André Conceição finished a Master degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology with specialisation in Neurobiology, at the University of Coimbra in 2019. Before that, André Conceição concluded a Bachelor degree in Biomedical Sciences, at the University of the Algarve. André Conceição’s main focuses are polyglutamine diseases, namely Machado-Joseph disease and Spinocerebellar ataxia type 2. Both diseases are rare hereditary neurodegenerative disorders, although Machado-Joseph disease has an important prevalence in Portugal. André Conceição is interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms behind those disorders and, at the same time, in the development of new therapeutic approaches that might tackle their pathophysiology. Those approaches include viral delivery of gene-based therapies and novel CRISPR-Cas-based technology into the brain. Working at the laboratory as MSc student provided André Conceição with full autonomy in a set of techniques such as quantitative biochemical methods, nucleic acids extractions, free-floating immunohistochemistry, microscopy, analysis of animal behavior data and statistical analysis. André Conceição has employed both cell cultures and transgenic mice as disease models in his research. Currently, André Conceição is working as a research fellow at the Centre for Biomedical Research — University of the Algarve in the Molecular Neuroscience and Gene Therapy Laboratory, led by Professor Clévio Nóbrega. The laboratory is interested in studying cellular and molecular brain disease pathways, focusing mainly on polyglutamine diseases and the development of new therapeutics for these disorders. The work of André Conceição led to the production of a MSc thesis and a scientific article in an international journal, with two more in preparation. André Conceição integrated the team of two projects that were recently funded and has engaged in several opportunities to present his research in scientific symposia.