I am Leandro Freitas, a PhD student at ICVS. I concluded the BSc in Biotechnology at the University of Aveiro in 2021 where I did an internship at CICECO – Aveiro Institute of Materials and at the Department of Engineering and Materials, to explore the very first steps of a boron-doped diamond-based enzymatic biosensor for phenolic compounds with potential applications in monitoring neurologic biomarkers. Next, I completed the MSc in Biochemistry and Biomedicine in 2024 where I worked under the supervision of Dr. Sandra Vaz at Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Lisbon School of Medicine, in the project “Role of astrocytes in the endocannabinoid-mediated long-term depression in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC)“. Briefly, we proposed a new mechanism behind long-term depression (LTD) maintenance where astrocytes respond to endocannabinoids by increasing their intracellular Ca2+ frequency and decreasing glutamate uptake, ultimately shaping LTD (DOI:10.21203/rs.3.rs-4281560/v1). Next, I was awarded with a PhD Studentship (2024.01292.BDANA) by FCT, to develop the project “AstroMap: Understanding Adult Astrogliogenesis in Health and Depression”, under the supervision of Dr. Luisa Pinto, Dr. Sandra Vaz and Dr. Teresa Canedo.