Cassilda Pereira (CP) obtained her PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences with specialization in Biochemistry from faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Coimbra in 2016. She is an Invited Assistant Professor at School of Health, Polytechnic University of Porto (ESS|P.PORTO) and an Integrated Researcher at Center for Translational Health and Medical Biotechnology Research (TBIO), a part of the Health Research Network (RISE-Health). She has a solid background in cellular biology, biochemistry, cell signaling pathways, cellular microbiology and toxin biology, both in vivo and in cellular models. Overall, CP published 11 papers in international peer-reviewed journals and has been a researcher/team member of 10 competitive projects grants (FCT). Her PhD work provided new insights into the role of nitrite-derived nitric oxide in mammalian gastric physiology and the biological functions of wine polyphenols regarding cellular regulation and anti-inflammatory actions using in vitro and in vivo models. Later in 2016, CP joined the Fish Immunology and Vaccinology group at IBMC/i3S (Porto, PT), as a postdoctoral researcher to work with AIP56, an AB toxin that is a key virulence factor from Photobacterium damselae subsp. piscicida (Phdp) and targets NF-kB in mammalian cells. CP greatly contributed to i) the identification of the cellular processes and molecular mechanisms involved in AIP56 intoxication in mammalian cells; ii) the characterization of the structural features involved in AIP56 intoxication; iii) the identification and characterization of other virulence factors from Phdp, particularly proteins secreted by the type II secretion system (T2SS). In 2020, CP attained a contract as a Junior researcher at i3S to study the positive impact of cardiac fibroblasts on cardiac regeneration and identify essential mediators in this process. CP research work has been disseminated through the participation in national and international scientific conferences, over 30 conference posters/oral communications and 7 published conference abstracts. Currently, at TBIO-RISE Health, CP’s scientific interest is to characterize the modulation of cellular metabolism by bioactive compounds with biotechnological potential in the context of obesity and metabolic related disorders. CP is committed to science communication and outreach through the organization/participation of scientific events for the community such as “Ciência Viva” and “ESS | P.Porto Sexta aberta” activities.