Researcher at INSA Dr. Ricardo Jorge, and at UMIB/ICBAS, UP; Invited Professor at ICBAS.

I have started my research career studying transthyretin amyloidosis, with an emphasis on the development of new monoclonal antibodies, exploring their use in the diagnosis and therapy of the disease, having developed immunosorbents that were used the ‘90s in a pilot trial of immunoapheresis for the treatment of the disease in 6 patients [Costa & Costa. Amyloid 1998;5:143-4]. I still have an active interest in the study of the molecular pathology of amyloidosis [Beirão et al. Clin Nephrol. 2010;74:327-35; Moreira et al. Amyloid 2015;22:93-9]. In the last decade, I reoriented my main interests to the study of epilepsy and autoimmune diseases, with a focus on genetic determinants of susceptibility, and of disease course and presentation, and their interaction with environmental factors [Bettencourt et al. J Immunol Res. 2015;2015:948723; Bettencourt et al. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2017 Sep 22. pii: S0960-0760(17)30264-9]. Following the acquisition of in-house NGS capability, my main focus for the immediate future will be the exploration of the role of the microbiome in autoimmune disease.