Gonçalo Castelo-Branco

Professor of Glial Cell Biology at Karolinska Institutet (KI), Stockholm, Sweden

Distinguished Professor of the Swedish Research Council within Medicine and Health

Wallenberg Scholar

Deputy Head and Chair of the Senate of the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics 

Member of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet

Gonçalo Castelo Branco is a Swedish and Portuguese citizen and he was born in Cantanhede, Portugal, in 1976. He is educated in Biochemistry at the University of Coimbra with a B.Sc.. degree in 1999 and defended his PhD at KI in 2005. He did postdocs at KI 2005-2008 and at the Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, Great Britain, 2009-2012. He started his research group at KI in 2012. He became a docent (associate professor) in 2016. His group focuses 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. His research group has identified novel distinct oligodendroglia cell states in development and multiple sclerosis, including distinct disease-associated states, found that oligodendroglia is already primed at an epigenomic level at immune genes, to allow their transcription in neuroinflammatory environments, and developed new single-cell and spatial epigenomics technologies. Prof. Castelo- Branco has received many prestigious honors/awards, including being elected member of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet from 2023, Distinguished Professor within Medicine and Health of the Swedish Research Council (from 2024), Wallenberg Scholar (from 2024), the Hans Wigzell prize 2022, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Göran Gustafsson Prize 2021 in Medicine, the Eric K. Fernström Prize 2021, the Swedish Society for Medical Research (SSMF) 100 years Jubileum Prize 2019 and European Research Council Consolidator (2015) and Advanced Grants (2023).

Main interests: Single cell and spatial transcriptomics and epigenomics, oligodendroglia, remyelination, multiple sclerosis, neuroimmunology

Education
Associate Professor (Docent), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Post-doctoral fellow, The Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom Kouzarides' lab
Post-doctoral fellow, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, Hermanson's lab
PhD, Medical Biochemistry, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, Arenas's lab
B.Sc., Biochemistry, University of Coimbra, Portugal, B.Sc. student at Saraiva's lab, Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Porto, Portugal

Academic tree: https://neurotree.org/neurotree/tree.php?pid=60471

Academic honours, awards and prizes

2024 Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher 2024

2024 Nicholson Lecture, The Rockefeller University, NY, USA

2023- Member of Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet
2022 Hans Wigzell Prize
2021 Eric K. Fernström Prize
2021 Göran Gustafsson Prize in Medicine
2019 Swedish Society for Medical Research (SSMF) Jubileum Prize

Recent interviews:

Interview Medicinsk Vetenskap no 1, 2025

Wallenberg Scholar

Our research group is interested in the molecular mechanisms defining the epigenetic state of oligodendrocyte lineage cells. We are particularly focused on how interplay between transcription factors, non-coding RNAs and chromatin modifying enzymes contributes to the transition between epigenetic states in oligodendrocyte precursor cells, and could thereby lead to targeted therapies for illnesses such as multiple sclerosis.

Visit our research group's webpage: https://ki.se/en/mbb/goncalo-castelo-branco-group