Biography

"I'm a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it." Thomas Jefferson

I am Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, where I coordinate the research group GI-1606 "I+D de Fármacos" at the Faculty of Pharmacy. Our work focuses on drug discovery and development — designing novel chemical methods to generate new drug candidates and targeted delivery systems, with a special emphasis on neurodegenerative diseases.

Born in Oporto, Portugal, I obtained my degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2006 from the University of Porto, followed by an MSc in Organic Chemistry in 2008 from the University of Santiago de Compostela. I hold two doctoral degrees awarded cum laude: a PhD in Pharmaceutical Science and Technology (2010, University of Cagliari, Italy) and a PhD in Organic Chemistry (2013, University of Santiago de Compostela), for which I received the Best PhD Award — Premio Extraordinario de Doctorado — from the Faculty of Pharmacy. From 2015 to 2018, I worked in Chemical Biology at the University of Cambridge (UK) as a Postdoctoral Fellow and held the prestigious position of Fellow of Newnham College.

Throughout my career, I have built a wide network of collaborative partnerships across academia and industry. My academic collaborations span institutions including the University of Cambridge (UK), the Universities of Porto and Coimbra (Portugal), the Federal Universities of Minas Gerais and Itajubá and the São Paulo State University (Brazil), the University of Würzburg (Germany), the Universities of Granada and Vigo (Spain), the University of Chile, and the University of Cagliari (Italy), among others. On the industry side, I work closely with biotech companies including Triple Helical Peptides Ltd (UK), Oncostellae (Spain), and Kærtor Foundation (Spain).

Selected lectures

16th National Organic Chemistry Meeting (16ENQO) and the 9th National Medicinal and Biological Chemistry Meeting (9ENQMB) – Lisbon 2026.
Webinar for the Early Career Scientists from the SEQT – Virtual meeting 2024.
4th Molecules Medicinal Chemistry Symposium – Harnessing the Power of New Drug Modalities (MMCS 2024) – Barcelona 2024.
EFMC-ACSMEDI MedChem Frontiers 2024 – Utrecht 2024.
EU-OPENSCREEN Autumn Training School – Virtual meeting 2023.
Drug Discovery 2030 A Roadmap for a New Decade – Virtual meeting 2023.
Advanced Course “Principles of Drug Design, Synthesis and Structure-Activity Relationships in Medicinal Chemistry”, Coimbra 2023.
Valencia EU-OPENSCREEN ACADEMIC COMPOUNDS INITIATIVE – CIPF, Valencia 2022.
SDDN2022 Satellite Workshop – Fundación MEDINA, Granada 2022.
EU-OPENSCREEN Autumn Training School – Virtual meeting 2022.
III Encontro Galego da Mocidade Investigadora en Ciencias Farmacéuticas – Santiago de Compostela 2022.
XX National Meeting of the Spanish Society of Medicinal Chemistry – Santiago de Compostela 2022.
EU-OPENSCREEN Autumn Training School – Virtual meeting 2021.
ACS Spring 2021 – Virtual meeting 2021.
Webinar MDPI – Virtual meeting 2021.
11th iMed.ULisboa Postgraduate Students Meeting and 4th i3DU Meeting, Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Lisboa – Lisbon 2019.
Erasmus+ programme at University of Cagliari – Cagliari 2019.
2nd Molecules Medicinal Chemistry Symposium – Barcelona 2019.
6-ECBS/LS-EuChemS – Madrid 2019.
International Course in Medicinal Chemistry, Medical School, University of Chile – Santiago de Chile 2019.
Italian-Spanish-Portuguese Joint Meeting in Medicinal Chemistry, MedChemSicily2018 – Palermo 2018.
VIII Meeting of the Paul Ehrlich EuroPhD Network – Porto 2018.
University College Dublin – Dublin 2018.
Senior Members' Research Forum, Newnham College – Cambridge 2017.
Bioorthogonal & Bioresponsive Symposium – Edinburgh 2017.
Crossing the Barriers: Dinner and talks at Leckhampton, PdOC – Cambridge 2017.
Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute 10th Anniversary symposium – Cambridge 2017.
PdOC Masterclass – Cambridge 2017.
Pudding Seminar at Newnham College – Cambridge 2016.
III Simposio de jóvenes investigadores de la SEQT –Barcelona 2016.
Pfizer Symposium: Chemical and Biological Synthesis and Catalysis Symposium – Cambridge 2016.
V Meeting of the Paul Ehrlich MedChem Euro-PhD Network – Cracow 2015.
22nd Young Research Fellow Meeting – Paris (Biocitech) 2015.
Universidad de Vigo – Vigo 2014.
10th Spanish-Italian Symposium on organic chemistry (SISOC-X) – Florence 2014.
Merimee Joint Meeting: Molecular Basis of Human Disease – Santiago de Compostela 2014.
Universidad de Talca – Talca 2014.
Universidad de Chile – Santiago de Chile 2014.
I meeting of the RSEQ Chemical Biology Group – Santiago de Compostela 2012.
GEN XXXII – Reunión Anual del Grupo Español de Neurotransmisión y Neuroprotección – Santo Estevo 2011.
VIII Simposio Investigadores Jóvenes Real Sociedad Española Química – Torremolinos 2011.
Scientific Fellows Congress – Vigo 2011.
European School of Medicinal Chemistry (ESMEC): Challenges in the synthesis of bioactive compounds – Urbino 2010 – poster selected for oral presentation.