- Paula graduated in Biological Engineering from the University of Minho in 1993 and completed a phD degree in Inorganic Chemistry on the topic "Synthesis, structure and reactivity of novel microporous materials", at the University of Aveiro (UA) in January of 1999. In February of 1999, she started a post-doc position at UMIST/Manchester/England for 19 months working in a project entitled “Catalytic activity of novel heterogeneous microporous catalysts for petroleum industry application”. In September of 2000, she started a post-doc position in UA for 26 months working in a project with title “Synthesis and characterization of novel microporous and layer materials; with application in acid catalysis and as ion exchangers”. Since 2006, Paula is responsible for the single crystal X-ray diffraction laboratory, its maintenance, as well as the training of the new users, contributing to the knowledge of the students not only to handle the single crystal X-ray machine but also in solving structures using different methodologies. Since obtaining her PhD degree, Paula published 298 papers in international peer review journals with over 5217 citations and showing a 36 h index. 277 of the 298 papers are published independently from the PhD supervisor. She participated in over 30 international and national conferences delivering 10 oral presentations. Paula supervised one Post-Doc (SFRH/BPD/81113/2011, 3 years), three BII student (2 years) and co-supervised two Brazilian post-doc students from professor Mário Reis group. Also, she was supervising 20 graduate students in the Department of Chemistry, UA. In 2024 two master students conclude their thesis under Paula supervising. Currently (2025–2026), she is supervising two Master’s students: Bruno Caldeira, “Transition-metal complexes containing different metal centres: a new approach for cancer therapy”, and Leonor Luz, “Synthesis of metal–organic structures with vitamins and amino acids for the controlled release of therapeutic NO and H2S” Since 2020, Paula has been collaborating with the Department of Chemistry in teaching undergraduate courses; Physical Chemistry, Fundamentals of Chemistry, and Chemistry Laboratories I as well as X-ray courses in the Master’s degree program in Chemistry. In parallel with her research in crystallography, she began developing independent research focused on the design, synthesis, and characterization of polynuclear Cu, Co, and Fe complexes with various bio-ligands (DNA bases, vitamin B3, vitamin B1, and amino acids), as well as polypyridyl ligands, as alternative antitumoral agents, including cytotoxicity and DNA-binding studies. Her work also includes bio–metal–organic frameworks as potential delivery vehicles for therapeutic nitric oxide, and multinuclear transition-metal compounds (Cu, Co, Mn, and Fe) with significant magnetic properties for potential applications in room-temperature quantum information technologies. Given the strongly multidisciplinary nature of this research, she has established several collaborations with researchers at the University of Aveiro and other Portuguese universities (Lisbon, Porto, and Minho). More recently, in September 2025, she initiated a collaboration with Professor Luísa Helguero (iBiMeD, University of Aveiro), in which she personally conducted the cytotoxicity studies of the synthesized metal complexes. Internationally, Paula has a solid collaboration with different Universities: Institute of Physics of Federal University, Niteroi, Brazil, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee USA, AN-Najah National University Nablus, Palestine and several universities from India. All these collaborations, together with the development of novel compounds, led to the participation in 6 projects in the area of materials science and a cooperation project Portugal-Brazil.