Patricia Monteiro

• Research Group Leader, Department of Biomedicine, University of Porto, Portugal 2022-present
• Invited Assistant Professor, ICVS, University of Minho, Portugal 2020-2022
• Research Group Leader, ICVS, University of Minho, Portugal 2018
• Postdoctoral fellow, ICVS, University of Minho, Portugal 2016-2018
• PhD in Neuroscience, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA 2015
• Undergraduate studies in Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Coimbra, Portugal 2007

Optogenetics is a recent neuromodulation technique that takes advantage of genetically encoded light-sensors (microbial opsins) to induce light activation or silencing of defined neuronal populations in the brain. Using electrophysiology recordings and optogenetic tools as a “remote control” to turn on/off individual brain circuits, Dr. Patricia Monteiro will register neuronal activity in brain areas impacted by stress and will test the causality between brain circuit-activation and behavioral response. This approach will pave the way towards novel therapeutic approaches and will provide insights into how stress impacts brain networks across rodents and humans.

• EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organization), Postdoctoral Long-Term Fellowship (2016)
• International PhD program in Experimental Biology and Biomedicine (PDBEB), Graduate Research Fellowship (2009)
• ERASMUS Program (European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students) , Undergraduate Research Scholarship (2007)