What brought you to the USA?
I first came to US for my undergrad internship. I wanted something related to marine mammals and toxicology, I found 4 labs worldwide and only 1 had the conditions/project (basically $$) to accept me. So I came for 9 months, and then went back home to defend my internship. After this my external mentor suggested me to apply for the PhD program at the university where the lab is. At first I was pretty scared by the fact that the program was called biochemistry (my most painful course ever!) and molecular biology. But I thought that nowadays almost in every biology job you need some molecular knowledge so I decided to apply. And I got accepted.

In what are you currently working on?
Currently I’m studying the genotoxic effects of heavy metals on cell lines developed from 2 whale species tissues (North Atlantic right whale and sperm whale) and compare to the effects seen in human cells. I’m also studying DNA damage repair in both whale and human cells.

What conditions do you have here that you do not have in Portugal?
I never worked in a lab in Portugal so I can’t really compare however, I can say that in the lab I’m working resources are usually not a limitation to my research. The only thing I can talk about is that in Portugal with my undergrad GPA I would never ever have the opportunity I’m having right now. My undergrad GPA was only enough to apply for a master degree, and therefore applying for a PhD never crossed my mind. During my internship my external mentor (who is now my PhD mentor) liked my work so here I am. What I want to say is that fortunately in US, at least for hardworking but not so smart people like me, candidate selection is not only based on GPAs.

What are your future plans?
Finish my PhD within 2-3 yrs, hopefully 2 and then take a long vacation. And future as after graduation, I don’t know yet. In the next few yrs I’ll be looking for research opportunities anywhere in the world, but hoping to find something in Europe.

Why did you join PAPS?
I didn’t know about PAPS until 2 friends of mine told me about it. I decided to join because it’s a good opportunity to network, to know what’s going on in Portugal and is great to connect with Portuguese people in similar career stage as me.