Biochemistry
60%
Cloning
85%
Animal Experiments
90%
Cell Work
73%
Bacterial Work
50%

Loves
Music. All things music. And a good chat.
Does not love
Dark days, avocado and parafilm
Hobbies
Playing guitar and building guitar pedals

Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge.

Carl Sagan

Lab member
2014 - 2022

Current position
Principal Scientist at Novo Nordisk, Oxford, United Kingdom

I was born and raised in Portugal, with the ocean as my neighbor. Ever since I can remember I was sure I was going to be a biochemist or an astronaut. I don’t know why. I’m not even sure I was completely aware of what either really meant. But I was sure. It was a close call, but I ended up chasing mysteries in our own planet. I moved to Faro, in the South coast of Portugal, where I studied Biochemistry at the University of Algarve, where I got my Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and my PhD in Biological Sciences – Cellular and Molecular Biology. At that point, my research mainly focused on liver metabolism, and how gene regulation is modulated to adapt to energetic demands. It’s a lot cooler than it sounds. Perhaps unaware of how happy warm and sunny days make me feel, I moved to Stockholm, Sweden, to join the Ruas lab at the Karolinska Institutet. Here, I try to understand how skeletal muscle heals in the hopes of developing new therapies for those with impaired muscle function and mobility, be it due to neuromuscular diseases or as a consequence of aging and/or prolonged illness. I still miss the sun through the dark Swedish winter, but I truly love my work at the lab and I believe that it can have an impact on people’s lives. And that’s what drives me. My alter ego lives in a sunny place by the sea and plays guitar in a band. That’s where I go when I’m daydreaming.


Projects
Publications
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