Marta Sofia Santos Silva completed her Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry in 29/06/2021 and her Master's degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology, with a focus on Neurobiology, on 18/09/2023, both at the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra. During bachelor’s project in 2021, Marta worked at the Neuronal Signaling group at the Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology (CNC-UC), where her research focused on early dysfunction in intra-axonal autophagy in Alzheimer’s disease. During the Master's program, Marta completed two different laboratory rotations: one in the Neuroendocrinology and Ageing group at the Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology (CNC-UC) in December 2021, and another in the Innate Behavior group at Champalimaud Foundation (in Lisbon) in March 2022. To accomplish her Master’s project, Marta returned to the Neuronal Signaling group at the Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology (CNC-UC) in September 2022, where she focused on the study of the physiological role of the hnRNP H2 protein, particularly during neuronal development. The resultant data was presented at the National Epileptology Meeting, where it won the prize for the best oral presentation, demonstrating promising results in the field of epilepsy. Since February 2024, Marta is working as research technician at the Gene and Stem Cell Therapies for the Brain group, where she is working on the ARDAT project. This project is a consortium of 34 international partners dedicated to improving AAV gene therapy vector efficiency. Notably, Marta's work has contributed to various conference posters. Briefly her work was presented at the EMBO Workshop Axons 2021, at the BEB DAY 2023, the 2nd Symposium on Alzheimer's Disease: An Update on Pathology and Therapeutics 2023, the ISN - ESN 2023 conference. Additionally, her work, as first author, was presented at the iMed Conference 15.0 in 2023 and at the National Epileptology Meeting in 2024. Throughout her academic career, Marta´s goal has been to maximize her learning and, she believe the key to success in achieving any goal is focus and determination.