I have a 5-year degree in Plant Biology from the University of Lisbon and a Ph.D. in Virology from the University of Oxford, where I worked with vaccinia virus, a poxvirus, under the supervision of Prof. Geoffrey Smith. Before and after my Ph.D. I worked in the Laboratory of Virology at the Instituto Nacional de Saúde in Lisbon, as a diagnostic virologist, also in charge of quality control and seroepidemiological studies. I joined Prof. Pedro Simas viral pathogenesis lab as a post-doc, first at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, and later at the Instituto de Medicina Molecular in Lisbon, where I had a research contract until 2024. My research focused in understanding the function of gammaherpesvirus (e.g., Kaposi´s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus) proteins that are key to viral latency. Latency is linked to disease in this family of viruses. I am currently working at the Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine, Lisbon, in the lab of Prof. Miguel castanho, assessing anti-viral compounds, namely against SARS-CoV-2. I am interested in virus - host interactions. I have a wide range of skills in virus methods, virus genome manipulation, in vitro and in vivo infection and have worked in biosafety level 2 and 3 conditions. I am also skilled in the characterization of protein-protein interactions using techniques such as pull-down assays and surface plasmon resonance.