About Me

"Begin with The End in mind"

I have now built an extensive experience in very distinct research fields. My quest into the unknown led me to develop interpersonal skills to effortlessly adapt to new scientific challenges, within multicultural environments.

I am a meticulous researcher, a proactive manager, and a big picture leader, contributing to the nonstop advancement of scientific knowledge to make a difference in the world.

Short Bio

I was born and raised in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, one of

the most surprising and interesting countries in the world. I grew

up immersed in its historically complex culture, influenced by

different civilizations, and the very Portuguese strong call for

adventure, challenge, discovery and understanding. These

certainly influenced me to pursue a scientific education,

especially fascinated by the study of living organisms,

i.e. biology.

In 2007, I graduated in Genetics and Microbiology from the Faculty

of Sciences, University of Lisbon - Portugal, immediately followed

by an MSc in Genetics and Molecular Biology (2008) at the same

institution. My thesis project was entitled “Characterization of mutations in kinetochore-proteins codifying genes in Drosophila melanogaster”, supervised and performed at the Cell Division lab, Gulbenkian Science Institute (IGC, Oeiras-Portugal), where I took the opportunity to explore the field of cell division. This was my first contact with research, its environment and the “can do” attitude adopted by the research team had a strong impact on my views on science and scientific research.

From 2009 to 2011, I was keen on a more applied project, so I moved closer to a clinical setting, and developed research in the Thrombosis and Haemostasis research group at the National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, I.P., Lisbon - Portugal, investigating the etiology and pathogenesis of venous thrombosis in the Portuguese “in risk” population.

During these tasks, I had direct contact with all the Genetics

Department staff, the physicians involved in the research project or

diagnosis services provided daily by the institute. Together with the

techniques I learned, this experience made me see the importance

and the challenge of doing basic research, with its exigency for a

multidisciplinary research environment, and the need for a quicker

translation of those achievements into clinical practice.

The beauty of complex biological processes can be addressed

not only by “how does it work” but, as well as “how did it appear” and

within that quest, I worked in the field of Experimental Evolutionary

Biology. The opportunity allowed me a return to my microbiologist

roots in 2011, when I returned to IGC and joined the Evolutionary

Biology lab to investigate the epistasis in antibiotic resistance and

going into the subject of microbial adaptation within ecosystems.

During this time and in addition to the experimental project

development, I was in full charge of lab management activities,

giving the required support for the execution of all research

activities in the group. It was the moment when I had my

organizational and management skills recognized for the first time.

In 2014, I took my most significant personal adventure and became a Ph.D. student at the Laboratory of Tropical Diseases of the Institute of Biology, University of Campinas (UNICAMP, São Paulo - Brazil), where I developed my project entitled "Analyses of the immuno-pathological and molecular mechanisms involved in cytoadherence of Plasmodium vivax”, within Malaria field. I successfully defended my thesis on 1st March 2019, earning the title of Ph.D. in Genetics and Molecular Biology. This project not only depended on my strong scientific background and research goal prioritization, but has relied heavily on lab (molecular and field work) and financial management, networking with colleagues with different expertise in unique work settings, and the engagement of many communication and other soft skills. The malaria research community turned out to be my "forever professional family”.

After successfully defending my Ph.D., I became a postdoctoral researcher with double affiliation at the University of Gothenburg (UGOT, Gothenburg-Sweden) and UNICAMP, involved in Sweden, Brazil, and Cambodia's international collaborative scientific research, consolidated on 2017. My participation in this project in the field of antimicrobial drug discovery draws back from October’16 (as an exchange Ph.D. student). I have performed in silico screens for the identification of prospective molecular targets on P. vivax human malaria parasite, for the subsequent construction of the target-based yeast system, with which we are now performing screens in search for promising selectively antimicrobial compounds that might be further developed into new antimalarials in the future.

I have also been involved in other drug discovery projects, such as:

- Determining antibacterial properties in previously isolated Natural Products against

B. subtilis (Gram+), E. coli (Gram-) bacteria, and against libraries of pathogenic resistant

bacteria (ESLB and ECOR strains) to identify new promising antibiotics, as well as

identification of the molecular targets for a better understanding of the

modes-of-action of lead compounds;

- Involved in the development of a screening platform to find new antiviral drugs

against SARS-CoV-2 main protease.

For one year, I was a Researcher in Molecular Biology, with UGOT and UNICAMP double

affiliation, managing, and liaising research projects in target-based systems for drug discovery and development, searching for selective antimicrobial compounds that might become the new generation of antimalarials (STINT/CAPES exchange programs at UGOT and UNICAMP), antibiotics (CARe consortium at UGOT) or antivirals (VR Covid-19 emergency funding at UGOT and Chalmers TH). In parallel, have collaborated on projects for Natural Products isolation and chemical characterization from African plant extracts, where I have screened and evaluated for possible antibiotic properties discovery (CARe consortium at UGOT and Uppsala University).

On the 1st September 2022, I embraced a new career challenge as an IVD Field Application Specialist for LusoPalex IVD Business Unit - PALEX Medical Group.