The main goal of my research career has been to uncover new principles of gene regulation fundamental for health and developmental patterning. To do so, I have used different model organisms and a wide variety of approaches to uncover new gene regulatory mechanisms.

My Ph.D. studies integrated a functional and evolutionary approach to answer a fundamental question in developmental biology: how to establish an asymmetrical pattern of gene activity to generate asymmetrical shapes during flower development. For my postdoctoral studies I changed my research model organism from plants to fruit flies working in the lab of Michael Levine at Princeton University. My work was focused on understanding how long-range regulatory interactions are established between enhancers and promoters to control gene expression in the nuclear 3D space.

In 2023, I moved back to Portugal to start my own research group (3D Gene Regulation & Development lab) at Católica Biomedical Research Centre (CBR) with an Assistant Professor position at the Católica Medical School.

My lab now investigates how the 3D organization of the genome regulates gene expression and coordinates developmental patterning. We combine quantitative live-imaging tools with functional genomic methods to understand how specific enhancers and promoters find each other within the nucleus and how the folding of the genome orchestrates precise spatiotemporal patterns of gene activity during development.