Raquel P Andrade obtained a degree in Biochemistry from Universidade de Lisboa (1996) and a PhD degree in Sciences from Universidade do Minho in collaboration with Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt (2002). After a 6-year post-doc training at ICVS (Univ. Minho), she secured a Research Team Leader position at ICVS/3Bs (Univ. Minho) until 2014. Since 2014, Raquel is a Professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Algarve and is head of the Temporal Control of Cell Differentiation Lab at the Algarve Biomedical Center Research Institute (ABC-RI). From 2021-2025, she was also a researcher of the Champalimaud Research Program, under the scope of the Algarve Biomedical Center partnership. Raquel is currently the Director of the Algarve Biomedical Center Research Institute (ABC-Ri) at Universidade do Algarve. Raquel has published in international peer-reviewed high profile journals (such as PNAS, Nucleic Acids Research, RNA, Development, Clinical Cancer Research,...) and participated in multiple national/international financed research projects. Her lab is dedicated to studying the Embryo Clock (EC) in temporal control of vertebrate development. Gene expression oscillations, driven by negative feedback mechanisms, are at the core of the EC mechanism and underlie the periodic formation of the vertebrate axial skeleton precursors. This molecular time-counting mechanism is also operating in embryonic and neural stem cells, contributing to cell identity specification. The aim is to understand 1) the functional relevance of EC oscillations, and 2) how the periodicity of the EC is regulated in different tissues and species. The molecular parallelisms between embryo development, tumorigenesis and ageing are a focus of collaborative research efforts.
Algarve Biomedical Centre Research Institute (ABC-Ri)
Biorhythms underlie many aspects of our lives ensuring that all cellular processes occur in their optimal temporal niche. Molecular oscillators with circadian or ultradian (<24h) rhythms have been independently characterized in multiple organisms/cells and revealed to be crucial timekeeping mechanisms operating during DEVELOPMENT, AGEING AND DISEASE. Our group studies one such oscillator – the EMBRYO MOLECULAR CLOCK (EC) – which regulates the periodic formation of the vertebrate embryo axial skeleton precursors. EC gene expression oscillations are driven by negative feedback mechanisms and its periodicity depends on timely mRNA and protein turnover. We aim to answer the following questions:
- What regulates the periodicity and amplitude of the EC?
- What is the functional role of EC gene expression oscillations?
- How does the dysregulation of the EC impact tumorigenesis?
Live imaging with fluorescent reporters
Embryo manipulation / electroporation
In situ hybridization
Transcriptomics
Epigenomics
Optogenetics
Maia-Fernandes, A.C., Pais de Azevedo, T.*, Nísia Borralho-Martins*, Ramalhete, S., Martins, G.G., Palmeirim, I., Duarte, I., Marreiros, A., Martel, P.J., Andrade, R.P. 2026. A Morphometric Characterization of Early Chick Embryo Elongation. Dev Biol. (doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2025.12.022)
Gil Carraco*, Ana P. Martins-Jesus* and Raquel P. Andrade. 2022. The Vertebrate Embryo Clock: Common Players Dancing to a Different Beat. Front. Cell Dev. Biol. 10:944016. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2022.944016.
Patrícia Gomes de Almeida, Pedro Rifes, Ana Patrícia Martins-Jesus, Gonçalo G. Pinheiro, Sólveig Thorsteinsdóttir* and Raquel P. Andrade*. 2022. Cell-fibronectin interactions and actomyosin contractility regulate the segmentation clock and spatio-temporal somite cleft formation during chick embryo somitogenesis. Cells 11:2003. doi: 10.3390/cells11132003.
Isabel Duarte*, Gil Carraco*, Nayara T. D. de Azevedo, Vladimir Benes, Raquel P. Andrade. 2022. gga-miRNOME, A microRNA-sequencing dataset from chick embryonic tissues. Scientific Data 9: 29. doi: 10.1038/s41597-022-01126-7.
Nóbrega A, Maia-Fernandes AC, Andrade RP. 2021. Altered Cogs of the Clock: Insights into the Embryonic Etiology of Spondylocostal Dysostosis. J Dev Biol. 9:5. DOI: 10.3390/jdb9010005.