Raquel Fernandes graduated in 2018 in Biochemistry from the School of Sciences of the University of Minho, Braga. Following her interest in the health sciences field, she enrolled the Biochemistry for Health master program, lectured in consortium with Nova Medical School, NOVA School of Sciences and Technology and Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier (ITQB), Lisbon. In 2019, she joined the Cell Line Development and Molecular Biotechnology Laboratory of ITQB-NOVA and Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica (iBET), to develop her master thesis entitled “Live cell biosensors for detection and quantification of viral pathogens”. Her master thesis work was integrated in a peer-reviewed scientific publication on an international journal, where she contributed as a second author, and was selected for an oral communication as first author in the Congress of Microbiology and Biotechnology MICROBIOTEC21. In March 2021 she concluded her master’s degree and was hired as a Junior Research Fellow to follow-up her thesis work. In December 2021, she joined the Immunobiology of Inflammatory and Infectious Diseases Team (i3D) at the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), as a Junior Research Fellow, where she is currently developing her PhD under a FCT awarded fellowship. Her PhD work has been focusing on dissecting the role of Itaconate in the activation and regulation of antifungal immune responses as well as its interindividual genetic variation in susceptibility to invasive pulmonary aspergillosis.