Rita graduated in Biochemistry in 2012 and obtained an MSc degree in Health Sciences in 2014 at University of Minho. During her MSc, Rita has worked mainly in the genetic basis of host susceptibility to Mycobacterium ulcerans infection under the supervision of Dr. Alexandra Fraga and Professor Jorge Pedrosa at the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), University of Minho. Between 2014 and 2015 she continued her work in the immunological basis of host-pathogen interaction in M. ulcerans infection. In 2016 Rita was enrolled in the GABBA PhD program from ICBAS, University of Porto. By the end of 2016, Rita moved to Milan (Italy), where she developed her PhD project at the Humanitas Research Hospital, under the supervision of Professor Alberto Mantovani and Dr. Barbara Bottazzi, in collaboration with Dr. Maria José Oliveira from i3S, Porto. Rita’s PhD project aimed at investigating the biological role of the macrophage protein MS4A4A in pathology, which included models of cancer, infection and rheumatoid arthritis. Rita was awarded with her PhD in 2021 and continued to develop her research activities at Humanitas as a research fellow. In July 2022, she moved back to ICVS to work in the group of Dr. Agostinho Carvalho and Dr. Cristina Cunha, where she hopes to apply and expand her knowledge in immunology and macrophage biology through the study of the immunometabolic and genetic host factors in response to the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus