Graduate in Aquatic Sciences (ICBAS-UP, 2007), MSc in Marine Biology and Ecology (ICBAS-UP, 2011), invited assistant professor at University of Porto, Ana Machado has more than 15 years experience in the field of Environmental Microbial Ecology. Her main research interests focus on environmental microbiology with relevance for water quality, bacteria dynamics and microbial antibiotic resistance transmission, and its association with public health. She has been involved in multiple (17) regional, national and international projects, being member of the PI research team in 2 projects. Published 39 scientific papers in international journals and presented over 50 communications in scientific meetings.

Ana Matos has a BSc in Biology, a MSc in Cell and Molecular Biology, and a PhD in Biology from FCUP. Throughout her career, she has been involved in several aquatic research projects. The study of predator-prey interactions and the development of molecular markers to assess accurately and quickly the presence of potentially toxic cyanobacteria in freshwater systems are among those projects. Moreover, she also studied ascidians’ microbiome and its bioactive potential through the application of genomics, proteomics, and microbial approaches.

Ana Mena is the Head of Communication, Image and Outreach at CIIMAR.
Before coming to CIIMAR, Ana Mena was the Innovation and Education Coordinator of the MIT Portugal Program (MPP) in Portugal, and previously, she was the Head of the Science Communication and Outreach Unit, and of the Public Engagement Unit at the Gulbenkian Institute of Science (IGC). At IGC, she was responsible for the institutional communication and press office, and coordinated several educational and science communication projects, from teachers training and tailored science activities for students, to the production of educational resources and science and art projects. She organized more than 20 public events for different audiences and stakeholders. Her work in science communication received awards in Portugal and abroad.
Ana Mena holds a 5-year undergraduate degree (Licenciatura) in Microbiology and Genetics from Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon (2000), and a PhD in Biology from University NOVA Lisbon (2008).

Ana Mesquita holds a master’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Porto, having completed part of her academic journey in Copenhagen. She is currently developing her master’s thesis in environmental economics and management and has additional training in circular economy and sustainability reporting. As the managing partner of Wise Up, an environmental consultancy, she supports organizations in defining and implementing sustainability strategies, with a focus on circular economy, decarbonization and efficient resource management. She also leads Landlab, where she specializes in the design and implementation of nature-based solutions (NBS). She serves as a board member of the National Green Roofs Association (ANCV) and was part of the multidisciplinary team responsible for drafting the Portuguese technical guide for green roofs. Additionally, she has contributed to environmental and community development projects through volunteer work in São Tomé. Committed to knowledge dissemination, Ana is frequently invited to lead workshops, courses, and conferences and also serves as a trainer at the Order of Architects and the Order of Engineers.

Ana Paula Mucha has a Degree in Aquatic Sciences (1993), a MSc in Ecology, Management and Modelling of Aquatic Resources (1997) and a PhD in Aquatic Sciences (2002). She has a research position at CIIMAR, University of Porto, Portugal, being member of the Board of Directors and the Principal Investigator of the ECOBIOTEC Team (Bioremediation and Ecosystems Functioning).

Also, she is an Invited Assistant Professor at the Department of Biology of Faculty of Sciences of University of Porto. She focuses her research on the relation between microorganisms and contaminants, aiming the development of bioremediation technologies for ecosystems recovery and environmental sustainability. She also explores the microbe-plant associations for the development of nature-based solutions for water management, and the microbe-animal interactions to increase environmental sustainability of aquaculture production.

She authored ca. 90 SCI papers including high profile journals in the field of Marine and Environmental Sciences. She has been involved in multiple regional, national and international projects, and presently coordinates CIIMAR participation in the European project “BIOSYSMO – BIOremediation systems exploiting SYnergieS for improved removal of Mixed pOllutants” (GAP-101060211). Also she coordinates the project “Ocean3R – Reduce pressures, restore and regenerate the NW-Portuguese ocean and waters” (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000064), and the Research Line 4 (Marine biobanks as tools for marine biotechnology) in the structured program of R&D ATLANTIDA – Platform for the monitoring of the North Atlantic Ocean and tools for the sustainable exploitation of the marine resources” (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000040). In addition, she has been involved as supervisor in several national and European Master and PhD programmes, and presently she co-coordinates the FCUP team responsible for the M2ex-European Joint Doctorate “Exploiting metal-microbe applications to expand the circular economy” (European Union; Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 861088).

BSc in Applied Biology, University of Minho | MSc Molecular Biology, Biotechnology and Bioentrepreneurship in Plants, University of Minho | Pos-Graduated Quality Control, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto

I initiated my academic path at University of Minho, where I completed my BSc degree in Applied Biology. Having developed particular interest on the medicinal uses of plant bioactive compounds. Thereafter, I enrolled the master course in Molecular Biology, Biotechnology and Bioentrepreneurship in Plants, in University of Minho, where I acquired valuable knowledge on plant molecular biology, plant secondary metabolic pathways, plant tissue culture and engineering, and industrial biotechnology. Having developed great affinity towards understanding plant responses to environmental stress on a genetic basis, I initiated my master thesis on the “Genetic basis of ABA-GA hormonal cross-talk in the control of flowering time in Arabidopsis”, under the supervision of Professor Lucio Conti from the Department of Biosciences of Università degli Studi di Milano part of the ERASMUS+ program. During this project I had the opportunity to improve techniques including in vitro culture, genetics and transcript/protein analyses and also computational/statistics among other molecular and biochemical approaches. Currently I am working on LEGE-CC maintenance, mostly on a molecular level with the identification of strains.

Ana Rita Neves obtained her BSc in Biochemistry in 2013 at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto and her MSc in Pharmaceutical Chemistry in 2015 at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the same University. She worked as a grantee researcher in a financed project related to the discovery of antifouling agents at the Natural Products And Medicinal Chemistry group, at CIIMAR. Ana Rita Neves is currently a PhD student in the same group and studies new eco-friendly synthetic antifouling compounds inspired in natural antifouling molecules and their incorporation in marine coatings.

Having graduated in Biochemistry from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto (FCUP) and the Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences (ICBAS), I am currently in the second year of my Master’s degree in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at FCUP. During this academic year, I will be conducting my dissertation with the Animal Genetics and Evolution group, aiming to develop a user-friendly bioinformatic tool for transcriptomic data analysis.

Ana Rocha graduated in Zootechnical Ana Rocha graduated in Zootechnical Engineering in 2000 (UTAD, Portugal) and completed her PhD degree in Biological Sciences in 2008 (University of Valencia, Spain). She then performed several post-doc stays at the University of Cologne, the Spanish National Research Council and Uppsala University. Presently, her research aims at developing solutions and tools to improve farmed fish larvae health based on transgenerational immune priming and “in ovo” delivery of immunostimulants.

Ana Salgado holds a PhD in Educational Psychology from University of Minho. With over 15 years of experience in higher education, she has taught as a lecturer at multiple institutions. She has led pedagogical projects aimed at enhancing the quality of teaching. Ana has been actively engaged in designing training programs for PhD supervisors and developing courses for PhD, master’s, and bachelor’s students focused on transversal skills. Her main research interests include communication skills, gamification, and self-regulated learning.

Ana Catarina Silva is a biologist with a master’s degree in Marine Ecology, specialising in microplastics research, with experience in the extraction and characterisation of microplastics (FTIR) in marine organisms, seawater, sediments and microorganisms associated with plastic debris (Plastisphere). She has experience in histopathology and aquariology. Enthusiastic about marine conservation and ocean pollution.

Ana Soares is a marine biologist with a BSc in Aquatic Sciences (2019) at the University of Porto and a master’s degree in Applied Marine Biology (2021) from University of Aveiro. Her research is focused on developing a baseline of fishers’ local ecological knowledge and scientific knowledge to support mapping and conservation of deep-sea vulnerable marine ecosystems in Portugal mainland.

Ana Ribeiro is currently a research grant. She obtained her Degree in Biology in 2009 and her Master Degree in Biology and Water Quality Management in 2011, at University of Porto. She participated in the project "SIGNAL – Effects of pollution on estuarine ecological interactions zooplakton-zooplanktivorous fish in relation to climate changes", from 2012 to 2013 at CIIMAR. From 2013 to 2014 she participated in the project "SALTFREE – Prediction of salinisation effects on coastal freshwater and soil ecosystems due to climate changes". She's currently participating on project INNOVMAR , Research Line "ECOSERVICES – Assessing the environment quality, vulnerability and risk for the sustainable management of NW coast resources and ecosystem services". Her main research area has been ecology and ecotoxicology, soil and aquatic.

Isabel holds a BSc degree in Bioengineering from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), and is currently a Master’s student in Bioengineering, with a specialization in Molecular Bioengineering, at the same institution. Her research focus is the development of sustainable life support systems for space exploration, through the use of microorganisms. Isabel was awarded the Blue Young Talent Scholarship (2022) and the Gulbenkian Novos Talentos Scholarship (2023).

Graduated in Biochemistry and Food Chemistry, Master in Analytical Chemistry and Quality Control, and PhD degree in Chemistry. Currently a Postdoc at EPIUnit – ISPUP and CIIMAR. Main research interests and activities are focused on the understanding of the biological effects of human exposure to mixtures of environmental contaminants, using in vitro and in vivo models. Principal Investigator of project NanoLegaTox- When old meets new: A novelty study on the human uptake, genotoxicity and immunotoxicity of nanoparticles and legacy contaminants mixtures (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029651).

RESEARCH INTERESTS
Environmental and Public Health; Nanotoxicology; Environmental Toxicology; Occupational Health; Environmental Determinants of Health

Ana Vieira graduated in Biosciences from the Superior School of Biotechnology in 2009 and concluded her MSc in Microbiology (2011) from the same University. She was a research fellow in Microbiology at IBMC from 2011-2013. She was awarded a PhD degree in Medical Microbiology from Kingston University in London (2014-2017). In 2018, she started as a lab manager in the CNP group at CIIMAR. In September 2021 she became a post-doctoral researcher at the same group. In 2022, she was awarded with an FCT-exploratory project to study the interaction between Cyanobacteria and Amoeba in the same group.

Rita Vieira integrates both the Technology Transfer and Business Development office and the Research and Innovation Strategy and Funding office. Rita holds both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of Porto (Faculty of Sciences and School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences).
With previous experience in start-up context and the biotech industry, her main focus areas include innovation and technology management, business development, and R&D within the blue bioeconomy sector.

He is a Professor of Chemistry and Head of Chemistry Department of the Biomedical Sciences Institute Abel Salazar (ICBAS) of the University of Porto. He received his BSc from Chulalongkorn University (Thailand) in 1974, and PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of São Paulo in 1980, and post-doctoral position at the Department of Chemistry of the Florida State University, Florida, USA.  His research interest is Natural Products from plants, marine sponges, and soil and marine fungi. He is an Associate Editor of Marine Drugs and member of the Editorial Advisory Board of various journals. He is a coauthor of more than 130 research papers and several book chapters.

André is graduated Aquatic Sciences and holds a Master’s degree in Marine Sciences – Marine Resources, by University of Porto. Currently he is a PhD holder for the Animal Science Doctoral Programme from ICBAS – University of Porto. His PhD thesis is focused on immunomodulatory and antibody delivery potential of microalgae supplemented diets, as a strategy to enhance farmed fish health and welfare.

I held a degree in Biology from the Faculty of Sciences of Porto University (2013) and a master’s degree in Biological Aquatic Resources from the Faculty of Sciences of Porto University (2015). Since 2012, my work has been primarily aimed at animal pathology. Currently, I’m a PhD Student, focusing on providing valuable new diagnostic endpoints and knowledge about effects of WWTP effluents on Triops longicaudatus.

André Gomes-dos-Santos graduated in Applied Biology in 2015 (Minho University), where he also obtained a Master’s degree in Ecology (2017). He concluded his PhD in Biology in 2023 (Porto University), during which he specialized in bioinformatics focused on whole genome assembly, phylogenomics, population genomics, and big data management. He has over 30 ISI-indexed publications in peer-review journals with nearly 100 different co-authors from 25 countries. His focus of research is the application of genomic sequencing outputs, implemented through computational biology, to understand the evolutionary dynamics and adaptations of freshwater mussels and other aquatic organisms.

Graduated in Biotechnology from the University of Aveiro, I began my scientific journey in the research and development of bioplastics. In 2022, I enrolled in a Master’s program in Applications in Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology, complementing my education with internships focused on agricultural studies and innovations. The first internship centered on studying the influence of biodegradable pots on the terrestrial microbiome. As part of my Master’s thesis, I developed a microalgae- and cyanobacteria-based biostimulant at Fykia Biotech, a spinoff of CIIMAR, aiming to promote sustainability in agricultural production.