Iris is an Assistant Researcher at S2AQUAcoLAB and expert in Molecular Biology and Genetics. She completed her PhD (2015) in Biomedical Sciences in the University of Algarve in collaboration with the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Quebec, Canada, where she worked with several human, mammal and fish adherent cell lines, as well as primary suspension cell cultures. Then, due to her willing to be constantly learning, she changed her field to work on Personalized Medicine in Cystic Fibrosis, and for 5 years she was part of the Cystic Fibrosis Research Lab in BioISI (University of Lisbon - Faculty of Sciences), where she was the responsible for the only biobank of intestinal organoids, primary bronchial, tracheal and nasal cells in Portugal, with samples from more than 130 donors. During these years, she was an integrant part of HIT-CF, an European Consortium funded by H2020. Now, and ready to "navigate in unknown waters", she is the responsible for the genetic and molecular tests performed at S2AQUA, promoting a connection between Molecular Biology and Aquaculture. Through an early pathogen detection and identification, as well as gene expression analyses, Iris uses her background in Molecular Biology to decrease the incidence of disease outbreaks or select animals with the most important traits for S2AQUA associates. She is also the PI of the Portuguese Blue Biobank in S2AQUA, a PRR funded project that aims at increasing the current knowledge of the planet’s biodiversity, and contributing to the international visibility of national bioresources and its economic valorization in international chains. So far, she has published 34 papers in peer review international journals, of which 13 as first author, and she has 11 publications in congress books as 1st author. She has a 12 H-index in Scopus and Google Scholar. She was invited to present her work in several international and national meetings (38 Oral presentations and 24 Conference Posters) and to be supervisor of several undergrad (13), MSc (10) and PhD (1) students. She also participated in the organization of 1 national conference, and 3 national workshops. She was also invited to discuss 2 MSc thesis as main arguer jury and 1 PhD thesis. She was invited to be assistant professor of Physiology (2021) at the University of Lisbon. She is the recipient of 9 national and international awards, namely the Best Young Investigator Award awarded by the European Cystic Fibrosis Society in 2018 and 2021 and the Alumni Career Award by the University of Algarve in 2023. During this path she has established national and international collaborations, crucial to become a successful independent scientist willing to establish innovative lines of research.