Natacha Vieitas-Gaspar

  • valence
  • aversion
  • behavioral neuroscience
  • neuronal circuits
  • neuroanatomy
  • nucleus accumbens
  • reward

I am a PhD student in Health Sciences at ICVS, with a research focus on neuroscience. I have a bachelor’s degree in Applied Biology (School of Sciences, University of Minho), having worked briefly in the field of oncology studying the role of WNT6 in a murine in vitro model of glioblastoma during my internship project.
I completed a master’s in Health Sciences (School of Medicine, University of Minho), having defended my dissertation – “Valence in the Nucleus Accumbens – Identifying Neural Populations in Appetitive and Aversive Responses” – under the supervision of Ana João Rodrigues and Carina Soares-Cunha. I studied how neuronal populations in the nucleus accumbens and amygdala subnuclei respond to positive and negative valence stimuli – a topic I am still exploring. For this, I use anatomically-detailed immunofluorescence and behavioural assessments (such as place preference tests) combined with aversive and appetitive stimuli and optogenetics. More recently, my work also involves implementing a variety of high-throughput techniques (proteomics, single cell RNA-sequencing, calcium imaging) to more comprehensively study this topic. Our team’s work allowed for co-authorship in 4 published journal articles (Cell Reports, IF: 7.5; Translational Psychiatry, IF: 5.8; Journal of Neurochemistry, IF: 4.2; Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience, IF: 4.1) and in two posters presented at the international FENS Forum 2022.

Natacha Vieitas-Gaspar

  • valence
  • aversion
  • behavioral neuroscience
  • neuronal circuits
  • neuroanatomy
  • nucleus accumbens
  • reward

I am a PhD student in Health Sciences at ICVS, with a research focus on neuroscience. I have a bachelor’s degree in Applied Biology (School of Sciences, University of Minho), having worked briefly in the field of oncology studying the role of WNT6 in a murine in vitro model of glioblastoma during my internship project.
I completed a master’s in Health Sciences (School of Medicine, University of Minho), having defended my dissertation – “Valence in the Nucleus Accumbens – Identifying Neural Populations in Appetitive and Aversive Responses” – under the supervision of Ana João Rodrigues and Carina Soares-Cunha. I studied how neuronal populations in the nucleus accumbens and amygdala subnuclei respond to positive and negative valence stimuli – a topic I am still exploring. For this, I use anatomically-detailed immunofluorescence and behavioural assessments (such as place preference tests) combined with aversive and appetitive stimuli and optogenetics. More recently, my work also involves implementing a variety of high-throughput techniques (proteomics, single cell RNA-sequencing, calcium imaging) to more comprehensively study this topic. Our team’s work allowed for co-authorship in 4 published journal articles (Cell Reports, IF: 7.5; Translational Psychiatry, IF: 5.8; Journal of Neurochemistry, IF: 4.2; Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience, IF: 4.1) and in two posters presented at the international FENS Forum 2022.

Scientific Highlights

1. Vieitas-Gaspar, N., Soares-Cunha, C. & Rodrigues, A. J. (2025). From valence encoding to motivated behavior: A focus on the nucleus accumbens circuitry. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 172(5), 106125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110380
2. Soares-Cunha, C., Domingues, A. V., Correia, R., Coimbra, B., Vieitas-Gaspar, N., de Vasconcelos, N. A. P., Pinto, L., Sousa, N., & Rodrigues, A. J. (2022). Distinct role of nucleus accumbens D2-MSN projections to ventral pallidum in different phases of motivated behavior. Cell Reports, 38(7), 110380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110380
3. Vieitas-Gaspar N., Coimbra B., Domingues A. V., Correia R., Węzik M., Vilasboas-Campos D., Osório N. S., Samiotaki M., Soares-Cunha C., Rodrigues A. J. (2025) “Exposure to stimuli of opposing valence: impact in the nucleus accumbens proteome.” XIX Meeting of the Portuguese Society for Neuroscience, Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal.
4. Domingues, A. V., Coimbra, B., Correia, R., Deseyve, C., Vieitas-Gaspar, N., Floresco, S. B., Sousa, N., Soares-Cunha, C., & Rodrigues, A. J. (2022). Prenatal dexamethasone exposure alters effort decision making and triggers nucleus accumbens and anterior cingulate cortex functional changes in male rats. Translational Psychiatry, 12(1).https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-022-02043-4
5. Correia, R., Coimbra, B., Domingues, A. V., Wezik, M., Vieitas-Gaspar, N., Gaspar, R., Sousa, N., Pinto, L., Rodrigues, A. J., & Soares-Cunha, C. (2023). Involvement of nucleus accumbens D2-medium spiny neurons projecting to the ventral pallidum in anxiety-like behaviour. Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN, 48(4), E267–E284. https://doi.org/10.1503/jpn.220111
6. Deseyve, C., Domingues, A. V., Carvalho, T. T. A., Armada, G., Correia, R., Vieitas-Gaspar, N., Wezik, M., Pinto, L., Sousa, N., Coimbra, B., Rodrigues, A. J., & Soares-Cunha, C. (2024). Nucleus accumbens neurons dynamically respond to appetitive and aversive associative learning. Journal of neurochemistry, 168(3), 312–327. https://doi.org/10.1111/jnc.16063

Add Your Heading Text Here

Projects

As Leader

Projects

As Member