Profile: Full Professor in Biomedical Sciences - Medical Microbiology and Vice-Director of the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine of the New University of Lisbon. Professor in Biomedical Sciences, International Health and Tropical Medicine - Early diagnosis of active or latent TB and new therapeutics for MDRTB and XDRTB. Devoted to the study and development of new diagnostic tools and alternative therapies to treat drug resistant infectious diseases such as multidrug resistant tuberculosis and methicillin-vancomycin resistant staphylococcal infections, using new biotechnologies and new therapies incorporating non-antibiotic adjuvants of chemotherapy. Specialist in the laboratory diagnosis and characterization of the determinants for resistance by phenotypic and genotypic assays, using new technical approaches such as Whole genome sequencing and real-time phenotypic assays. These studies also demonstrated the public health implications associated with these findings and contributed to the improvement of the currently recommended first and second line multi-drug anti-TB treatments.  Scientific Coordinator of the Foundation of Science and Technology Research Center – Global Health and Tropical Medicine (UID/04413/2020) since 2020. Founding member and Treasurer, currently management committee member of the Study Group for Mycobacterial Infections (ESGMYC) of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) (https://www.escmid.org/index.php?id=897 ). General Director and Scientific Coordinator of the “Ciência LP - International Center for Advanced Training in Fundamental Sciences for Scientists from Portuguese-speaking Countries” (UNESCO Category 2 Center) (https://www.ciencialp.pt/centro-ciencia-lp/) and Vice-President of the Portuguese Society for Microbiology (https://spmicrobiologia.wordpress.com/orgaos-sociais/). Vice-Chair (2017) and Chair (2019) of the Gordon Research Conference - Multi-Drug Efflux Systems -  https://www.grc.org/multi-drug-efflux-systems-conference/2019/). Member of the National Council for Heath appointed by The Board of Biologists of Portugal (http://www.cns.min-saude.pt/2017/09/27/membros/). Member of the evaluation panel of Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia of Portugal and expert Evaluator for the MRC South Africa and UK (area Tuberculosis), Wellcome Trust Awards, The Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO), Belgium, Dutch Research Council (NWO), Holland, Haut Conseil de l'Évaluation de la Recherche et de l'Enseignement Supérieur (HCERES) and National Agency for Scientific Evaluation (ANEP), Spain. Author/co-author of over 200 scientific papers in peer review national and international journals, books and book-chapters in mycobacteriology, tuberculosis, bacteriology, resistance to antibiotics, microbial genetics, molecular epidemiology and immunology.

http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9676-6251

https://www.cienciavitae.pt/DF17-B4BF-8756

 Research: Expert in the early diagnosis of active or latent TB and new therapeutics for MDRTB and XDRTB. Devoted to the study and development of new diagnostic tools and alternative therapies to treat drug resistant diseases such as multidrug resistant tuberculosis and methicillin-vancomycin resistant staphylococcal infections, using new biotechnologies and new therapies incorporating non-antibiotic adjuvants of chemotherapy. Studied, in the last 15 years, the contribution of the efflux-pumps and membrane transporters to bacterial multidrug resistant phenotypes and how we can prevent, reverse or reduce the level of resistance and recover the effectiveness of the antibiotics to which the bacteria became resistant. With an international team of collaborators, documented the mutations in drug targets and the corresponding associated minimal inhibitory concentrations for the majority of the anti-TB drug targets in M. tuberculosis and well as the effectiveness of various new inhibitors on many of the MDR bacteria in particular M/XDRTB. Conducted the laboratory diagnosis and the characterization of the determinants for resistance by phenotypic and genotypic assays, using new technical approaches such as Whole genome sequencing and real-time phenotypic assays. These studies also demonstrated the public health implications associated with these findings and contributed to the improvement of the currently recommended first and second line multi-drug anti-TB treatments. Involved in the design and conduction of several multicenter studies in the field of mycobacteriology and laboratory diagnosis of tuberculosis involving, Becton & Dickinson, EUCAST, ESGMYC and TB Alliance, and pharmaceutical companies like Janssen, Otsuka and Tecnimede. Participated in the validation of the SIRE KIT Nitratase for M. tuberculosis DST with the Brazilian TB lab-network. Deeply involved in the development of TB nanodiagnostics in collaboration with the Nanotheranostics Group FCT/UNL (PI - Pedro V. Baptista).