Profile
I was a student in the joint MD/PhD program of the University of Minho, Portugal and Columbia University, NYC, USA. I carried out my PhD studies at Columbia University, between 2007 and 2010, and my MD studies at University of Minho. While studying the role of lipid signaling in Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis, I showed that the ablation of the lipid-modulating enzyme, phospholipase D2, was protective in different Alzheimer’s disease models. Following my MD/PhD, in 2011 I started my own laboratory as an Assistant Professor at the School of Medicine, University of Minho. I have expanded my research interests to the study of mood disorders. Using an unbiased lipidomic approach, my laboratory showed that specific lipid signaling pathways were altered in a chronic stress model, unraveling new potential therapeutic targets. In parallel with my academic work I continued my medical career. I am currently a Neuroradiologist at Hospital de Braga and I am now using lipidomic approaches together with brain imaging to study neurodegenerative disorders.
