The goal of Miguel Castanho’s group is to unravel the physical principles that govern interactions at the molecular level of clinically relevant compounds with model cell systems, with the objective of developing new drugs, as well as improving the understanding of the mechanism(s) of action of established drugs. Miguel Castanho has expertise in the design and study of membrane-active peptides with activities ranging from Antiviral, Antimicrobial, Anticancer, Analgesic and Drug delivery using a wide variety of experimental methods, as well as structural biology approaches. One of the main focuses of his research group is the study of antiviral peptide drugs able to transmigrate across the Blood-Brain-Barrier (BBB) and target enveloped viruses in the Central Nervous System (CNS). He is the coordinator of the project NOVIRUSES2BRAIN: 'One size fits all' unique drug to eradicate multiple viral species simultaneously from the central nervous system (European Innovation Council ; FET-OPEN, Grant 828774).
Institutional Responsabilities
1994 - 2002, Assistant Professor at the Dept of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, Portugal. (With post-doctoral leave 1997-98)
2002 - 07, Associate Professor at the Dept of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, Portugal.
2005 - 07, Vice-dean of the Scientific Council of the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon.
2007 - present, Full Professor and head of the Biochemistry Department of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon, Portugal.
2011 - 16, Vice-dean of the Directive Board of the School of Medicine, University of Lisbon.
2016 - 17, Vice-president of the Public National Science Funding Agency, FCT I.P. (appointed by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education)
2019 - present, Specialty Chief Editor, Pharmaceutical Innovations, Frontiers in Medical Technologies (https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medical-technology/sections/pharmaceutical-innovation)
Current and previous research position(s)
1997-98, Post-doctoral fellow, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA (supervisor: David Jameson) and Rocasolano Physical Chemistry Inst., Madrid, Spain (supervisor: Ulisses Acuña).
2000-07, Principal Investigator of the Molecular Biophysics Group at the Centre of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon).
2007-present, Principal Investigator of the M Castanho Lab at the Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM), School of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (Seconded Feb. 2016 – Sept. 2017 in the public Portuguese funding agency, FCT I.P., as vice-president).
Área de Investigação
Physical Biochemistry