Researcher at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Health (Centro de Investigação Interdisciplinar em Saúde - CIIS), at the Católica Medical School, Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Portugal) and Invited Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Lisbon. PhD in Pharmacy (Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon, 2014), MSc in Applied Microbiology (Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, 2010) and a Degree in Microbiology (Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, 2009). Principal Investigator of 1 project initiated in 2022 (funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia - FCT). Participated in 7 projects as a researcher (5 funded by FCT, Portugal; 2 by Gilead, Portugal) and 1 as a post-doctoral fellow. Published 33 articles in peer-reviewed international research journals (13 as the first author or shared first author) and 2 book sections, with 542 citations and an h-index of 13 (Scopus, Elsevier, 15th of April, 2024). Co-supervises 1 PhD thesis and supervises 1 MSc thesis. Supervised 1 MSc dissertation and co-supervised 2 other. Participated as a jury in 13 MSc thesis committees. Lecturer of the Immunology course of the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Lisbon. Received 3 awards and honors for the merit of scientific research. Review editor in Frontiers in Microbiology, Frontiers in Immunology and Frontiers in Tuberculosis. Full member of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (Basel, Switzerland), the European Society of Mycobacteriology (Borstel, Germany) and the Portuguese Society of Immunology (Lisbon, Portugal). Is part of the team of inventors of 3 patents. The network of co-authors in scientific papers accounts for 92 collaborators. Part of his research focuses on host-targeted strategies to improve the immune response to infectious diseases, mainly focusing on the bridging mechanisms between innate and adaptive immunity. Another particular focus of Pires's research is the screening of newly engineered molecules, repurposed drugs, and drug delivery strategies that reduce the toxic effects of the treatment, overcome current drug resistance mechanisms, and prevent the evolution of drug-resistant strains.