Maria João Catalão graduated in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2005 by Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon. She received her PhD degree in Microbiology-Pharmacy from University of Lisbon in 2010. Her main research interests are Mycobacterium tuberculosis pathogenesis and antibiotic resistance, structure and function of Mtb cell wall biosynthesis proteins, and the discovery of new cell wall targets for therapy. She is Assistant Professor since 2018 and became Principal Investigator at iMed.ULisboa, Faculty of Pharmacy-University of Lisbon in 2017 supported by the Investigador FCT programme. She heads the Mycobacterial Cell Surface and Pathogenesis group since 2018, currently with 1 post-doc, 2 PhD student, 4 Master students and 2 research fellows. MJ Catalão currently coordinates 2 national FCT projects: i) “Dissecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex cell wall structure and modifications: contribution to host immune recognition and drug resistance”, ii) “Clinical significance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis cell wall structural diversity: contribution to novel mechanisms of antibiotic resistance and relevance towards tuberculosis progression and treatment” and coordinated an European Research Project funded by the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases: “Decoding the peptidoglycan patterns associated with beta-lactams hyper susceptibility in drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Works in the area(s) of Medical and Health Sciences with emphasis on Health Sciences/Infectious Diseases.