Helena Aires is an investigator in CNC.IBILI, University of Coimbra, a recognized Aging research center. She did both her Bachelor's Degree in Biology and Master's Degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Coimbra. Her Master's dissertation project "High Throughput Identification of Polymeric Compounds that affect Human Vascular Cell Senescence" was developed under the supervision of Dr. Patrícia Pitrez, in the laboratory of Dr. Lino Ferreira (ERA-Chair holder of Coimbra University). The project involved a high throughput screening in senescent vascular cells to identify senolytic drugs amongst a library of 115 polymer-based compounds. Senolytic drugs specifically target apoptosis in senescent cells and are under the scope of researchers on the search for anti-aging therapeutic strategies. Helena Aires' master thesis revealed two new senolytic compounds with the potential to be used in a vascular application. At the moment, Helena is working in the Biomaterials and Stem-Cell based Therapeutics Laboratory, at UC-Biotech, as a PhD student, where she is leading a project involving the development of delivery systems for senolytic compounds targeted to senescent vascular cells. This project is being developed in collaboration with Dr. João Passos from Mayo Clinic Rochester Minnesota, USA. In 2021, Helena was awarded a 1-year Fulbright scholarship to develop part of her PhD project at Mayo Clinic.