Joaquim Miguel Vieira

I studied Biochemistry at the University of Lisbon, Portugal. Then, I moved to London for my PhD studies on the role of Neuropilin-1 and its ligands during blood vessel growth and patterning in Professor Christiana Ruhrberg's laboratory at University College London (UCL)-Institute of Ophthalmology.

In 2008, I started as a postdoctoral researcher at UCL-Institute of Child Health in Professor Paul Riley's laboratory to work on the characterisation of adult epicardium-derived cells (EPDCs) and their contribution to cardiovascular homeostasis and endogenous repair. In 2012, I moved to Oxford as a senior postdoctoral researcher in Professor Paul Riley's team and my research focus included the investigation of the epigenetic mechanisms controlling epicardial activity during heart development and disease; and characterisation of the cardiac lymphatic vasculature in the developing and diseased heart.

In 2019, I was awarded a British Heart Foundation (BHF) Intermediate Basic Science Research Fellowship to start my research group and study the functional role of the noncoding genome (long noncoding RNAs and enhancers) during epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in the developing and diseased heart. By creating a blueprint of noncoding sequences that influence EMT in the heart, it might be possible to enable cardiovascular regeneration.

College affiliation

October 2018 - September 2019: (non-stipendiary) Lecturer in Medicine at St. Hilda's College

October 2013 - October 2015: (non-stipendiary) Fulford Junior Research Fellow at Somerville College