Ana Catarina Pereira (AC Pereira) has a PhD in Health Sciences with a specialization in Biomedical Sciences from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra (UC), Portugal, 2024. The experimental work has been conducted at the Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology (CNC), a partner of the Associated Laboratory Center for Innovative Biomedicine and Biotechnology (CIBB), at UC. In 2018, she has obtained a master's degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the Faculty of Science and Technology, UC, after conclusion the bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences from the Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Algarve (UAlg), Portugal, in 2016. As a Master's and Bachelor's student, respectively, AC Pereira was awarded two Merit and Excellence scholarships: one by the University of Coimbra in 2018 and another by the University of Algarve in 2016. Until now, she published 10 papers in peer-reviewed journals, 5 original papers and 5 reviews and the scientific impact of her research is reflected in the H index (9) and number of citations (327) (Google Schoolar). Moreover, an original research article, for which she is the first author, was recently accepted for publication. Additionally, she is a co-author of one original article currently under review and the first author of three more original articles in preparation. She presented her work in 11 oral inter(national) scientific meetings and is author of 12 poster communications. AC Pereira received twice the best oral communication award at scientific meetings, namely at the 1st Annual Meeting in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Coimbra, Portugal (2019) and at the 56th Annual Scientific Meeting of the European Society for Clinical Investigation (ESCI), Bari, Italy (2022). AC Pereira supervised a Master's project in Cellular and Molecular Biology, and tutored practical classes in Cellular Regulation and in Research Methods and Techniques for the Master's degree in Biomedical Research, from the Faculty of Medicine, UC. She actively participated in several science communication projects and activities, such as the European Night of Researchers, the International Brain Awareness Week, co-authored the Cartoon "A Bipolar Journey" published in the national Público online newspaper in the International Day of Bipolar Disorder 2021 (30 March), and collaborated in the video entitled "Bipolar disorder: another side" promoted by the theater company Marionet (2022) and CNC. AC Pereira has given several seminars and lectures including the “Mental Health” awareness session on World Mental Health Day, aimed at students, parents and teachers, Penafiel Sudeste Basic School, October 2024; and “Pandemic and Bipolar Disorder”, Miguel Torga Secondary School, Agrupamento de Escolas Damião de Goes, Colégio Guadalupe, May 2021. The specific aim of her PhD research project was to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric diseases namely bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, focusing on the dysregulation of cellular stress responses, with a special emphasis on the endoplasmic reticulum-mitochondria communication and its impact on innate immunity and lipid profile, among other crucial cellular events. The ultimate goal was to disclose novel targets for therapeutic intervention and biomarkers for early diagnosis. Currently, AC Pereira is a postdoctoral Research Fellow at Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (i3S), University of Porto, working on the project entitled "Improving Deep Brain Stimulation in Parkinson’s Disease through Personalized Electrophysiological Biomarkers and Data-Driven Stimulation Strategies", whose main objective is to induce the formation and stimulate small neuronal circuits in order to understand their functionality, using microfluidic devices.