Filipe Pinto

Assistant Researcher, i3S - Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto
  • Portugal

About Filipe Pinto

Filipe Pinto (born 1981) has a first degree (2003) and an MSc (2009) in Biochemistry, and a PhD in Biology in the field of Synthetic Biology (2013, Approved with Distinction), all from the University of Porto (UP) in Portugal. He did an Erasmus internship at BRC (Uni. Szeged, HU) in his final college year and since then he was involved in research activities in the fields of molecular microbiology and protein science. He studied phage-triggered bacterial autolysis (2004, Uni. Lisbon, PT), integrated a group of molecular structure of proteins (2005, IBMC/UP, PT) and from 2006 to 2015 he focused his research in the molecular biology of cyanobacteria (IBMC/UP, PT). During this period, he integrated the research team led by Paula Tamagnini and participated in two Synthetic Biology European projects: the pioneer FP6 EU-project “BioModularH2” as a PhD student, and the FP7 EU-project “CyanoFactory” as a Postdoc. He was also involved in the preparation of proposals of funded R&D projects and was part of the research team performing the work; he contributed to the creation of the ideas as well as in writing the proposals. From 2016 to 2021, he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the field of Synthetic Biology at the University Edinburgh (UK), accumulating lab manager functions. During this period, his research interests included the design and engineering of new scalable biological circuits by developing and combining libraries of orthogonal split inteins (“protein ligases”), optimized extracytoplasmic function (ECF) sigma factors and orthogonal transcription repressors.

Currently, F Pinto is an Assistant Researcher (CEEC- Individual Call – 3rd Edition) at the Bioengineering & Synthetic Microbiology group (i3S/UP, PT), developing his research in the field of cyanobacterial Synthetic Biology.

With 15+ years of research experience, F Pinto co-authored his first paper while in his degree and, in total, he published 18 papers (4 of which as lead author and 1 as co-first author) in well-established international peer-reviewed scientific journals (with an accumulated IF of over 120), with 560+ citations and h-index 11 (Scopus Author ID: 35614368600). Six of the papers were published in the last 5 years and he was lead author in one publication that resulted in granted European patents. The work he developed in this period also resulted in 3 research articles published in Nature Communications, a highly regarded peer-reviewed journal. He was co-guest editor in a Synthetic Biology special issue in the MDPI journal Life (ISSN 2075-1729). He participated in several national and international meetings where he presented 4 oral communications and 29+ conference posters, including two prestigious Gordon Research Conferences on Synthetic Biology.

Regarding F Pinto’s pedagogical role, he co-supervised an undergraduate student within the FP7 EU-project and two MSc students at UoE, and he was involved in the supervision of several other students, including high-school, undergraduate (including 2 Erasmus), MSc and PhD students. He was also one of the coordinators of the RT-qPCR course, part of the advanced training provided by the Doctoral Program in Molecular and Cell Biology (IBMC, ICBAS, FCUP; UP) in the academic years of 2013-14 and 2014-15. From 2009 to 2015, he gave invited talks in the Environmental Biotechnology syllabus from the Master in Ecology, Environment and Territory (FCUP) and the integrated Master in Bioengineering (FEUP). From 2010 to 2015, F Pinto was part of “Embaixadores da Ciência”, a group of IBMC/INEB researchers engaged in science dissemination in schools.

He was awarded a 1st poster prize and 4 conference travel awards, and the prize “Prémio Fundação Eng. António de Almeida” that distinguishes the best FCUP PhD thesis in the areas of Life Sciences, Agricultural Sciences and Landscape Architecture. He is inventor in recently granted patents describing the neutral sites technology in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis (European Patents EP3106521 & EP3461897).

Intro Content

Nature Communications

15 non cross-reacting protein glues for one-pot seamless assembly of multiple peptides

Inteins are remarkable seamless protein ligation tools with demonstrated broad applications in biotechnology and biochemistry. Our expanded library provides orthogonal split inteins that can be used simultaneously, thus unlocking the full potential of this exciting tool in many application areas.

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