Joana Paredes (JParedes) is Group Leader of the Cancer Metastasis group at i3S - Institute for Investigation and Innovation in Health of the University of Porto. Currently, she is also Coordinator of the Scientific Platform In Vivo CAM Assays at i3S, Professor at the Pathology Department of the Medical Faculty of Porto University, and President of ASPIC (Portuguese Association for Cancer Research). JParedes graduated in Biology at Coimbra University in 1999 and completed her PhD in Human Biology at the Medical Faculty of Porto University in 2004. For 4 years, with the support on an FCT PhD grant, she worked at the Cancer Research Lab of Gent University (Belgium) and at Ipatimup (Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology of the University of Porto), both reference labs in cell-cell adhesion and cancer. The PhD was immediately followed by a 3 years postdoc in the Neoplasia and Development Domain at ICVS (Life and Health Sciences Research Institute, University of Minho), working under an FCT grant and funded project in collaboration with Ipatimup. In 2008, JParedes was hired by Ciência 2007 program, to establish a novel independent research line at Ipatimup, related to the role of cell-cell adhesion molecules in cancer stem cell biology. JParedes published her first manuscript as a senior author in 2010 and was selected for a competitive iFCT position (Development Grant) in 2013 as an independent researcher. In 2019, JParedes has acquired a tenure position at Ipatimup/i3S and became a Group Leader and Principal Investigator in 2021. Throughout her career, JParedes has been always committed to understand how cell-cell adhesion signaling regulates collective invasion, metabolic behavior and stem properties of cancer cells, supporting the use of adhesion molecules as prognostic and predictive biomarkers in cancer. She was pioneer in this field, demonstrating that P-cadherin overexpression confers poor prognosis to breast cancer patients. As a mentor and Principal Investigator, she has directed her research to challenge the dogma that cell-cell adhesion needs to be lost for cancer cells to invade and metastasize. Using breast cancer as a model, JParedes has contributed to establish that cell-cell adhesion mediated by P-cadherin provides invasive and stem-like properties to cancer cells. Recently, she demonstrated that P-cadherin can be induced by hypoxia in cancer, which then activates the pentose phosphate pathway and decreases oxidative stress in matrix-detached breast cancer cells. These results led her to hypothesize that cell adhesion can award plasticity and a survival advantage to cancer cells while in circulation. Thus, JParedes is currently focused is studying how cell adhesion impacts an increased metastatic behavior. JParedes has published 93 articles in international peer-reviewed journals and 5 book chapters. These manuscripts have gathered more than 5300 citations by peers, endowing her an h-index of 43. JParedes has coordinated 10 and participated in 25 research projects, funded by Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Portugal 2020, Norte 2020, la Caixa, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis International, AstraZeneca, Gulbenkian Foundation, and patient's associations, such as Laço, LPCC, and No Stomach for Cancer (Total Amount 3 M). She has also acted as a reviewer of scientific projects for national and international funding agencies, as well as of post-doc and PhD fellowships for FCT. As a mentor, JParedes has already supervised or co-supervised 14 PhD students and 21 MSc students. She has also supervised the scientific activities of 8 young research fellows and 6 post-doctoral fellows.