Maria Manuel Mota is a Portuguese malariologist and executive director of the Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes, Lisbon.

[1][2][3] She received her PhD in molecular parasitology in 1998 from University College London, working at the affiliated National Institute for Medical Research with Will Jarra and Anthony Holder.

She has been executive director at the Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes (iMM) in Lisbon since 2014, and still leads the Biology and Physiology of Malaria research group.

[10][11][12] In addition to her career as a researcher, Mota was founder and vice-president of the Portuguese science public outreach organisation Associação Viver a Ciência.

Although she studies molecular interactions her research has linked these to grander host factors which influence infection, such as nutrition status and circadian rhythms.

[20][21] In 2017 Mota’s team published research indicating that malaria parasites are able to sense the nutritional status of their host and correspondingly alter their growth rates.

[26] In 2005 Mota was appointed Commander of the Order of Prince Henry (Comendadora da Ordem do Infante D. Henrique), a national honour of Portugal.