Antonio Roldao | Head of Cell-based Vaccines Development Lab
IBET

António Roldão graduated in Chemical Engineering at the Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa (FCT-UNL) in Portugal, and holds a PhD in Engineering and Technology Sciences, Systems Biology from Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier (ITQB NOVA) in Portugal. Working in Animal Cell Technology since 2004, his PhD focused on the design and implementation of in silico mathematical models for process control and optimization of a human vaccine candidate, namely Rotavirus-VLPs. His work pioneered the area as for the first time a comprehensive, integrative view of the production system was capture in mathematical and thermodynamic equations. Following PhD he moved to Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden); during 3 years, he was a senior researcher at Jens Nielsen lab, developing/acquiring “omics” skills that revealed to be essential for the characterization of the cell factory he was working with. In 2014, he re-joined iBET as a senior scientist, and later that year awarded with the FCT Investigator grant. As senior researcher at iNOVA4Health – Advancing Precision Medicine at iBET (since 2015), Head of the Cell-based Vaccines Development Laboratory (since 2019) and Coordinator of Late-Stage R&D Bioproduction Unit (since 2021), he has been leading initiatives aimed at translating research findings (in both vaccine and gene therapy fields) into tangible solutions. CV Highlights: (i) Author of 49 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, 4 book chapters and 1 editorial; (ii) Presented 34 oral (invited) communications; (iii) Mentor and supervisor of research students, both at the PhD (12, 8 defended) and MSc (16, 15 defended) levels; (iv) Coordinator and lecturer in various Ph.D. and MSc's courses in Portugal and abroad (e.g. “Vaccinology and Drug Development” Master Program from University of Siena, Italy); (v) member of ESACT XC since 2022. Current research, with funding from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Portugal), EU framework programs, international public/private funding agencies and the pharmaceutical industry, is driven by the aim to develop novel complex biopharmaceuticals with impact in Human and Animal Health. The basis for his work lies on the use and integration of multidisciplinary technologies such as synthetic biology, evolutionary and bioprocess engineering, and bottom-up systems biology to fasten the generation of the products his interested in, particularly virus-like particles (VLPs) as vaccine candidates, functionalized nanoparticles as therapeutics, and viral vectors (e.g. AAVs, Adenovirus, Lentivirus) for gene therapy.