João Filipe da Costa Martins obtained his PhD in Biomedical Sciences in 2015 from the University of Coimbra. He has been working in Neurosciences and Vision Sciences. He has published 42 journal articles, mostly in first-quartile journals, with more than 1200 citations and an h-index of 19. João has developed his research studies at the University of Coimbra, Portugal; the Vision Institute in Paris, France; the University of Copenhagen, Denmark; and NOVA University Lisbon, Portugal. He has been involved in more than 20 research projects and has been supervising PhD, MSc, and BSc students in Biology, Biochemistry, and Biomedical Engineering. In 2021, João was awarded a Seed Project at the Institute for Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health (ICNAS), - Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research (CIBIT), University of Coimbra, as Principal Investigator, to study neuroplasticity mechanisms in animal models of neurodevelopmental differences using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and in vivo electrophysiology (ePhys). The main research interest is to understand basic brain physiology, taking advantage of multimodal brain imaging, namely fMRI and ePhys using rodent species. In particular, the aim is to unravel how neurodevelopment disorders affect cortical plasticity with behavioural consequences. Under this topic, the development of novel techniques combining functional brain imaging with electrophysiology and behaviour are pursuit, as means to uncover new biomarkers and understand disease mechanisms. João uses various techniques, ranging from fundamental cellular and molecular biology and microscopy to rodent behavioral tests, in vitro and in vivo ePhys, optical coherence tomography, and fMRI. His other activities include serving as reviewer for scientific journals in Neuroscience and Vision Science, acting as jury of BSc and MSc degrees, and speaking at Brain Awareness Week dissemination events, including laboratory and school visits.