Bruno Pereira is a Project Leader (CEECINST/00131/2021, FCT Assistant Researcher contract) at i3S in the Differentiation and Cancer group with an independent research line focused on the role of RNA-binding protein (RBP) networks in intestinal homeostasis and carcinogenesis. He leads a team of 1 postdoc, 2 PhD students and 1 MSc student.

After a graduation in Biology, he obtained his PhD in Biomedicine in 2013 from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto (FMUP) studying the regulation of the intestinal transcription factor CDX2 in cancer. The work was developed in Almeida's lab at IPATIMUP and in Billaud's lab at the Institute for Advanced Biosciences (IAB, Grenoble, France). As a major finding, he showed that the novel RNA-binding protein MEX3A represses CDX2 expression and intestinal differentiation (Nucleic Acids Research, 2013). Still in 2013, he was the national nominee to represent the Portuguese Society of Human Genetics (SPGH) at the European Human Genetics Conference (Paris, France) and was also invited to represent FMUP at the 10th International Medical Postgraduate Conference (Czech Republic), where he was recognized by the Organisation for PhD Education in Biomedicine and Health Sciences in the European System (ORPHEUS) with an Outstanding Research award. His postdoctoral studies began in 2014 with an EMBO Fellowship at IAB (France). Shortly after returning to Portugal, he contributed as a co-Principal Investigator in a highly competitive European Union FP7 INFRAFRONTIER-I3 call (only 30 projects funded) to generate the first Mex3a knockout (KO) mouse model for human oncopathology studies. In 2016, he was awarded a Postdoctoral fellowship in the national FCT Call and nominated member of the i3S Animal Welfare and Ethics Review Body (ORBEA) to improve the quality of animal experimentation. He has solid knowledge in the characterization of transgenic mouse models (FELASA C accreditation) and has developed a unique expertise in the host institution regarding the establishment of gastrointestinal organoid and tumoroid 3D cultures as surrogates for different experimental settings in the stem cell and cancer field. He recently provided the first evidence that MEX3A is critical for maintenance of intestinal stem cells in vivo and organoid maturation ex vivo (EMBO Reports, 2020), a high-impact work featured on the cover. Moreover, the team has published a highly cited comprehensive review on the interplay between RBPs and cancer (Trends in Cancer, 2017). In 2018 he was awarded a CEEC Junior research contract and in 2023 a CEEC Assistant research contract.

Bruno Pereira has a strong record in the stem cell and cancer field, with 13 peer-reviewed articles published, 6 as first author (h-index 12, > 800 citations), 3 as corresponding author. His work has been shown in over 40 specialized meetings (20 oral presentations, 11 by invitation) and credited with several awards, including an INFRAFRONTIER Young Investigator Grant in 2017 and the Crioestaminal & SPCE-TC Regenerative Medicine Research award in 2022. Since 2018, he has consistently secured funding (€450k total) as a leading Principal Investigator in highly competitive calls from both national (FCT grants: inSTEM, PTDC/BIA-MOL/31538/2017; diffNET, PTDC/BIA-CEL/0456/2021) and international (MERCK: ResistNET, Biopharma Speed grant:) funding agencies. He successfully supervised 2 postdocs and 11 MSc thesis. He has peer-reviewer roles in national/international grants and fellowships and editorial roles in journals (Review Editor for Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology; Guest Editor for the JoVE Methods Collection “Guts out: stem cell-derived 3D approaches to study intestinal homeostasis and disease ex vivo”). He is an active member of relevant societies in his field of expertise, including the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) and the Portuguese (ASPIC) and European (EACR) Associations for Cancer Research. Regarding other scientific activities, he is currently the President of the National Association of Science and Technology Researchers (ANICT), elected for 2023/2024 to actively discuss scientific policies and career development. He is also an i3S Science Ambassador regularly showcasing his research in high-schools, promoting scientific literacy in Oncobiology.