Since she was a young girl, Cecilia has always been passionate about science and learning about new things. 

Cecília Ferreira is a PhD candidate in Molecular and Cellular Biotechnology Applied to Health Sciences at the University of Porto and at the Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (i3S), at Bruno Sarmento's laboratory and supervised by Dr. Cláudia Martins. She holds Bachelor’s (17/20) and Master’s (19/20) degrees in Biochemistry from the University of Porto and completed her MSc thesis with the highest distinction (20/20). Her research interest lies in the context of brain diseases, specially in the context of glioblastoma, the deadliest type of brain cancer in adults. Her work focused on the development of a scalable biomimetic blood–brain barrier/glioblastoma platform for stratifying drug permeability and anti-tumour efficacy. She is the first author of a high-impact peer-reviewed article in ADDR (Cecilia Ferreira et al., 2025) and co-author of a publication in JRC (Bárbara Ferreira et al., 2025). Cecília has shared her work through competitive oral presentations and/or poster sessions at national and international conferences, including the European Commission Joint Research Centre Summer School on Non-Animal Approaches in Science (Italy) and at he 12th Galenus International Workshop (Portugal). Her project has been distinguished with multiple awards, including Best Oral Communication (IJUP), 1st Place in the Scientific Pitch competition (X Jornadas da Bioquímica), and the "Innovate" Award (iMed Conference 16.0 Innovate competition) with a research grant funded by AstraZeneca Foundation. She is also a member of the Student Ambassador for Non-Animal Methods project lead by the European Commission Joint Research Center Ispra, and has contributed to the organisation of major events, including the 12th Galenus International Workshop as part of the Young Scientist Committee and the European Researchers’ Night 2025 at i3S.

She considers herself as a hobby hopper, enjoying music, painting, reading, embroidery, playing board games, and many other creative and relaxing activities