My main research area is Human Immunology, with a particular emphasis on T cell homeostasis and immune tolerance. I am currently pursuing Translational research projects in the field of Haematology and Transplantation Immunology. I completed my PhD in Immunology in 2011 through a mixed fellowship at Instituto de Medicina Molecular (iMM), and the Division of Infection & Immunity, University College London. The main research focus of my PhD was the role of IL-7 as a regulator of human CD4 T cell homeostasis, in the settings of both health and disease. In addition to my main PhD project, I also had the opportunity to embark on a cross-sectional study to evaluate long-term immune reconstitution in high-risk leukemia patients following haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Following my PhD, I continued to pursue my long-standing interest in translational research. I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to cofound a research unit at IMM with Prof. João F. Lacerda, a senior Haematologist at Hospital de Santa Maria with whom I had collaborated during my PhD in the haploidentical HSCT study. Together with Prof. Jerome Ritz from the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, we co-wrote a project investigating the induction of immune tolerance following allogeneic HSCT, with a particular focus on regulatory T cells (Treg), which was awarded a highly competitive collaborative translational research grant from the Harvard Medical School-Portugal Program. This constituted the first major funding source for the establishment of our new translational research unit. We then conceived and co-wrote the TREGeneration project (www.tregeneration.eu). In this Horizon 2020-funded consortium, coordinated by our JLacerda Lab at iMM, five clinical institutions across Europe are investigating different ways of administering donor Treg in patients with chronic graft versus host disease (cGVHD). I was responsible for the implementation of the required laboratory techniques within our research group at iMM, such as the quality control of Treg purification and determination of the cell dose for infusion in the Lisbon Phase I/II clinical trial. I am currently monitoring immune responses during this Phase I/II clinical trial through biomarker analysis and T cell isolation for NGS tracking. Concurrently, I have continued to perform basic research projects that are in someway related to clinically relevant issues. At the moment, I am optimizing in vitro expansion of Treg for future immunotherapy approaches. I am pursuing two major lines of research in this field: 1- investigating the ability of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) to support Treg expansion in vitro; 2- optimizing the expansion of donor-specific Treg that may potentially prevent GVHD responses without abrogating the graft versus leukaemia effect. The data from the former research line have been recently published in Stem Cells. In the context of the latter research line, I co-supervise two PhD students, one who successfully obtained her PhD degree in 2019 (her paper, on which I share senior authorship, has just been accepted for publication in ImmunoHorizons) and another who is currently working toward completing her PhD project. My main goal is to continue to pursue translational research with a real impact in healthcare. I believe patient-oriented laboratory research projects are strongly needed for the development of optimal therapeutic approaches for the establishment of long-lasting tolerance and the recovery of functional immunity following HSCT.