ODETE da Cruz e Silva (OCS) is Director of the Medical Sciences department at the University of Aveiro, was Coordinator of the Centre for Cell Biology from 2010-2015 and heads the Neuroscience and Signalling Group. Research areas include: Signal Transduction therapeutics, Protein Phosphorylation systems, Alzheimer's disease (AD), Biomarker discovery, Neuronal Regeneration, Biomaterials in Neuroscience and Translational Research. OCS coordinates the pcb-Cohort (primary care based-Cohort); a group of almost 600 volunteers from the Aveiro region. The research group was responsible for creating the Portal for Family Members and Caregivers of Patients with Alzheimer¿s Disease (2010-2015), for which they were awarded the Angelini University Award in 2011. - IN THE INTERNATIONAL front, OCS has been involved in 5 European Projects and Nationally in 17 projects (PI in 9), is Associate Editor in the Journal of Alzheimer¿s Disease, Editor in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience and Advances in Biology. The work has resulted in over 150 publications and OCS has been recognized with prizes from the Astra Zeneca Foundation and the Gulbenkian Prize for stimulating research. Initiatives as an Entrepreneur include setting up a startup company (2CTech) for which she was awarded the prize ¿Concurso de Ideias da UATEC Empreende+¿ in 2011, and co-founder and investor in Hack & Hustle and AxoDynamics. - OCS CLONED the first protein phosphatase (PP2A) at the University of Dundee while working with Sir Philip Cohen. Other contributions included evaluating serum from patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus to identify autoantibodies and isolating the first clone for the human liver phenol/bilirubin: UDP-glucuronosyltransferase. The acquired knowhow was applied to AD upon moving to the Rockefeller University in New York to the laboratory of Paul Greengard, Nobel prize laureate for medicine in 2000. The work revealed for the first time that the phosphorylation state of the Alzheimer¿s amyloid precursor protein (APP) could determine its processing and cellular fate. - IN THE YEAR 2000 OCS established her research group at the University of Aveiro. Initial work focused on the molecular basis of AD and the group showed that protein phosphorylation can define not only processing but also intracellular protein targeting and ultimately contribute to the production of toxic Abeta fragments, which deposit in brains of patients with AD. Abeta aggregation studies were carried out, and showed that this peptide is highly relevant as a signalling molecule affecting protein phosphorylation, gene expression and cytoskeleton remodeling. A subsequent, Systems Biology approach was applied and the interactome for various protein phosphatases and the Alzheimer¿s Precursor Protein (APP) were described as well as novel functional multimeric complexes. Many of these complexes contain and are regulated by protein phosphatase 1. Results permitted work on other neuropathologies, like Parkinson¿s disease and Torsion Dystonia. The observation that some of the protein studied are expressed/enriched in brain and testis promoted work in male infertility and cancer, always from a cell signalling perspective. A curious, previously undocumented, distribution of APP in sperm was described. This led to studying the neuron and the sperm in parallel. Subsequent studies have addressed the increasingly documented overlap between AD and Diabetes, from a clinical to a molecular perspective. - IN THE PRE-CLINICAL sector, the group offers the CSF-based neurochemical diagnosis of dementia and efforts are focusing on blood-based biomarkers. Several molecular candidates relevant to both diseases have emerged and are being pursued from a translational perspective and for their diagnostic and therapeutic potential. -MORE than 135 students have been supervised in the laboratory.