Dr. Catarina M. Abreu has an integrated MSc degree in Biological Engineering in 2016 from Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon (PT) in collaboration with the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL, PT). Her MSc research was dedicated to the development of point-of-care medical devices for rare cancer cell isolation from body fluids using cutting-edge nanotechnological tools (doi:10.3389/fonc.2020.01774, IF: 5.738). In that same year, Catarina was selected for an International PhD position in Swansea University Medical School (UK), a top Medical School in the UK according to The Guardian. In January 2017, Catarina initiated her PhD project in Biosensors for enhanced in vitro fertilization outcomes within an international consortium involving Swansea University and INL. During this period, Dr. Abreu acquired broad expertise in cleanroom microfabrication where she fabricated and characterized graphene electrolyte-gated field effect transistors (G-EGFET) and electrochemical sensors. Her knowledge in Chemistry/Physics and experience in Biology/Clinical sample processing led her to successfully functionalize and operate sensors for several medical applications. The multidisciplinary profile of the researcher enabled her to underpin the development of a promising biomarker screening approach for the non-invasive human embryo selection during in vitro fertilization cycles. Catarina discovered a correlation between the molecular profiles and developmental competence of human embryos through the analysis of embryo-secreted molecules to the culture media. Due to the innovative and groundbreaking potential of this technology, this work was published in the prestigious Biosensors and Bioelectronics journal (doi:10.1016/j.bios.2020.112144, IF:12.545). Catarina has also developed additional expertise in the fields of neurodegenerative diseases and epigenetics where she worked very constructively and effectively with her colleagues at INL and Swansea, and from which resulted 3 publications, one as 1st author (doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2018.00164, IF: 6.261). During her PhD, Dr. Abreu was involved in the writing of several national and international proposals, from which resulted the direct funding of Biogen Pharmaceuticals, while also participating on ongoing funded award-winning projects (I3S-Hovione Capital Prize award). In 2020, Catarina joined the 3Bs Research Group from University of Minho (Portugal), as world-recognized institute in TERM and biomaterials, as a postdoctoral researcher to develop a new generation of in vitro models to study the mechanisms behind lung cancer metastasis through the lymph system and the potential role of extracellular vesicles. Despite her young age, her skills and initiative lead her to become co-responsible of the cleanroom facility and co-manager of the development of in-house biosensors, while also being involved in a variety of national and international collaborations. The most recent collaboration resulted in a 1st author publication in the Lab on a chip journal (doi: 10.1039/D2LC00006G, IF: 7.517), highlighting the innovative microfluidic-based solutions for the high-throughput isolation and characterization of extracellular vesicles. Currently, Catarina aims to apply her knowledge towards the development of novel and more relevant in vitro models through the application of nanotechnology in organoid model development.