Margarida Braga completed her Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry in 2017 at NOVA School of Science and Technology, in Lisbon. For her bachelor thesis, she joined the Pathophysiological Cell Signalling laboratory at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium, delving into the role of Ubiquitin Specific Protease 13 (USP13) in mammalian lung cancer cells. Her focus was understanding how post-translational modifications, particularly ubiquitination, could be leveraged to promote autophagy in these cancer cells. Still at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Margarida successfully completed her Master's in Biology in 2021, with her thesis centered on the development of fluorescently-labelled peptide-based hydrogels for sustained drug delivery in in vivo models.

Transitioning from academia to industry, Margarida worked as a laboratory Analyst at Janssen Pharmaceuticals, specializing in testing pharmaceutical ingredients for stability and degradation before their market release. She soon returned to academia to take part as a Research Assistant at the Virology department of the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp under the supervision of Kevin Ariën, where she provided technical support and management of a high-security BSL-3 Lab, contributing to the testing of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine effectiveness in individuals with underlying conditions, and aiding in the development of tools for the detection of emerging diseases.

In November 2023, Margarida joined the Cancer Dormancy & Immunity Laboratory at the Champalimaud Foundation, where she helps with laboratory organization and supports multiple research projects.