Daniela Felício graduated with a degree in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Algarve in 2019. During her studies, she conducted a research project titled "Ankylosing Spondylitis: Identification of Polymorphisms in the HLA-B27 Allele and Possible Dietary Susceptibility"* at the BIOSKEL group, under the supervision of Drs. Márcio Simão and António Camacho.

In 2022, she completed a Master's degree in Molecular Genetics and Biomedicine at NOVA University Lisbon, with a thesis titled "Functional Characterization of a Novel TTBK2 Variant in Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 11," which was carried out at the UnIGENe group (i3S) under the supervision of Drs. Mariana Santos and Margarida Caldas Braga. Supported by an Ataxia UK grant, this research focused on the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying a novel missense variant associated with cerebellar ataxia, using a CRISPR/Cas9 cell model. This work led to the publication of one review paper and one original research paper currently in preparation, as the first author.

Following this, Daniela worked as a Research Fellow at the Population Genetics and Evolution group (i3S), contributing to the project 0702_MIGRAINEE_2_E - “Análisis y correlación entre la epigenética y la actividad cerebral para evaluar el riesgo de migraña crónica y episódica en mujeres” funded by the European Regional Development Fund (INTERREG V A España Portugal (POCTEP)). Her primary role was to evaluate the effects of non-coding variants on gene expression and migraine susceptibility through in silico analysis and in vitro luciferase reporter gene assays. This research resulted in two original papers as first author. Daniela also participated in an additional original paper exploring a novel variant identified in a Portuguese patient with hemiplegic migraine.

At the end of 2022, Daniela was awarded a PhD fellowship by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) to investigate gene evolution, causal variants, and disease mechanisms in hereditary cerebellar ataxias, under the supervision of Drs. Mariana Santos, Giovanni Stevanin, and Sandra Martins. Her doctoral research has already resulted in one review paper and one original paper currently in preparation.