Ana Luisa Carvalho is an Associate Professor at the Department of Life Sciences, and Leader of the Synapse Biology research group at the CNC-Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, University of Coimbra, Portugal. She did her PhD at the University of Coimbra, in a collaborative project with the laboratory of RL Huganir at the Johns Hopkins University, USA. Ana Luisa Carvalho is interested in molecular mechanisms modulating neuronal communication in the brain, since this modulation underlies complex brain processes such as learning, memory and development.