, Ana C.; Rocha, Helder; Raas, Maximilian W. D.; Witte, Hanh; Sommer, Ralf J.; Snel, Berend; Kops, Geert J. P. L.; Gassmann, Reto; Maiato, Helder. "An evolutionary perspective on the relationship between kinetochore size and CENP-E dependence for chromosome alignment". Journal of Cell Science 137 24 (2024): https://doi.org/10.1242/jcs.263466. Published • 10.1242/jcs.263466 Helder Rocha; Patrícia Simões; Jacqueline Budrewicz; Pablo Lara-Gonzalez; Ana Xavier de Carvalho; Julien Dumont; Arshad Desai; Reto Gassmann. "Nuclear-enriched protein phosphatase 4 ensures outer kinetochore assembly prior to nuclear dissolution". Journal of Cell Biology 222 3 (2023): http://dx.doi.org/10.1083/jcb.202208154. 10.1083/jcb.202208154 Ricardo Celestino; José B. Gama; Artur F. Castro-Rodrigues; Daniel J. Barbosa; Helder Rocha; Ennio A. d’Amico; Andrea Musacchio; et al. "JIP3 interacts with dynein and kinesin-1 to regulate bidirectional organelle transport". Journal of Cell Biology 221 8 (2022): e202110057. 10.1083/jcb.202110057 Rocha, H.; Maia, A.F.; Gassmann, R.. "Data Descriptor: A genome-scale RNAi screen for genetic interactors of the dynein co-factor nud-2 in Caenorhabditis elegans". Scientific Data 5 (2018): http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85044305058&partnerID=MN8TOARS. 10.1038/sdata.2018.47 Reis, M.; Páscoa, I.; Rocha, H.; Aguiar, B.; Vieira, C.P.; Vieira, J.. "Genes belonging to the insulin and ecdysone signaling pathways can contribute to developmental time, lifespan and abdominal size variation in Drosophila americana". PLoS ONE 9 1 (2014): http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84900325167&partnerID=MN8TOARS. 10.1371/journal.pone.0086690 Araújo, A.R.; Reis, M.; Rocha, H.; Aguiar, B.; Morales-Hojas, R.; Macedo-Ribeiro, S.; Fonseca, N.A.; et al. "The Drosophila melanogaster methuselah Gene: A Novel Gene with Ancient Functions". PLoS ONE 8 5 (2013): http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84877819189&partnerID=MN8TOARS. 10.1371/journal.pone.0063747 Fonseca, N.A.; Morales-Hojas, R.; Reis, M.; Rocha, H.; Vieira, C.P.; Nolte, V.; Schlötterer, C.; Vieira, J.. "Drosophila americana as a model species for comparative studies on the molecular basis of phenotypic variation". Genome Biology and Evolution 5 4 (2013): 661-679. http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84876523283&partnerID=MN8TOARS. 10.1093/gbe/evt037 Reis, M.; Vieira, C.P.; Morales-Hojas, R.; Aguiar, B.; Rocha, H.; Schlötterer, C.; Vieira, J.. "A comparative study of the short term cold resistance response in distantly related Drosophila species: The role of regucalcin and Frost". PLoS ONE 6 10 (2011): http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-80053451103&partnerID=MN8TOARS. 10.1371/journal.pone.0025520
Preprint	Helder Rocha. "Nuclear-enriched protein phosphatase 4 ensures outer kinetochore assembly prior to nuclear dissolution". 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2022.09.01.505886. 10.1101/2022.09.01.505886
Thesis / Dissertation	Rocha, Helder. "Identification of novel conserved dynein pathway genes using a genome-wide synthetic lethal screen in C. elegans". PhD, Universidade do Porto Instituto de Ciencias Biomedicas Abel Salazar, 2019. https://hdl.handle.net/10216/124618. Rocha, Helder Henrique Ribeiro. "The genetic basis of lifespan in Drosophila americana". Master, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10773/10080.