Claudia Nobrega is a Researcher Associate (with tenure) at the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS) whose research interest is related to the involvement of the immune system on multiple sclerosis (MS) pathophysiology. Using a homogenous group of relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) patients, newly-diagnosed and treatment-nai¨ve, her team was able to report that RRMS patients’ T cell phenotype in the blood tips towards a less differentiated phenotype, i.e. they present lower numbers of blood memory T cells in comparison to healthy controls (e.g. PMID 35711452). Following this observation, she was recently granted the opportunity to explore the mechanisms underlying this, and to understand how this observation can be integrated in the current model of MS pathophysiology. Additionally, and in line with the recent compelling evidence supporting that infection with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) precedes MS development and knowing that T cells are essential players to the establishment of the immune response to EBV infection and to MS pathophysiology, she became interested in assessing the function and the T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire of EBV specific CD8+ T cells from MS vs. EBV-seroconverted controls. Her team is exploring this issue in collaboration with Margarida Rei (Oxford University). Claudia Nobrega completed her PhD studies in 2009 studying the impact of thymic infection by mycobacteria on the differentiation of new T cells (e.g. PMID 18062904, 19949112, 23315077, 23871487). Her Post-Doc at the ICVS (2010-2019) was a turning point when she embraced human studies, to complement the mouse models she had been working with so far. She followed her interest in immunology in the context of chronic diseases, namely on infections by HIV (e.g. PMID 23437372, 26919738, 28086758, 30804925) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (e.g. PMID 34887849), and more recently on MS (e.g. PMID 30369926, 35711452). These works were performed side-by-side with the clinicians responsible for patient recruitment, thus fostering her interaction and collaboration with the clinicians (e.g. Ines Gonzalez-Suarez at Alvaro Cunqueiro Hospital, Vigo, Spain; Ana Martins Silva at Hospital Geral Santo António, Porto, Portugal; Filipa Ladeira at Hospital Santo António dos Capuchos, Lisboa, Portugal). Her team has also been collaborating with the he Braga Clinical Academic Center (2CA-Braga) on clinical trials (e.g. Musette, Gavotte and Globeam) being responsible for performing flow cytometry of blood and cerebrospinal fluid samples from the enrolled patients. Scientific production: 23 peer-reviewed articles [ 7 as 1st author, 4 as last and 4 as corresponding author; 18 on Q1, 1 in Top 5% Journals (Scimago); h-index = 11; citations = 485 (Scopus, by Jan 26th, 2024), cumulative impact factor: 126 (from Journal Citation Report)]. Posters: Author of 78 posters presented being 40% presented on international meetings [(n=31) depicted in this CV the ones as 1st (n=15) or last (n=15) author]. Oral presentations: 3 oral presentations by invitation and 11 from selected abstracts. Supervisions: 2 PhD Students; 12 MSc students (2 ongoing); 4 BSc students; 14 Lab rotations. Juri degrees: opponent in 6 PhD thesis and 7 MSc thesis. Duties: Co-responsible for the BSL2 facility (2009-2014) and for the flow cytometer LSRII (2010 to present; training for adequate use of the instrument, quality control, troubleshooting, contact with the supplier/technician, assistance on experimental planning, data analysis and interpretation).