Rui Eduardo Mota Castro

Rui Eduardo Castro received his PhD in Pharmacy (Biochemistry) from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Lisbon (FFULisboa) in 2006, after spending more than a year in the Department of Medicine at the University of Minnesota, USA. During his PhD, Castro made important contributions to the characterization of bile acids (BAs) as potent signaling molecules, particularly with regard to cell fate modulation. In 2015, he began working as Main Researcher in the Cell Function and Therapeutic Dianations Group (http://imed.ulisboa.pt/cv/rui-eduardo-mota-castro/). Castro's most recent publications, derived directly from his own research, have contributed to understanding the role of miRNAs during liver regeneration and the pathogenesis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), as well as the importance of miRNAs as genetic and molecular targets for bile acids during cell fate modulation. Well established models of in vitro and in vivo disease, liver biopsies of human and animal patients with liver-specific miRNA knock-out are being used in multilayered pharmacological approaches with the aim of finally bringing miRNA therapies to the hepatic clinical environment.