Alexandra Teixeira joined the Medical Devices group at INL in August 2018 to work on an FCT project related to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Currently, and since 2020, she is a PhD student in Health Sciences at the School of Medicine of the same university. Her PhD is being developed between three institutes: INL, ICVS (University of Minho), and CINBIO (University of Vigo). Throughout her PhD, she has acquired extensive knowledge and experience in three major areas, such as microfluidics, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and, more recently, genetics and molecular biology; her focus is to promote the integration of these areas in order to improve diagnosis in AML, and more precisely, minimal residual disease (MRD) in this hematological disease. The main aim of her thesis is to develop and integrate a microfluidic device for the isolation of leukemic blasts and a SERS substrate for the detection of MRD-related mutations in AML. Her current focus is to understand the impact of autophagy genes in AML and, more precisely, their impact on patient survival.

Alexandra Teixeira completed her degree in Biology and Geology at the School of Sciences of the University of Minho in 2016 and her master's degree in Health Sciences at the School of Medicine of the same university in 2018. She is co-author of 11 publications in scientific journals (4 of them as first author), 1 chapter in a book (as first author), and has presented her work at more than 15 national and international conferences, including oral communications and posters.