As computational biochemistry I am mainly interested on developing new bioactive molecules to therapeutic targets and disclosing the mechanisms that assist ligand binding to proteins, DNA or RNA.  

I hold a degree in Biochemistry from the University of Porto, Portugal (2008), a Msc. in Molecular Biotechnology from the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Barcelona (2010), in Spain, where later then I received my PhD, in 2013. During my stay in Barcelona, I had the opportunity to teach at the Faculties of Pharmacy and Nutrition and Dietetics (UB). After, I worked at the University of Uppsala, in Sweden.

In September 2018, I joined the Computational Biochemistry Lab, leaded by Prof. Maria Ramos. Since 2019, I am an Assistant Professor in the department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at FCUP, where I teach the Courses of Bioinformatics and Computational Biochemistry. 

My main research area is the study of biomolecular systems using the theoretical and computational methods of quantum chemistry, classical simulations and molecular modeling. Emphasis is made on the design of novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of pathogenic diseases and on the discovery and development of new drugs; the analysis of structure-dynamics-function relationships in proteins; and on enzyme engineering.

In our group we are experienced on studying enzymatic mechanisms and developing inhibitors to a wide variety of enzymes that are hot topics to the pharmaceutical industry. The success of our research is only possible because we combine different computational strategies to solve the challenges. Furthermore, we work with multi-disciplinary teams of computational and experimental scientists, that daily work together in order to understand the complexity of the drug design field.

As result we have been publishing regularly on the most reputable international journals in the field, and we participate actively in international conferences and workshops.