Maria Nunes’ interests concern the relevance of epigenetic mechanisms in the context of neurodegeneration. Her work has been focused on the role of histone deacetylases in brain cholesterol metabolism, with the goal of defining HDAC inhibition as a potential therapeutic tool on neurodegenerative conditions with impaired cholesterol metabolism. Specifically, she was involved in the identification of epigenetic modifiers as drugs that can be used to increase 24S-hydroxylase (CYP46A1) expression, a pivotal enzyme in brain cholesterol homeostasis. Moreover, the identification of transcriptional co-factors that participate in the regulation of brain cholesterol homeostasis is also part of her post-doctoral work. More recently, Maria Nunes has been devoted to establishing CYP46A1 ectopic expression as a therapeutic approach in Niemann-Pick type C disease.