My research focuses on studying how human salivary responses to visual and olfactory stimuli impact the sensory perception and evaluation of foods. This is crucial for advancing understanding of how humans process and react to food stimuli, as well as how these responses influence eating behaviour. My ultimate goal is to develop and apply multisensory strategies to promote healthy diets and address eating disorders.​

As a trained biochemist, I have been conducting my PhD studies at the Oral Biology and Salivary Proteomics Lab of MED – Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development, at the University of Évora. Seeking to evaluate differences in human responses to food odours (vanilla and orange) compared to non-food odours (pine) using salivation, skin conductance and heart rate measures, I recently conducted a lab study with 40 participants of both sexes. Preliminary results suggest that, as hypothesized, exposure to food odours increased salivation compared to non-food ones.​

Earlier, I have investigated the salivary protein profiles of individuals with different weight status and diets (e.g., obesity, weight-loss programs) and assessed the short-term effects of the consumption of different foods. Altogether, my lab work has granted me invaluable skills and experience in analytical biochemistry, as well as the opportunity to mentor undergraduate students. In particular, I have gained extensive expertise in several relevant techniques, including two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE), SDS-PAGE, western blotting, and ELISA.​

I am now in the last year of my PhD program, but the passion for understanding what type of changes seeing and smelling food can trigger in saliva composition, that might influence subsequent oral food perception, remains as alive as when I started it. Once I complete my dissertation, I would like to continue working in this area of research to explore how the brain responds to the anticipation of different foods, particularly in individuals with eating disorders.​

Since 2020, I have also been involved in the SensePredict project, a science-based entrepreneurial venture focused on developing a tool to predict the intensity of different food flavours without the need of having individuals tasting foods using artificial saliva. This project combines scientific research with entrepreneurship with the aim of promoting innovation within the food industry.