Margarida did her PhD research under the supervision of Prof. Manyuan Long at the University of Chicago. Her research focused on the mutational and selective forces operating on polymorphic duplications and deletions (Copy Number Variation) in Drosophila. After completing her PhD in 2009, Margarida moved to Cornell University to work as a postdoctoral associate in the group of Prof. Andrew G. Clark. At Cornell she continued working on Copy Number Variation, focusing on the role these variants play in adaptation. Margarida joined the Kaessmann group in January 2013. She will be supported by a Novartis Foundation grant and by a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellowship.