My name is Ana Clara Ferreira, and I am a dedicated, resilient, and passionate researcher. Currently, I am a research fellow at the Forest Genomics & Molecular Genetics (ForGen) Lab in the Faculty of Science of the University of Lisbon, where I am integrated in the EpiCork project (PTDC/ASP-SIL/1717/2020). Prior to this, I had a one-year research fellowship grant at the R&D Unit LEAF - Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food, at the Institute of Agronomy of the University of Lisbon. The work I developed during this fellowship was presented as a poster at the 3rd EUGLOH Plant Science Meeting, and I also partcipated in the demonstration of our lab’s work at the European Researchers’ Night. I completed my Master’s degree in Biochemistry for Health from Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier (ITQB NOVA) in December 2022 (final evaluation: 18/20), for which I developed the project “SARS-CoV-2 Spike and Receptor Binding Domain Glycoproteins Produced in Tobacco BY-2 and Medicago Cell Suspension Cultures”, integrated in the ITQB NOVA COVID-19 Task Force. The work I developed during my master thesis resulted in two published papers in peer-reviewed journals, and was presented as a poster and an oral presentation. I also participated in the organization of the Plants Fascination Day; as a volunteer in the initiative “Cientista vai à Escola”, and the FIC.A festival; and integrated the 2nd Portuguese team competing in the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM). I completed my bachelor’s degree in Cell and Molecular Biology (final evaluation: 16/20) in July 2020. My final project, entitled “Isolation and cloning of candidate genes involved in cork production,” was developed in the ForGen Lab. I then had the opportunity to do a summer internship at the same laboratory. During the bachelor's degree, I participated as volunteer in the project “Ribeiras de Cascais”developed by Câmara Municipal de Cascais and volunteered at the annual EXPO-FCT, in 2018 and 2019. As a high school student, I participated in the program “Ciência Viva no Laboratório - Ocupação Científica de Jovens nas Férias” in 2016 and 2017. My experience relies on the Biological Sciences field, with an emphasis on Cellular and Molecular Biology and Biochemistry.