Instituto de Medicina Molecular

Director´s message

The Instituto de Medicina Molecular is now over a decade old. From the beginning and under the direction of Carmo Fonseca, iMM Lisboa has established itself as a biomedical research institute of excellence, conducting basic and clinical research with the mission of improving human life. A constant slope towards excellence-driven, high-impact research, with a clear emphasis on quality over quantity, marks that same decade. Last year the executive lead was passed to me, with Carmo becoming President; and a Board of Directors was swiftly set.

I am a scientist because I fell madly in love when I saw an electron micrograph of a Leishmaniaparasite inside a host macrophage. Since then I have "changed subject" a few times but questioning how microbes survive inside the host and how these 2 entities cross-talk powers my life. While I do not know the details of when and how my fellow scientists of the board of directors – Bruno Silva-Santos and Henrique Veiga-Fernandes - fell in love with science, I have no doubt that our common denominator is the constant excitement about the questions that keep sprouting in our minds. And for Margarida Pinto Gago, our Finance Director, discoveries made at iMM Lisboa are surely a big and important part of her life.