João Gomes performed is BsC in Biochemistry at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, in 2004. He performed his graduation internship in the clinical pathology unit of the Portuguese Institute of Oncology, but the Neuroscience field excitement was stronger. So, he moved to the Neurotrophin Signalling and Brain DysFunction Group headed by Prof. Carlos Duarte, at Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, Coimbra. He concluded his PhD (2011) in this group, focusing in growth factor signaling in both physiologic and pathologic conditions (brain ischemia), which led to the identification of molecular signaling mechanisms behind BDNF neuroprotection. He also unraveled how vesicular transporters (VGAT and VGLUTs) are affected in ischemic conditions, influencing excitotoxic neuronal cell death and potentially brain ischemia. Both works produced two papers in the prestigious Journal of Neurosciences, one was selected for cover and awarded Best Article by the Portuguese Society for Neurosciences. During his PhD, João had the opportunity to work abroad in Lund, Sweden, at the Wallenberg Neuroscience Center, in the Laboratory for Experimental Brain Research, headed by Tadeuz Wieloch, where he learned an in-vivo stroke mice model, tMCAO. He established the model at CNC, and later at IBMC. After his PhD, he moved to IBMC, to proceed with post-doctoral studies at the Molecular Neurobiology Group head by Maria J. Saraiva. In his 1st Postdoc, he worked in collaboration with the pharmaceutical company Ablynx, studying different routes to target CNS, using nanobodies. He also started his independent work in the study of Transthyretin physiology. Then, in his 2nd Postdoc, João unraveled the molecular pathways involving TTR in CNS neurons, in physiologic and ischemic conditions, establishing TTR as a new neurotrophic factor. Presently, he is a research assistant at the Molecular Neurobiology Group in I3S, running 2 project grants as Principal Investigator (one as co-PI): a translation project to unveil biomarkers for diagnosis and management of acute ischemic stroke; a project aiming to use CRISPR/Cas9 TTR gene editing conjugated with lipid nanoparticles as a tool to achieve a conditional TTR KO mice model in CSF and Sera independently, in collaboration with pharmaceutical company Intellia Therapeutics. Moreover, he has been an ad hoc reviewer in several scientific journals such as: Neurochemical Research, Pharmacological Research, Frontiers in Neurology. Since he arrived Maria Saraiva Lab (2010), he has been developing his independent research line in the stroke field. João is consolidating his early carrier: by managing his team (completed supervision of 4 MSc and 1 Post-Doc); secure funding (1 FCT project (239k¿) as PI; 1 project with pharmaceutical company Intellia (35k¿); 1 contract to secure 1 Master researcher for his team(6,2k¿); 2 papers as senior author and 1 paper as corresponding author in the stroke field. He had 3 shared paternity leaves (2015, 2017, 2022). Regarding publications, he is currently (January 2022) author in 22 publications (17 papers: 2 as senior author, 8 as 1st author, 2 book chapters, 3 conference paper). More than 1000 citations and h-index=13 (Google Scholar). IF of all publications between 4 and 8.3 (two J. of Neuroscience and one Cell Death & Differentiation).