Soraia Barão is a Neuroscience Researcher at ABC CoLAB. Her research is focused on understanding the molecular programs enabling the specification and circuit integration of callosal projection neurons (CPNs), and in elucidating how these programs are altered in different neurological disorders. These interests started during her master’s internship at Janssen Pharmaceutical in Belgium, where Soraia studied the potential of amyloid beta-peptide as a therapeutic target for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). During her Ph.D. training at VIB-KU Leuven in the laboratory of Dr. Bart De Strooper, a leading group in the field of neurodegenerative diseases, Soraia obtained a strong foundation in molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying neurodevelopment and neurological disorders (Zhou L and Barão S et al. J Biol Chem 2012; Barão S et al. Cell Rep 2015; Barão S et al. Trends Neurosci 2016) and developed new tools to study biomarkers and therapeutic targets for AD (Barão S et al. Curr Alzheimer Res 2013; Barão S et al. J Alzheimers Dis 2017). She established and managed different collaborations with academic and clinical groups and had the opportunity to supervise and train different students and technicians. Soraia also visited the laboratories of Dr. Maness at UNC Chapel Hill and Dr. Lopez-Bendito at the Neuroscience Institute in Alicante to study brain circuitry in her mouse models of interest. As a postdoctoral researcher at JHU, Soraia joined the laboratory of Dr. Ulrich Müller, an internationally recognized expert in brain development, where she had the opportunity to learn and apply the most sophisticated state-of-the-art techniques in neuroscience to the study of progenitor’s behavior and neuronal circuitry during brain development and evolution. Soraia used comparative neuroanatomy, immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, single cell RNA sequencing and gene transfer methods including viral mediated gene transfer and in utero electroporation to study diverse cellular and molecular mechanisms of cortical development in different species. She established the ferret as model in her postdoc laboratory and discovered novel BRN1/2 and ZBTB20 functions in neuronal specification and connectivity of CPNs (Barão S et al., Development 2021; Barão S et al. Nat Commun. 2024). At JHU, Soraia had the chance to interact and collaborate with different groups at prestigious universities and institutes and to teach scientists from diverse cultural and academic backgrounds at all career stages. While in the US, Soraia taught Foundations of Biology Lab II at Loyola University in Maryland and a Developmental Neuroscience Class at JHU. In addition, she has been part of different PhD evaluation committees. In her scientific career, Soraia has presented her work in multiple international conferences and was invited for more than fifteen oral communications. In 2022, Soraia was promoted to Research Associate in the Department of Neuroscience at JHU and had the opportunity to focus on her own research questions and build the foundation for her current research programs. She established a collaboration with Huganir’s lab and has since been investigating the role of SYNGAP1 in murine neocortical progenitor cells (Barão S et al., Nat Commun. 2025). In August 2024, Soraia was awarded an FCT exploratory grant where she is investigating how genes associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) influence the behavior of neocortical progenitors to alter neuronal connectivity in the mature brain. In December 2025, she was nominated Scientific Director at ABC CoLAB. In October 2026, Soraia was awarded the 2026 BBRF Young Investigator Grant ot investigate neocortical progenitors as cellular mediators of Schizophrenia genetic risk.