Hugo
Fernandes

Hugo Fernandes is a Group Leader at the Kavli Institute for NanoScience Discovery and the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics at the University of Oxford. Hugo holds a DPhil in Neurodegeneration from the University of Oxford and postdoctoral experience across the Universities of Oxford, Birmingham and Cambridge. He returned to Oxford to set-up his research group as an Alzheimer’s Society Dementia Research Leader Fellow in 2023. He has vast experience in developing human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) models to investigate cellular pathways that contribute to selective neuronal vulnerability in neurodegenerative conditions. The group has also been focusing on the development and implementation of high-throughput and deep phenotyping tools in iPSC-neurons, including: 1) the first large-scale single-cell transcriptomic profiling of iPSC-derived dopamine neurons; 2) novel platforms for single-cell lipidomics; and 3) CRISPR based genetic screens for the identification of novel disease targets. His current research focuses on understanding how disrupted lipid homeostasis affects neuronal function in health and disease, with the goal of identifying mechanisms that may inform future therapeutic strategies for Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.