Profile

I was born in a beautiful small town called Braga, in Portugal 🇵🇹 . Now I live in Exeter and work at the University as a scientist 🥼👩🏼‍🔬. I love being in the lab discovering new things almost every day. I recently got into powerlifting (trying really hard to lift some heavy weights) but also really enjoy going to group exercise classes and running around with my friends 🏋🏼‍♀️. Cooking is another of my favourite hobbies. I like making traditional Portuguese dishes and trying new cuisines. Spending a Saturday making a mess of my kitchen is one of my favourite things to do 🥘🥐! I love dogs (cats not so much) and nice long Nature walks 🐕. My favourite holiday is going home to see my family, back to sunny Portugal (and I never miss the English weather when I am away) ☀️🤗 .

Gym

Crochet

Exeter sights

Sunny Portugal

I am very passionate about helping people. When I was little I thought I wanted to be a doctor, because I liked helping people so much and learning new things. When I went to Univerisity I decide to not study Medicine (which would have made me a medical doctor) and instead chose to become a scientist. This way I get to learn about how the body works and different ways to treat disease even before medical doctors know (and because I have a PhD I am also a doctor, just a different type).

I especially want to understand how our bodies use all the energy we get from food and exercise. I really like lifting heavy weights so I want to understand how our muscles stay so healthy and strong throughout our lives. I also know that as we get older our muscles are not as strong and want to understand why to make sure one day I can find a way for my nan and grandad to run around like they did when they were younger.

Age is one thing that can change your muscles but its not the only one. If you have diabetes, which is a condition that makes your blood sugars change a lot during the day in an unpredictable way, your muscles also change. They sometimes don’t recognise sugar as energy so your blood sugars get even more unpredictable! This is one way people with diabetes can get very ill. I want to find a way to make these muscles stronger and healthier and help people with diabetes live healthier lives.

sometimes scientists play with pretty colours

We can help other scientists by taking part in their studies

Sometimes we need a lot of very well organised equipment to do our jobs

We think we look cool!

During the thinking part of our jobs we sit on normal office desks – a lot of important science work happens outside the lab!

We get to present our work to the wider scientific community

sometimes that involves a presentation of our work to other scientists who can ask us questions and give us feedback on our work