SANDRO PEREIRA
Profile:
Stem cell biologist and neurobiologist with a PhD and 20+ years of research spanning stem cell metabolism, mitochondrial physiology, and neurodegeneration — with a particular focus on Parkinson's disease. Author of 30+ peer-reviewed publications (H-index 21, 2,249 citations) and contributor to securing over €3.6 million in international R&D funding. As Lead Scientist at Exobiosphere, Sandro manages the scientific team in the design, validation, and execution of novel in-vitro workflows for space biological research to be implemented through Exobiosphere’s Orbital High-Throughput Screener (OHTS). He also leads Exobiosphere’s defence applications, extending the OHTS platform to mission-driven biomedical use cases. His background in iPSC-derived models, metabolomics, and high-content image analysis directly supports Exobiosphere's mission to produce more predictive, space-enabled preclinical data for neurodegeneration and broader biomedical drug discovery.
Work History:
2025 - CURRENT: EXOBIOSPHERE | LUXEMBOURGLead Research Scientist
Coordinates Exobiosphere's scientific team across cell biology, assay development, and automation to deliver flight-qualified workflows on the OHTS, while leading the technical dialogue with clients and their scientific teams to translate drug discovery objectives into orbit-ready experimental designs. In parallel, serves as scientific lead for the company's defence portfolio, working with agency stakeholders and military partners to develop space, air, and terrestrial applications of the platform. Alongside these technical responsibilities, contributes to fundraising and business development by shaping the scientific rationale and technical content of grant applications and commercial proposals.
2023 - 2025: Luxembourg Center for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB), University of LuxembourgResearch & Development Specialist
Led scientific projects at the intersection of mitochondrial biology and neurodegeneration, developing and applying iPSC-based models — including neuronal, astroglial, and microglial differentiation — to study the mechanisms underlying Parkinson's disease. Was actively involved in the conception and writing of multiple funded research grants, contributing to over €2.5 million in total funding secured. Supervised PhD students, MSc students, and laboratory technicians, and taught in the "Introduction to Biology for Data Scientists" course at the Master of Data Science programme of the University of Luxembourg (2022–2024).
2016 - 2023: Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB), University of LuxembourgPostdoctoral Research Associate
Conducted research on mitochondrial epigenetics, inflammatory responses, and mitochondrial DNA dynamics in Parkinson's disease models. During this period Sandro held a Visiting Scientist position at Columbia University's Division of Behavioral Medicine (2020) and a Visiting Scientist/Postdoc position at the Technical University of Braunschweig in Germany (2016–2017), where he worked on metabolomics. He also held a concurrent Scientist position at the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) focused on metabolism (2021–2023).
2014 - 2016: CNC, University of Coimbra, Portugal | Infogene Lda., PortugalPostdoctoral Fellow / Product Development Scientist
Carried out postdoctoral research on stem cell metabolism and pluripotency at the Centre for Neuroscience and Cell Biology (CNC), University of Coimbra. In 2014 he worked as a Product Development Scientist at Infogene Lda., contributing to oncology-focused product development.
2008 - 2013: CNC, University of Coimbra, Portugal | Visiting: Karolinska Institute, SwedenPhD Student (FCT Scholarship)
Completed a PhD on mitochondrial involvement in neural stem cell differentiation under FCT scholarship funding, including a visiting PhD period at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden (2008–2009). Prior to the PhD, worked as a Research Assistant at CNC (2006–2008) and as a Researcher at the Institute of Molecular Medicine, Lisbon (2003–2004).
EDUcation:
CNC, University of Coimbra, PortugalPhD, Stem Cell Metabolism
University of Azores, PortugalBSc (4-year), Biology
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
1. Pereira SL et al. (2023) Novel insights into Parkin-mediated mitochondrial dysfunction and neuroinflammation in PD. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 80, 102720.
2. Smajić S, Prada-Medina CA, Landoulsi Z, … Pereira SL … (2021) Single-cell sequencing of human midbrain reveals glial activation and a Parkinson-specific neuronal state. Brain, awab446.
3. Borsche M, … Pereira SL … (2020) Mitochondrial damage-associated inflammation highlights biomarkers in PRKN/PINK1 parkinsonism. Brain; 143:3041–3051.
4. Wasner K, … Pereira SL, Grünewald A (2022) Parkin Deficiency Impairs Mitochondrial DNA Dynamics and Propagates Inflammation. Movement Disorders.
5. 30 total original articles in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters. Full list available on request. ORCID: 0000-0001-9498-3965.