Catarina Godinho concluded her PhD in Pharmacy in 2017. As a post-doctoral researcher at Ana Espada de Sousa Lab, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa/iMM, she focused on immunological aspects of HIV-1 and HIV-2 infections for almost 5 years. This post-doctoral position has also granted her the opportunity to perform flow cytometry assays in many different projects, as illustrated by the study group within the COST Action Mye-EUNITER to standardize the evaluation of human myeloid-derived suppressor cells, the study of the regulatory CD4 T cell transcriptional signature in human thymus and blood, the diagnosis of primary immunodeficiencies with follow-up of immunocompromised individuals or the establishment of the immunological study of COVID-19 pneumonia patients. During this work, she also ensured the training of students and research fellows in flow cytometry from equipment usage, experimental design, protocol optimization to data analysis up to 20 parameters.
In 2021, Catarina joined the Instituto de Investigação do Medicamento (iMed.ULisboa) to set up and manage the Flow Cytometry Facility. While managing the facility, she is also a researcher at iMed.ULisboa, addressing the immunological impact of COVID-19 in several cohorts and CAR T cell development.