Fernanda Cristina Gomes de Sousa Marques. Completed the Título de Agregado in Ciências da Saúde in 2023/12/28 by Universidade do Minho Escola de Medicina, Doutoramento in PhD Thesis in Health sciences - Biological and Biomedical Sciences in 2008/05/15 by UMinho Escola de Medicina and Licenciatura in Applied Biology in 2001/10/10 by UMinho Escola de Ciências. Is Invited Assistant Professor in Universidade do Minho Escola de Medicina and Auxiliary Researcher in UMinho Escola de Medicina. PhD research: I received my PhD in 2008 from UMinho where I studied choroid plexus (CP), a brain immune barrier. During that period, I found that CP acts as a sensor of peripheral inflammation. So, I wanted to know what happens to CP when inflammation is coming from the brain, rather than from the periphery. To answer that question, I studied Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in mice, a model of brain inflammation. Post-doctoral research: During that stage I started incorporating new techniques and briefly moved to Brazil to learn genomic bioinformatics tools at Brentani¿s lab, São Paulo University. The results of this and other collaborative project with Dr. Coppola at UCLA University, USA, catalysed several novel findings in MS. Most importantly, I found that lipocalin 2 (LCN2), a protein known to be altered in peripheral inflammation, is also altered in MS mice. Assistant researcher: In 2013, I successfully acquired funding from the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) to study LCN2 and to establish myself as an Assistant researcher. With the addition of several MSc and PhD students, my portfolio has expanded to a wide array of projects focused around two main research themes: (i) role of LCN2 in physiological conditions and (ii) in pathological conditions such as MS and Alzheimer¿s disease (AD). Principal Investigator and now Assistant Researcher (CRP): In 2018, starting in 2019, I successfully acquired funding from FCT to study Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and to establish a MS Biobank. Stemming from the hypothesis that perpetuation of brain inflammation by local glia is leading to neurodegeneration even when there is no brain immune cell infiltration from the periphery, it is our aim to: 1) Perform basic translational experiments to answer the question if decreasing glia mediated inflammation is able to influence MS outcomes in a mouse model of disease; 2) Perform clinical translational experiments to answer the question if previous findings from mouse models are also implicated in the human disease. Besides ongoing experiments directed to continue the studies in LCN2, and further extend these studies to other astrocytic and microglia markers, we are now partnering with Braga Hospital, starting the consolidation of a biobank of MS patients. Published 75 articles in journals. Has 5 section(s) of books. Organized 5 event(s). Supervised 4 PhD thesis(es) e co-supervised 1. Supervised 8 MSc dissertation(s) e co-supervised 1. Has received 4 awards and/or honors. Participates and/or participated as Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) in 1 project(s), Other in 1 project(s) and Principal investigator in 4 project(s). Works in the area(s) of Medical and Health Sciences with emphasis on Health Sciences, Medical and Health Sciences with emphasis on Basic Medicine, Medical and Health Sciences with emphasis on Basic Medicine with emphasis on Physiology and Medical and Health Sciences with emphasis on Basic Medicine with emphasis on Neurosciences. In his curriculum Ciência Vitae the most frequent terms in the context of scientific, technological and artistic-cultural output are: Neurociences; Neuroimmunology; Neuroinflammation; Brain Barriers; Choroid Plexus; Cerebrospinal Fluid; Multiple Sclerosis; Lipocalin 2; Glial Cells; Biobanking; EAE; Cognition; Alzheimer's disease; J20 mice model; neurodegenerative disorders; Disease progression; Science & Technology; Ciências Médicas::Medicina Básica; proteostasis; protein aggregation; aging; age-related d