C. Lopes has an extensive experience in the field of Drosophila developmental biology, genetics and cell cycle regulation. C. Lopes graduated in Biology (Microbiology and Genetics, University of Lisbon) and obtained her PhD from the University of Porto (ICBAS, 2005), under the supervision of Professor Claudio Sunkel. Her research addressed the molecular mechanisms underlying chromosome misegregation during cell division, using Drosophila as a model. C. Lopes developed her post-doctoral work under the supervison of Fernando Casares at the Andalusian Centre for Developmental Biology. She studied how proliferation and patterning are coupled during development. Since June 2013 C. Lopes is head of the Neurodevelopment and Degeneration Group at IBMC. The group studies the function of cell cycle regulators in nervous system development and homeostasis, using Drosophila as a model system and gene-function and biochemical approaches to attain biological knowledge on neurodevelopment associated processes and diseases.