Established at iCBR (Coimbra Institute for Clinical and Biomedical Research, Coimbra, Portugal) as a junior researcher in the Retinal Dysfunction & Neuroinflammation Lab (RDNab), I am passionate by the genetic and molecular mechanisms that underline the proliferation and differentiation of eukaryotic cells. I obtained my PhD at the University Lille 1, where I studied the coupling between epigenomic and transcription regulation using transcriptome profiling approaches. Afterwards, I decided to unravel the mechanisms involved in the retinal cell proliferation and differentiation steering my research towards the neuronal functions of the tumor suppressor Hippo pathway in the Luca lab (University of Pennsylvania). I generated and analyzed Ndr1 and Ndr2 knockout mouse models (CRISPR). This work led to the publication of two first author papers demonstrating that the loss of either Ndr kinase can promote the concomitant apoptosis and proliferation of retinal neurons, restricting the number of a certain type of neurons in the retina, an oral presentation at the XXIII Biennial Meeting of the International Society for Eye Research, an international conference in vision science and several presentations within the university of Pennsylvania. During my postdoctoral work, I also observed that Ndr kinases can modulate the expression of genes involved in retinal response to stress, which became the basis of my own research line, focused on the role of the immune cells in retinal homeostasis and the impact of abnormal immunological response in retinal degenerative diseases. To pursue this research, I answered to an international and highly competitive call for the position of junior researcher in Molecular and Cellular Immunology at the University of Coimbra, position that I won, having joined the RDNLab in January 2020, where I am in the process of establishing my research line. To achieve my objectives, I am combining the multi-disciplinary approach (molecular and cell biology, vision sciences, and immunology) of the RDNLab with my skills in transcriptome profiling and genome engineering. As a junior researcher, I have my own students and I am responsible for teaching a lecture on molecular biology. I pride myself as a woman successfully balancing motherhood and cutting-edge scientific research (400 citations in vision sciences, immunology and transcriptome profiling), and I believe that this grant will further empower me to achieve my scientific objectives in the understanding of the mechanisms underlying neuroimmune responses, asserting my position as an expert in the field of retinal degenerative diseases.