I am an early-career researcher at the Okeanos Institute, University of the Azores. I began my scientific studies at the University of Porto with a degree in Biochemistry (2006). In 2010, I moved to the Azores and initiated my career in Marine Sciences, with the study of the biology and ecology of cold-water corals and hydrothermal invertebrates. In 2018 I completed my PhD in Marine Biology at the University of the Azores. My PhD work provided me with a good background in marine (meta)genomics and with skills to develop investigations on the physiological processes that occur in deep-sea organisms.
Currently I am using new molecular-based tools to generate genetic data and improve the phylogenetics of cold-water corals of the Azores and the North Atlantic Ocean. I am also leading a FCT project that studies the coral microbiome and the role played by microbes in mediating the coral response to environmental induced stresses (e.g. ocean acidification and deep-sea mining), in aquaria.