Lídia Nunes-Carvalho obtained a B.Sc. in Bioengineering (2021) and a M.Sc. in Biotechnology for Health Sciences (2025) at the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro. She developed her master’s dissertation at the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), under the supervision of Dr. Andreia Teixeira-Castro and Dr. Joana Pereira-Sousa, focusing on understanding the role of the serotonin receptor LGC-50 in C. elegans and sought to demonstrate a possible homology of this receptor with the human 5-HT3A receptor since both LGC-50 and the human 5-HT3A receptor are ligand-gated ion channels involved in serotonergic neurotransmission.
Currently, she is a research fellow in the project “New molecules harnessing targeted protein degradation for the treatment of Machado-Joseph disease”. Her research interests include the discovery of small molecules, such as PROTACs, AUTACs, and ATTECs and other strategies to promote the degradation of mutant ataxin-3 and thereby reduce the formation and accumulation of ataxin-3 aggregates associated with Machado-Joseph disease (also called spinocerebellar ataxia type 3, SCA3).