Sandra Tenreiro

Professor Professor Auxiliar

Principal Investigator

Sandra Tenreiro is the group leader of the Degeneration and Aging Lab and Assistant Professor at NOVA Medical School. Her research focuses on elucidating the molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration in the context of retinal aging diseases, using in vitro models such as retinal organoids.

Sandra Tenreiro is the Chair of the COST Action Retina4Future (CA25105), aiming to accelerate translation in the Retina research field, and is Coordinator of the MPS_NOVA twinning project, dedicated to Advanced Microphysiological Systems and Pluripotent Stem Cell Technologies to Unveil Chronic Disease Mechanisms and Host-Microbe Interactions.

She is particularly motivated to explore alternative models to traditional animal research methods. She is also collaborating with ophthalmologists and is actively involved in clinical studies (ClinicalTrials.gov database identifier: NCT06355830).

Sandra has one patent under review (patent PT118368 / EU 22217331.2).

Sandra Tenreiro holds a BS degree in Biochemistry (1993), an MSc in Cell Biology (1995) from the University of Coimbra, and a PhD in Biotechnology from Instituto Superior Técnico (2001).

Publications

Falcão AS, Pedro ML, Tenreiro S, Seabra MC. Targeting Lysosomal Dysfunction and Oxidative Stress in Age-Related Macular Degeneration. Antioxidants (Basel). 2025;14(5):596. Published 2025 May 16. doi:10.3390/antiox14050596
de Lemos L, Antas P, Ferreira IS, et al. Modelling neurodegeneration and inflammation in early diabetic retinopathy using 3D human retinal organoids. In Vitro Model. 2024;3(1):33-48. Published 2024 Mar 25. doi:10.1007/s44164-024-00068-1
Teixeira J, Lumack do Monte Z, Tenreiro S, et al. Citicoline eluting hydrogels for therapeutic contact lenses intended to treat neurodegenerative diabetic ocular diseases. Int J Pharm. 2024;667(Pt A):124908. doi:10.1016/j.ijpharm.2024.124908
Fonseca AF, Coelho R, da-Silva ML, et al. Modeling Choroideremia Disease with Isogenic Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. Stem Cells Dev. 2024;33(19-20):528-539. doi:10.1089/scd.2024.0105
Flores R, Fradinho AC, Pereira RS, et al. Identifying Imaging Predictors of Intermediate Age-Related Macular Degeneration Progression. Transl Vis Sci Technol. 2023;12(7):22. doi:10.1167/tvst.12.7.22
Dias SB, de Lemos L, Sousa L, et al. Age-Related Changes of the Synucleins Profile in the Mouse Retina. Biomolecules. 2023;13(1):180. Published 2023 Jan 15. doi:10.3390/biom13010180
Cabral D, Ramtohul P, Kaden TR, Tenreiro S, Seabra MC, Freund KB. Hyperpigmented epiretinal membrane in macular telangiectasia type 2: imaging characteristics and correlation with transretinal pigment migration. Eye (Lond). 2023;37(9):1856-1860. doi:10.1038/s41433-022-02260-7
Flores R, Carneiro Â, Neri G, et al. Choroidal Vascular Impairment in Intermediate Age-Related Macular Degeneration. Diagnostics (Basel). 2022;12(5):1290. Published 2022 May 22. doi:10.3390/diagnostics12051290
Escrevente C, Falcão AS, Hall MJ, et al. Formation of Lipofuscin-Like Autofluorescent Granules in the Retinal Pigment Epithelium Requires Lysosome Dysfunction. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2021;62(9):39. doi:10.1167/iovs.62.9.39
Flores R, Carneiro A, Serra J, et al. CORRELATION STUDY BETWEEN DRUSEN MORPHOLOGY AND FUNDUS AUTOFLUORESCENCE. Retina. 2021;41(3):555-562. doi:10.1097/IAE.0000000000002881