Ricardo Gouveia, PhD

Ricardo Gouveia is an Anglo-Portuguese scientist and entrepreneur in the fields of biotechnology and bioengineering. Born and raised in the millenary city of Lisbon, he profited from Portugal’s rich cultural heritage, which fuses the centuries-old belief in Fate with the tradition to pursue a bright future through inspiration and hard work.

A passionate learner since his early years, he has always been fascinated by the beauty and seamlessness of live organisms. This motivated him to graduate in Biology (hons.) at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon in 2004, and then progress to complete a doctorate in Biochemistry at the NOVA Institute of Chemical and Biological Technology in 2009. During these initial years, he developed his technical and scientific expertise in stem cell biology and tissue engineering, with a particular focus on bridging fundamental and applied research. In particular, he aimed at understanding the determining factors regulating stem cell growth and differentiation, and therefore devise new and better strategies to control cell behaviour both within and outside living systems.

After completing his PhD, Dr Gouveia sought to expand his scientific horizons by moving to the UK in 2012. He joined Professor Che Connon and his Tissue Engineering Lab, first at the University of Reading and since 2014 at Newcastle University, where he developed several new inventions for the biofabrication of biological tissues, including the Tissue Templating and SLATE technologies. These novel approaches allow to (re)create live biological tissues with native-like structure, composition, and function, while greatly reducing manufacture complexity and cost.

Starting in 2018, Dr Gouveia became the first-ever postdoc awarded with a New Harvest Research Fellowship, a position that has allowed him to develop as an independent scientist in the field of Cellular Agriculture. His research has received support from numerous funding sources, including The Good Food Institute, EPSRC, BBSRC, and Innovate UK. Dr Gouveia is also the Chief Scientific Officer of 3D Bio-Tissues, a spin-out biotech company he co-founded in 2019 to help translate his discoveries into new healthcare, industrial, and food products and processes.