Gonçalo Castelo-Branco

Gonçalo Castelo-Branco, PhD
Professor of Glial Cell Biology at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Professor Gonçalo Castelo-Branco is a Professor of Glial Cell Biology at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Prof. Castelo-Branco received his PhD in Medical Biochemistry in 2005, working on development of dopaminergic neurons and neural stem differentiation. He completed post-doctoral fellowships first at the Karolinska Institutet and then at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, working in neural and pluripotent stem cells and chromatin. Prof. Castelo-Branco started his research group in 2012, focusing on the molecular mechanisms regulating the epigenomic states of oligodendrocyte lineage cells in neuroinflammatory and demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), using technologies such as single cell and spatial transcriptomics and epigenomics, among others. The long-term goal of his group is to build a solid platform of convergent knowledge and know-how on the epigenetics of (re)myelination and neuroinflammation, which will allow to establish innovative regenerative strategies for neuroinflammatory diseases such as MS. Prof. Castelo- Branco has received many prestigious awards and grants, including European Research Council Consolidator and Advanced Grants, the Swedish Society for Medical Research (SSMF) 100 years Jubileum Prize, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Göran Gustafsson Prize 2021 in Medicine and the Hans Wigzell prize 2022. Prof. Castelo- Branco was elected in 2023 to the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet, that yearly awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.