I am a Research Assistant in the Translational and Chemical, at Instituto de Medicina Molecular (IMM), in Lisbon. I hold an MSc degree in Biological Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico and a PhD degree with distinction in Biochemistry from the Universidade NOVA de Lisboa. Before starting my PhD studies, I worked for 3 years as a research fellow and, in 2010 I was awarded a FCT PhD Fellowship (Portugal), to perform my studies under the joint supervision of Prof Inês Pereira and Prof Pedro Matias. During my PhD, I learned how to work efficiently and independently and acquired multidisciplinary training in biochemistry, molecular biology, and structural biology. I was responsible for protein purification, biochemical characterization, and crystallization. Throughout my PhD studies, I have conducted extensive studies to be able to determine the structural determinants of oxygen tolerance in a NiFeSe hydrogenase. Moreover, during this period I had also the opportunity to visit groups that allowed me to expand my scientific background to other scientific areas like IR spectroscopy (Dr De Lacey, CSIC, Madrid) and electrochemistry (Dr Christophe Léger, CNRS, Marseille). In 2012, I interrupted my fellowship for 5 months for maternity leave purposes and, at the end of 2014 graduated in Structural Biochemistry. After this, I stayed for a brief period in the Macromolecular Crystallography Unit, at ITQB NOVA, to finish some structural studies. Later in 2015, I moved to Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes (IMM), to start my postdoctoral studies with Prof Nuno Santos. Here, I worked on a short-term fellowship funded by an NIH Grant (USA) to engineer potent membrane-targeted peptide fusion inhibitors, for antiviral therapy. I was able to quickly adapt and acquire new concepts about basic Virology and gained critical theoretical and practical knowledge in different biophysical techniques. At the end of 2016, I joined the Chemical Biology & Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Unit at IMM. I brought my growing skills in big-picture thinking, molecular biology, and structural biology to bear on some of the large-scale projects being performed in the Unit. Among others, I was responsible for combining efforts with other collaborators to accomplish several project’ tasks, with the goals of investigating the role of biologically relevant proteins in cancer and inflammation and structurally characterizing the binding mode of several inhibitors. I have also sought to identify new target proteins that we could potently and selectively modulate function with new molecules. I was awarded a Postdoctoral FCT Grant in Medical Engineering in 2017, under Prof Bernardes and Prof Santos joint-supervision. At the end of 2019, I interrupted my fellowship for 5 months, for my second maternity leave, and when I was planning to return to the lab in March, the pandemic crisis started. Also in 2019, I started as an Invited Professor in ESTeSL, IPL, where I teach Biochemistry. Currently, I am an Assistant Researcher at iMM (3rd Edition of the Scientific Employment Stimulus) and PI of an Exploratory FCT project. Since 2008 my research has resulted in 30 publications in international, high-impact journals, which have been cited >900 times, with an h-index of 17 (Scopus). Also, I have 2 book chapters and 2 publications in national peer-reviewed journals and >20 abstracts in conferences and was also selected for several oral communications (8), received 2 international poster prizes, and was awarded the Portuguese Young Biophysicist Prize in 2018. I aspire to not only make a great impact on my Institute but on the entire field of targeted therapy, especially for cancer treatment.