Gonçalo Simões graduated in Biomedical Laboratory Sciences from the Coimbra School of Health Technology - Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra in 2020. In addition to the 8 curricular internships in Portugal, he also completed a clinical internship under the ERASMUS+ programme at the pathological anatomy department of the Policlinico di Modena (Italy). In the final year of the course, he volunteered as a member of the SARS-CoV-2 serological screening team, collecting and processing samples. From 2020 to 2021, he worked at the Laboratory of Clinical Analysis of the University of Coimbra (LACUC) in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, where he collected and processed biological products. He completed his master's degree in Molecular Biomedicine at the University of Aveiro in 2023. In 2024, he collaborated in the partnership established between the University of Coimbra and the TECNIMEDE group, with the aim of developing and optimising dendritic cells-based vaccines for cancer treatment. In the same year, he started as a research fellow at the Centre for Neuroscience and Cell Biology - University of Coimbra, working on the project ‘Optimisation of procedures for functional evaluation of dendritic cells in immunotherapy in oncology’. In addition to this project, he also supports the ongoing certification of UpCells (a cell therapy laboratory for the development, manipulation and production of pilot scale cell products) by Infarmed for the future production of clinical-grade cell products. He has tutored 11 laboratory internships for master's and bachelor's students. He has published two articles in peer-reviewed journals. He was a member of the organising committee of a scientific meeting in the field of metabolism, ageing and disease, and has actively participated in several other scientific events. He also attended workshops and training courses, in order to improve his skills, keep up to date with the latest developments and broaden his professional perspective. He works in the field of Medical and Health Sciences, with a focus on cell therapy applied to oncology .