D. Cabanes has always been fascinated by the ability of bacteria to subvert cell functions and colonize their hosts. He strongly believe that major breakthroughs in this field would be achieved by studying host-bacteria interactions in their in vivo context. After studying genes of nitrogen-fixing bacteria specifically regulated during symbiosis with plants at INRA Toulouse, he moved to pathogenic interactions in the P. Cossart lab at the Pasteur Institute of Paris, a world-leading specialist of Listeria. There he performed the first comparative analysis of Listeria surface proteins and became an expert on surface virulence factors. Next, D. Cabanes created his own lab at the IBMC Porto and performed the first and still unique in vivo transcriptome of Listeria infecting deeper mouse organs. This pioneer work provided not only the first picture of the global Listeria genome expression during infection but also novel research leads. Since, his lab identified a great number of new Listeria virulence factors and significantly contributed to the characterization of subversion mechanisms of host signaling pathways during cellular invasion, leading to major contributions in the field. In particular, his work reveals how Listeria modify its surface and control gene expression to promote virulence, and describes new functions for cytoskeleton components and novel actomyosin regulatory mechanisms which impact not only innate responses to bacteria but also canonical cell processes. These new mechanisms are now explored as potential targets for next generation therapeutic strategies against Gram-positive pathogens. As an independent researcher, D. Cabanes regularly obtained National and International Grants (La Caixa Foundation, FCT, FP7, ESCMID) and authored publications in the most reputed journals in the field (Science, EMBO J, EMBO Rep, NAR, Nat Cell Biol, PNAS, PLoS Path, J. Cell Science, Mol. Microbiol, Cell. Microbiol, JID, Gut Microbes). He is Editor for Research in Microbiology, Toxins and Frontiers in Bacteriology, referee for international journals and member of a large number of grant panels for National and International Funding Agencies. He also established key collaborations with world leaders in the field and integrated international networks (ERA.Net). ERASMUS, Master and PhD students were successfully graduated under his supervision, and he is deeply involved in several Doctoral Programs. In addition, his lab was granted with numerous Post-doc fellowships, including from EMBO and Marie Curie. D. Cabanes is also fully engaged in institutional activities, participating to the creation of the larger research institute in Portugal (i3S) and currently being i3S vice-director and Coordinator of the i3S Infection, Immunity and Regeneration Research Program. More recently, he coordinated the set-up and is the Director of the i3S Diagnostic Center on Infectious Diseases.