I am a biologist and molecular geneticist working at the interface of innate immunity, developmental biology, deep-sea biology, and marine biotechnology. I hold a PhD in Molecular Genetics from Stockholm University, Sweden, a Master’s degree in Immunology from the University of Porto, Portugal, and a Lic. degree in Biological Sciences from the University of the Azores.
Early in my career, I was awarded a Fulbright Research Scholarship at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA, where I carried out postdoctoral research and maintained a long-standing collaboration as a visiting scientist at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. In 2004, I returned to the Azores and joined the Univ. of the Azores/IMAR Center as a Research Associate. In 2008, I established my own research group focused on innate immunity, marine microbiology, and the adaptation of marine invertebrates to deep-sea extreme environments.
My research interests include molecular genetics, gene expression, transcriptomics, genomics, metagenomics, host–microbe interactions, and marine biotechnology. More recently, my work has focused on Azorean marine bacteria, particularly from deep-sea sediments, exploring their functional genomics and biotechnological potential within sustainable marine biotechnology and the blue bioeconomy.
I have authored and co-authored peer-reviewed publications, participated in EU-funded transnational projects, and presented my work at international scientific meetings.