António Francisco Rosa Gomes Ambrósio

António Francisco Ambrósio graduated in Biochemistry in 1994 from the University of Coimbra and received his PhD in Cell Biology from the same University in 2000. Francisco Ambrósio worked at Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology (CNC), University of Coimbra, during his PhD training and also as a Post-Doc until 2002, when he assumed his current position as a Research Associate, at Institute of Biomedical Research in Light and Image (IBILI), Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra. Currently, he is the leader of Retinal Dysfunction Group at IBILI.His main scientific interests lie in the field of Vision Sciences and Neuroscience, more specifically on the pathogenic mechanisms underlying retinal dysfunction and degeneration in retinal degenerative diseases (diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma), giving a particular attention to the role played by inflammatory mediators. Francisco Ambrósio has been also interested in understanding the physiological role of Neuropeptide Y in the retina. He established several international collaborations with leading experts, and presently he is supervising 7 PhD students and 2 post-docs. Francisco Ambrósio has been funded from national and international agencies and also from national and international pharmaceutical companies. Francisco Ambrósio was president of the Portuguese Association of Biochemists (2000-2004) and secretary-general and co-founder of the Portuguese Society of Stem Cells and Cellular Therapy (2005-2007), and since 2004 is the secretary-general of the Portuguese Society of Biochemistry.

Scientific Interests:

1. Age-related retinal diseases, namely diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma. To give insight into the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying cell dysfunction in these pathologies, giving particular attention to the role played by glutamate, inflammatory mediators and ATP;
2. Identification of molecular targets with potential neuroprotective properties in the retina;
3. To understand the physiological role of NPY in the retina, and particularly in ganglion cell function.
4. Impact of ecstasy in retinal function.
5. Impact of diabetes on exocytosis in Central Nervous System

Key Publications:

Phone Number:+351 239 480222

Email: fambrosio@ibili.uc.pt