After my PhD in protein crystallography in 1998, I have started my first research project involving proteomics and have changed my research field for mass spectrometry based biological applications, namely on omics approaches. One of the research projects, still going on, aims at unveiling the mechanisms of echinoderms regeneration that lead to the functional re-growth of complete body-parts, including the radial nerve cord. Several other projects involved the study of host pathogen interactions. More recently, my research has expanded to the use of other omics approaches involving the discovery of biomarkers for early TB diagnosis and the characterization of Staphylococcus epidermidis infection mechanisms.

As a researcher, I have published more than 100 papers in scientific peer-reviewed journals (H index = 27).

I am Head of the Proteomics of Non-Model Organisms Laboratory at Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica (ITQB NOVA), New University of Lisbon (Portugal). I received my PhD in 1998 from the University of Évora (Portugal) where I was an assistant professor till 2002. I have started implementing the Mass Spectrometry Facility at ITQB NOVA in 2002, which I coordinated till 2013.

At the Proteomics of Non-Model Organisms Laboratory, proteomics integrated with other omics approaches, is being used as a high-throughput strategy to investigate unique biological processes from non-model organisms. The toolbox of omics approaches are additionally being utilized for the characterization of i) selected biological processes of marine organisms, ii) microbe-host interactions with relevance in veterinary and medical contexts focusing in the identification of novel targets for therapeutics and biomarkers for diagnostic, and finally, iii) non-model bacteria (such as, Ehrlichia ruminantium, Staphylococcus pseudintermedius and epidermidis) to improve their genome annotation and refine the knowledge on their biological pathways.