Experience
I graduated in Applied Biology (2006) at the Sciences School and did a PhD in Health Sciences (2011) at the Medicine School of the University of Minho (UMinho), Portugal. After completing the PhD in the field of oncobiology, I was a full-time Assistant Professor at the Medicine Faculty of Barretos, Brazil (2012). In Brazil, I simultaneously held a voluntary Postdoc work at the Molecular Oncology Research Center, where I remained a collaborative researcher in the Pre-clinical Oncology Research Group. I was also a Teacher and Supervisor (2013-2016) in the post-graduation program in Oncology (Master's and PhD) at Barretos Cancer Hospital. Back in Portugal (2013), I returned to the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), the institute where I did my graduation and PhD work at UMinho. Since then, I have received two Postdoctoral Fellowships, two Junior, and two Assistant Research positions in the oncobiology field at ICVS, where I have remained since 2023 as an affiliated researcher in the BitCancer Research Team. During the last 14 years as a PhD researcher, I have graduated 2 PhD's, 10 Master's students, and 15 undergraduate students, as well as co-supervised many others. I'm still the main supervisor of 3 PhD students who are finishing their theses. Presently, I'm an Assistant Researcher at I3Bs Research Institute under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Rui L. Reis and Prof. Dr. Ricardo A. Pires.
Research Area
Biological sciences
Short biography sketch
Background
In the last years, as a translational oncology researcher, I have focused on cancer signaling, precision oncology, and molecular targeted therapies resistance, with emphasis on receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) and Raf Kinase Inhibitor Protein (RKIP) as prognostic and predictive biomarkers to therapy response in several solid tumors. I clustered a multidisciplinary team of researchers with distinct expertise from different countries, which resulted in a high volume of quality publications. Additionally, I participated in several different projects, allowing me to learn and master various research issues and technical skills.
Presently, at 3B's Research Group, I will focus my research on the development of in vitro models to mimic human pathological conditions, such as brain tumors and neurodegenerative disorders, to recapitulate their major biological/biochemical hallmarks. The aim is to use different processing techniques, from microfluidics, standard hydrogels, as well as bio-printing approaches, to develop the targeted in vitro models that will be tested as drug-screening platforms.