Marta Afonso’s work is focused on a better understanding of the role of necroptosis and miRNAs in the pathogenesis of several liver diseases, namely non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), cholestasis and hepatocellular carcinoma, while critically evaluating the therapeutic potential and eventual adverse events resulting from pathway inhibition. She also aims to build a platform for discovery and early development of innovative therapeutic approaches for cancer prevention and treatment. Particularly, she is focused on studying the interplay between cell death, metabolism and immune cell activation that controls cancer stem cell biology and contributes to gastrointestinal malignancies. During her PhD and Postdoctoral studies, she did internships in Harvard Medical School, USA, under the supervision of Junying Yuan, and in University Medical Center Mainz, Germany, under the supervision of Peter Galle, respectively. She has published >20 peer-reviewed publications (e.g. Gut, J Hepatol, Hepatology, Cell Death Differ). Afonso (co)-supervises 1 master, 2 PhD, and several undergraduate students; she was a member and examiner of several master thesis juries; and co-coordinates courses in the MSc in Biopharmaceutical Sciences. Afonso is member of the Young Investigator task force of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL). Besides being a team member of 12 funded research projects, she was awarded with a Research grant APEF/MSD 2017, iMed.ULisboa-Young Investigators’ Projects for Collaborative Cross-disciplinary Studies 2019 and Research grant APEF/Bayer 2020.