Eurico Morais-de-Sá has been Group Leader of the Epithelial Polarity and Cell Division (IBMC/i3S, University of Porto) since 2018. He graduated in Biochemistry from the University of Porto in 2002. Eurico studied MAPK signalling in yeast during his internship (Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam), and then performed pre-doctoral work using crystallography to characterise the ability of small compounds to block familial transthyretin amyloidosis (Morais-de-Sá et al., JBC, 2004). His PhD work at the Gurdon Institute (University of Cambridge, UK) led to discoveries in the fundamental understanding of epithelial cell polarity (Morais-de-Sá et al., Cell, 2010) and anterior-posterior axis formation in Drosophila (Morais-de-Sá et al., Dev Cell, 2013). Eurico then became fascinated by the challenges faced by epithelial cells during cell division, and was awarded EMBO and Marie Curie fellowships to move to the IBMC in Porto. During his postdoctoral period, he developed unique approaches to study the coordination between epithelial polarity and cell division in vivo to investigate epithelial cytokinesis and cell division orientation (Morais-de-Sá and Sunkel, EMBO Rep, 2013; Carvalho et al, Curr Biol, 2015). Subsequently, he started his progression towards an independent line of research (2014 FCT auxiliary investigator position) and then established his own research group (CEEC2017 Principal Investigator contract). In recent years, his laboratory has contributed to the understanding of the mechanisms that regulate apical-basal polarity (Ventura et al, Development, 2020; Earl et al, Nat Struct Mol Biol, 2025); transmit epithelial organisation during cell division (Moreira et al, Cell Rep, 2019; di Pietro, Osswald et al, Curr Biol, 2023); and maintain the physical and genetic integrity of the epithelial barrier during proliferation (Osswald et al, Curr Biol 2022; Gonçalves et al, EMBO Rep, 2025). His group is also developing new approaches to manipulate protein function with high temporal control using optogenetics (Zeng et al, Nat Struct Mol Biol, 2021; Osswald et al, Curr Biol, 2022). His lab has also applied its skills to human disease by developing in vivo Drosophila models expressing genetic alterations identified in cancer patients (Figueiredo et al, Gastric Cancer, 2022; Faria et al, Dis Model Mech, 2023; Pereira et al., 2024, Cell Commun Signal). Eurico participates as a lecturer in PhD and Masters courses at the University of Porto, while being actively involved in the organisation of scientific events and public science outreach. He has been the supervisor of 10 MSc students (9 graduated), 6 PhD students (3 graduated) and 3 post-doctoral fellows.