Prof. Dr. Claudia Cavadas

Prof. Dr. Claudia Cavadas did her PhD at the Division of Hypertension, Univ. Lausanne, Switzerland. She is now professor of Pharmacology at the Faculty of Pharmacy and leads the group ‘Neuroendocrinology and Aging’ at the Center of Neurosciences and Cell Biology, University of Coimbra. Her group is investigating the ageing and aged-related diseases, focusing on circadian rhythm, autophagy, and senescence. In 2019 she became Vice-rector in charge of Research of the University of Coimbra and Director of the Institute of Interdisciplinary Research. 

Research interests:

• Neuroendocrine axis and ageing 
• Hypothalamus: a target to delay aging and age-related disorders
• Circadian Rhythms in aging and age-related diseases 

Selected publications: 

• Cunha-Santos J, Duarte-Neves J, Carmona V, Guarente L, Pereira de Almeida L, Cavadas C. Caloric restriction blocks neuropathology and motor deficits in Machado-Joseph disease mouse models through SIRT1 pathway. Nat Commun. 2016 May 11;7:11445. doi: 10.1038/ncomms11445. 

• Ferreira-Marques M, Carvalho A, Cavadas C*, Aveleira CA*. PI3K/AKT/MTOR and ERK1/2-MAPK signaling pathways are involved in autophagy stimulation induced by caloric restriction or caloric restriction mimetics in cortical neurons. Aging (Albany NY). 2021 Mar 14;13(6):7872-7882. doi: 10.18632/aging.202805. 

• Neuropeptide Y (NPY) intranasal delivery alleviates Machado-Joseph disease. Sci Rep. 2021 Feb 8;11(1):3345. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-82339-5.