Ana Maria Sebastião completed the Título de Agregado (habilitation) in 2001 by Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Medicina, Doutoramento in Biochemistry and Cell Physiology in 1987 by Universidade Nova de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia and Basic Degree in Biology in 1982 by Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências. Is Full Professor (Pharmacology and Neurosciences) at Faculdade de Medicina Universidade de Lisboa and Group Leader at Instituto de Medicina Molecular. Published over 220 full articles in refereed international journals. Participates and/or participated as Principal investigator in 12 competitive projects, 4 of these from European Union Calls. Has International Collaborations with joint papers published (most as senior author) with more than 20 research groups. She has been working on neuromodulation by extracellular adenosine for more than 30 years. She identified the pharmacological characteristics of the A1 adenosine receptor to inhibit excitatory synaptic transmission at the hippocampus and was the first to identify the presence of an excitatory A2A adenosine receptor to enhance excitatory synaptic transmission at the hippocampus. More recently her group characterized in detail synaptic specific actions of adenosine at the hippocampus. They discovered that adenosine A1R can modulate not only excitatory synaptic transmission at the hippocampus but also tonic GABAergic inhibition of inhibitory neurons, and doing so, disinhibiting them. They also discovered that A2AR enhances GABAergic inhibitory transmission between CA1 area interneurons leading to disinhibition of pyramidal cells, as well as has a permissive control over the actions of Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor and upon the actions of CB1 receptors at the hippocampal synapses. In addition, they showed that adenosine A2A receptors modulate AMPA and NMDA receptors at the hippocampus. So, her group deeply contributed to clarify how adenosine contributes to finely tune the excitatory/inhibitory balance in the hippocampal circuitry. The relevance of this homeostatic control for seizures was also disentangled by identifying the relationship between the activity of the enzyme that controls the levels of extracellular adenosine and the intrinsic excitability of the hippocampus. They could then show the impact of dysregulated levels of extracellular adenosine upon stress-induced seizures. Findings showing that adenosine A2A receptors can control axonal elongation and postnatal neurogenesis are opening a new research line on trophic actions of adenosine, previously mostly regarded as a tuner of synaptic signalling. She is presently developing a project in collaboration with the Institute of Psychiatry and Neuroscience of Paris, focused on the mechanisms of actions of psilocybin (a promising drug for Major Depressive Disorder), at the molecular, synaptic and brain circuitry level. She coordinated two European Twinning actions on different types of synaptopathies (presently: epilepsy and epileptogenesis) that involved several European Institutions (UK, Finland, The Nederland’s, Italy, Sweden). Throughout her career she supervised 7 post-docs, 18 PhD Students (16 completed), 26 Master Students. She coordinates a Master and a PhD in Neurosciences and belongs to the coordination team of a Master and a PhD in Cognitive Sciences and of a BSc and a Master in Biomedical Engineering. She served as Director of the Mind-Brain College of the University of Lisbon, as President of the Portuguese Society for Neurosciences, of the Portuguese Society for Pharmacology and at the Executive Committee of the Federation of the European Pharmacological Societies. Bibliometric data (Web of Science, all data bases, February 24th , 2025): h index: 61; Citations in international literature: 11490 (without self-citations: 10,106); Citing Articles (without self-citations): 6953. Total publications listed (meeting abstracts excluded): 238