Maria José Oliveira graduate in Biology by the Faculty of Sciences at Porto University and performed her PhD at the University of Ghent. She is currently leading the Tumor and Microenvironment Interactions Group at i3S-Institute for Research and Innovation in Health and is Invited Associated Professor at ICBAS-Institute of Biomedical Sciences and at FCUP-Faculty of Sciences, Porto University. Her research is focused at understanding how the tumor microenvironment, particularly immune cells and extracellular matrix, contribute to cancer invasion, metastasis and immune escape, dissecting the underlying mechanisms and developing biomimetic study models and novel therapeutics. She published over 130 manuscripts, participated/coordinated more than 30 research projects, supervised/co-supervised over 25 PhD and 20 MSc students and is member of the Portuguese Group of Immuno-Oncology, the International MISpheroID consortium and the PrIOMiC network for Precision oncology and modelling in cancer