Raquel M. Gonçalves graduated in Chemical Engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa and got a PhD in Biotechnology in the same institution, in collaboration with the Department of Animal Biotechnology at University of Nevada, Reno, USA. She then worked in Bioteca (Lisboa), a private cord blood bank where she implemented the procedures of cell isolation and characterization. 

After that, she moved to Porto and joined INEB. She has combining an engineering background with expertise in stem cells and biomaterials to develop therapeutic strategies to osteo-articular tissues, namely the intervertebral disc. She was awarded with a prestigious Humboldt Fellowship for Experienced Researchers that allowed her to spend a sabaptic period in Germany, Ulm. 

Currently she is a Professor at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar (ICBAS) of the University of Porto and a researcher at i3S, Institute of Research and Innovation in Health, where she continues to develop her research in immunomodulatory therapies and in vitro models for intervertebral disc. She is also a co-founder of FETALDISC, an i3S spin-off company dedicated to develop fetal-based therapies for intervertebral disc.