I graduated in Biochemistry from the University of Minho, School of Sciences, in 2023, and I completed a Master’s degree in Health Sciences at the same institution. My Master’s dissertation, supervised by Dr. Bárbara Coimbra and Dr. Ana João Rodrigues, was developed at the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS) within the Neurosciences Research Domain and focused on the study of the dynamics of cholinergic projections from the Laterodorsal Tegmentum (LDT) to the Nucleus Accumbens (NAc) and their involvement in associative learning. I am currently a research fellow in the same laboratory, continuing work in this field, where I investigate causal relationships between neuronal activity and behavior using fiber photometry recordings combined with optogenetic manipulations, aiming to elucidate how LDT cholinergic projections influence the NAc microcircuit.