Cristina Cunha graduated in Biology from the University of Minho in 2007 and received a PhD in Biology and Experimental Medicine in 2013 from the University of Perugia, Italy. Between 2014 and 2019, she developed postdoctoral studies on the genetic basis of susceptibility to fungal infection at the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS) of the University of Minho. Since 2020, she has been an Assistant Researcher at ICVS, where she is focusing her research on deciphering the contribution of the crosstalk between genetics, immunology, and metabolism to the susceptibility to infectious and inflammatory diseases. This multidisciplinary approach has allowed her to develop cutting-edge research and deliver important contributions towards the elucidation of the molecular and cellular events that regulate immunity and inflammation, contributing to the identification of novel prognostic, diagnostic, and therapeutic targets for personalized medical interventions. She has published over 120 papers in international peer-reviewed journals (>7,300 citations and h-index=41, ISI Web of Knowledge; March 2026) and 7 book chapters. In particular, she is the senior author of recent papers in Thorax 2022 and Nat Commun 2020, besides first authorship papers in high-impact journals, such as JACI 2017, N Engl J Med 2014, and Blood 2010. She has also relevant collaborations in Lancet Microbe 2024, Cell Host Microbe 2023, Nat Microbiol 2022, Lancet Respir Med 2022, Nature 2018, Nat Microbiol 2018, Immunity 2013, Cell Metab 2016, and Nat Commun 2021. She is the Principal Investigator of 7 grants funded by the "la Caixa" Foundation, Institut Mérieux, Gilead Sciences, and the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), and she is involved as a researcher in several other national and international grants (e.g., H2020 and "la Caixa" Foundation). She has supervised 7 post-doctoral fellows, 8 PhD students, and 14 MSc students, and organized several international conferences, including a satellite meeting for the International Congress of Immunology. As a result of her contributions to the field over the years, she has received multiple prizes or awards, including the Jon van Rood Award for outstanding contributions in the field of immunogenetics. She was recently nominated as a Gilead Research Scholar in Antifungals.