PostDoc

My research interest in microbiology started during the last year of my degree in Biology in the Faculty of Sciences of University of Lisbon, when I got the chance to do some microbiology research in the Evolutionary Ecology of Microorganisms lab. There, I realized microbes are undoubtably one of the most fascinating groups of living organisms with an extraordinary capacity to adapt to constantly challenging environments. Since then, I have been particularly interested in learning more about the molecular mechanisms underlying such adaptation.

Thus, after my Master’s degree, I worked as a research fellow at Instituto Gulbenkian da Ciência in Lisbon with Dr. Karina Xavier, where I studied the link between quorum sensing network and virulence in a plant pathogen. Later, under the supervision of Dr. Zeynep Baharoglu and Dr. Didier Mazel, I enrolled in the PPU (Pasteur-Paris University) doctoral program at Institut Pasteur in France, where I sought to understand how Vibrio cholerae adapts to low doses of antibiotics.

Now, in MBA lab, I am eager to study another well-known bacterial adaptation tool: the Integron, a genetic platform that provides bacteria with a plethora of genes with adaptative functions, including genes conferring resistance to most of antibiotic classes used in the clinical setting. By investigating the molecular intricacies of integrons, I hope I can contribute to fight antibiotic resistance dissemination, one of the major threats to global health nowadays.