I earned my PhD from ICBAS, University of Porto, in 2013 through a mixed FCT fellowship between Portugal and Norway. Since then, my focus has been on studying plant responses to environmental constraints and investigating the molecular interactions between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) to enhance tolerance to external stresses. Currently based at the University of Évora (UE), I am a part of the Molecular Biology Lab (MED/UE), collaborating with researchers with diverse expertise in studying plant molecular mechanisms under stress, including epigenetics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics responses. My research primarily revolves around wet lab epigenetics and bioinformatic analysis of high-throughput sequencing data from plants and AMF. In 2013, I participated in the IAPP-Marie Curie Action (AGRO-AMF-AOX, 533 942), which focused on identifying polymorphisms in stress-related genes in AMF isolates of different origins. From 2016 to January 2019, I was a post-doctoral researcher funded by FCT, contributing to the Portugal (Alentejo) 2020 project aimed at improving pasture production in acid soils in montado. Our findings highlighted the impact of manganese stress on wheat bioprotection and molecular responses altered by root colonization with various AMF communities. I collaborate with researchers from various labs including Plant Virology, Plant Mycology, Soil Microbiology and Plant Breeding and Biotechnology Lab, at MED/UE, LEAF/Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA), University of Lisbon, and Institut de Recerca I Tecnologia Agroalimentàries IRTA, Spain. I have contributed to several projects, including "A new phenotyping tool calorespirometry and novel molecular markers to assess the effectiveness of mycorrhizal fungi in improving heat and drought tolerance in vineyards" (PTDC/AGRPRO/0676/2014), "Olive fly management through symbiosis-based strategies: looking for Trojan horse candidates" (PTDC/ASP-PLA/030650/2017), and "Molecular basis of resistance/susceptibility of Vitis vinifera L. to wood infection by fungal trunk pathogens in Alentejo region" (funded by MED - 2020). Additionally, I led an exploratory project funded by MED/UE on the epigenetics of wheat-AMF symbiosis under Mn stress, with a paper currently in preparation. From February 2019 to August 2024, I held a contracted researcher position at MED, UE. Since September 2024, I am an Assistant Researcher at MED, UE under a contract awarded through FCT’s highly competitive 2023 Individual Call to Scientific Employment Stimulus. I am (co)author of 30 published articles/book chapters mostly in Q1 and have an h-index of 14 (Scopus). I am Guest Editor for the Research Topic “Revolutionizing Plant Phenotyping: From Single Cells to Systems” on Frontiers in Plant Science, and for the Special Issue "Advancing Mycorrhizal Research for Promoting Plant Growth Under Abiotic Stress" on International Journal of Molecular Sciences. I serve as a Reviewer Editor for the section “Plant Symbiotic Interactions” in Frontiers in Plant Science. Since 2019 I lecture on the UCs Melhoramento e Biotecnologia Vegetal (Master in Agronomics) and Plant Biotechnology (Degree in Biotechnology), at the UE. Since 2023 I also lecture on the UCs Medical Genetics and Experimental Models in Biomedicine (Degree in Biomedical Sciences) at the UE. I currently co-supervise 1 PhD student and one bachelor student.