Rui Magalhães has a degree in Aquatic Sciences by Abel Salazar Biomedical Sciences Institute and a master degree in Aquatic Biological Resources by Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto. In 2014 worked as a researcher in food and biotechnology in Wedotech company.  From 2015 until 2017 had two research grants in CIIMAR and starts his PhD in 2017-2018 in NUTRIMU group under the supervision of professor Aires Oliva-Teles and Drª Helena Peres. He participated in 3 research projects and published 5 scientific pappers until now.

Rui Lima holds a BSc in Biochemistry and is currently pursuing a MSc in Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Porto. He completed his bachelor’s internship at I3S, focusing on host immune responses to Neospora caninum, gaining hands-on experience in cell culture, transcriptomic, and biochemical analysis. His current work in CIIMAR focuses on the potential effects of vitamins as stress mitigators in European sea bass reared under stressful conditions.

In 2024, I graduated with a degree in Biology from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto. That same year, I enrolled in the Master’s program in Aquatic Biological Resources. Marine biology has always sparked my interest, and throughout my academic journey, this passion has expanded to include aquaculture and animal nutrition, fields I now study with equal enthusiasm. During the 2025/2026 academic year, I will carry out my thesis at the Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR) within the NUTRIMU group, where I will investigate the effects of probiotics on the gut health of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata).

Rui Pinto received his Biology degree in 2016 and his MSc in Biodiversity, genetics and evolution in 2018 from University of Porto. In 2020, he was awarded with a mixed FCT PhD scholarship to perform large-scale comparative genomics with the goal of understanding the molecular bases of avian dietary specializations. The work will be developed between CIIMAR and the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate (University of Copenhagen). He is interested in the interaction between genetics, evolution and ecology.

Rute Fonseca is an Assistant Professor at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. She received her degree in Biochemistry in 2000 and her PhD in Computational Chemistry in 20016 from University of Porto. Rute uses computational tools to study molecular evolution in a variety of organisms. My recent work involves exploring large-scale genomic information on both modern and ancient DNA data sets. I am particularly interested in protein function evolution and how this impacts phenotypes.

Sabrina Rodrigues is graduated in Biology from Science Faculty (Porto University) and holds a MSc in Marine Sciences – Marine Resources from ICBAS (Porto University). Sabrina participated in different projects at CIIMAR, namely, MYTAG, OMARE, NetTag and Ocean3R. Currently, SM Rodrigues is doing her PhD in bioavailability and effects of microplastics on fish larvae at CIIMAR and Hull University (UK). Her research interests focus on the early life stages of fishes and contamination in aquatic environments, namely estuarine and coastal areas.

Sabrina Sales holds a degree in Biology and Animal Science from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil), a master’s degree in Management and Conservation of Natural Resources from the University of Évora, and a PhD in Agro-Industrial Technology from NOVA University Lisbon. She has specialized in the prospection and valorisation of marine resources, particularly bioactive compounds, bioaccessibility, and contaminant metals. She is currently a researcher at the National Reference Laboratory for Marine Toxins, where she works on the quantification of biotoxins, and at the Organic Contaminants Laboratory, where she develops analytical methods for the detection of PCBs—both laboratories part of IPMA.

Sandra Figueiredo graduated from the University of Coimbra, Portugal, with a Master’s degree in Pharmacy and concluded her Ph.D. studies in Pharmaceutical Sciences in the specialty of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, in 2017, at the same university. In 2016 she was a Visiting Researcher at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Spain. In brief, during her Ph.D. program, she conducted her research in the field of medicinal/pharmaceutical chemistry and biological sciences which has contributed to her significant expertise in drug discover and the biology of target diseases, mainly cancer. Since February 2018 she has been a postdoctoral researcher, hired under an ERC grant, at Cyanobacterial Natural Products (CNP) Team, CIIMAR, University of Porto, Portugal. Here, she has been working on the discovery of new chemistry and enzymology of cyanobacteria, combining cutting edge and traditional methodologies.

Sandra Joaquim holds a Ph.D. in Aquaculture. She presently works in IPMA. Her research interests focus on bivalve aquaculture, especially on reproduction (both in natural and artificial environments), improvement of production techniques, introduction of new species in aquaculture, and environment-aquaculture interaction.

Sandra Martins is a Post-Doc Researcher at Division of Aquaculture, Upgrading, and Bioprospection (DivAV) of Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere, I.P. (IPMA). She holds a degree in Agronomic Engineering, a Master’s in Genetic Resources and Improvement of Agricultural and Forestry Species, and a Ph.D. in Comparative Molecular Genetics and Technology. She works in the project Sea-traces. Her main scientific research area is molecular biology and more recently, related to the project Sea-traces seafood quality, mislabeling, traceability and frauds. Published seven articles in specialized magazines. She participated in twenty-four national and four international congresses and she has nine published research papers, in SCI-indexed journals. In her professional activities, she interacted with 26 collaborator (s) in coauthor of scientific works. In parallel, M. Matos and Martins S. improved the technique of DNA extraction from fungal spores and identification of Talaromyces manerffei by Nested-PCR and through band sequencing. She was co-supervisor of five curricular traineeships in molecular markers, namely SCoTs, ISSRs and in the identification of polymorphisms of the XRCC1 in humans, and three curricular traineeships in the identification of polymorphisms of the APE1 in humans and identification of Talaromyces manerffei in animals. She has been an invited reviewer for seven journals and is a member of the editorial board of a journal.

Sandra Pereira graduated in Biology (Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto) and holds a MSc in Environmental Contamination and Toxicology (ICBAS, University of Porto). Since her master’s degree, she has been working with cyanobacteria, studying their association with marine sponges, and later the toxicity of cyanobacterial blooms in freshwater systems. Currently, she is a PhD student in Marine Biotechnology and Aquaculture doctoral program (Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto). Her present work is focused on exploring the potential of cyanobacteria for natural products, that can prevent the adhesion of marine biofouling organisms (under the NASCEM project).

I’m a biologist and the leader of the Fish Ecology and Sustainability research team. My primary research area is marine ecology, specifically concerning fish communities. I’m particularly interested in understanding how human activities, including marine litter and microplastics, impact ecosystems and their ability to provide services and societal benefits. In my research, I’ve been employing innovative approaches to leverage stakeholder knowledge, as Fishers Ecological Knowledge, and provide scientific support to environmental managers and decision-makers. Throughout my career, I’ve bridged the gap between science and society, advocating for stakeholder integration in science, fostering collaborative solutions for environmental issues, and promoting Ocean Literacy.

Sara Antunes holds a degree in Biology, which was followed by a research career leading to her Master and Doctoral thesis focused on ecology and ecotoxicology, respectively. Since 2012, she has been a professor and researcher at the University of Porto. Her main area of research is in the fields of Aquatic Ecology and Ecotoxicology. She has published many papers in international, peer-reviewed journals, and she led numerous scientific studies and performed consultancy services for external institutions. Although her main research focus is aquatic ecology/ecotoxicology, she has also developed scientific skills in the area of environmental monitoring and environmental education.

PhD in biology from the University of A Coruña (Spain) and currently employed as a postdoctoral researcher at the same university. The focus of my work has been the study of the impact of global change on the marine environment, mainly on seaweeds. Following this line of research, during my postdoctoral stage, which includes a one-year stay in the MEMO team at CIIMAR, I will focus on the use of ecological models that can be applied to improve the restoration of marine ecosystems, especially kelp forests, a key habitat on most temperate rocky coasts, which have been in decline in recent years.”

Sara T. Costa graduated in Biology, University of Lisbon in 2011 and received her MSc degree in Marine Biology, University of Algarve in 2013. She is currently doing her PhD at ICBAS, University of Porto about the role of microplastics in the pathway, availability and toxicity of marine toxins in coastal environments. She is a laboratory technician of the National Reference Laboratory of Marine Toxins of the Portuguese Institute for the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA). Her expertise is on bioaccumulation and biotransformation of marine toxins in organisms, toxic marine algae and plastics sorption. 

Sara Cravo is a researcher at CIIMAR and Lab Technician of Organic and Medicinal Chemistry at the Faculty of Pharmacy of Porto University. She has a degree in Chemistry from the University of Aveiro in 1995 and a post-graduate degree in Chemistry of Food and Natural Products from the same University in 2002.

Her scientific activity is centered on organic synthesis of compounds with potential activity and application; use of green chemistry synthetic techniques such as MAOS; new instrumental techniques as a way to improve research; chromatographic techniques applied to qualitative and quantitative analyses; laboratory safety.

Sara Freitas holds a BsC in Biology and a MsC in Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, both from the Faculty of Sciences of Oporto. In 2017 she started her PhD in Biology at the Blue Biotechnology and Ecotoxicology laboratory (BBE) under the supervision of Dr. Pedro Leão and Prof. Vitor Vasconcelos. The PhD project (SFRH/BD/116009/2016) entitled “Discovery of new chemistry and enzymology from Cyanobacteria”, aims for the isolation of new compounds from relevant phylogenetic cyanobacteria present in the LEGE Culture Collection (LEGE-CC), that can demonstrate pharmacological potential and/or have unique biosynthesis pathways. 

Sara Jacinta Godinho Salgado concluded the Integrated Master in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Porto in 22/09/2022 with a classification of 16/20. She attended continuing education courses during her academic career, particularly in the field of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Toxicology, and Digital health. Since January 2022, she has been a research team member in the project 'Sustainable antifouling agents: from grape wastes to the sea with the green chemistry leading the way' at CIIMAR. She is currently a PhD student in Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry.

Sara Jorge has a bachelor degree in Aquatic Sciences and a master degree in Aquatic Biological Resources. Her current work aims to establish different non-terminal matrices to measure cortisol in zebrafish under acute and chronic stressful situations. Sara has expertise in fish care, animal facility maintenance, fish sampling, histological techniques, performance and analysis of behavioural tasks, anaesthesia administration, molecular biology techniques, determination of fish zootechnical performance, digestive function and formulation and analysis of experimental diets. Her main research interests are animal behavior, anesthesia, fish physiology, nutrition, health, and welfare.

Sara Moutinho has a degree in Biology (2013) and a MSc degree in Aquatic Biological Resources (2015), both by the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto. During her Master thesis, she participated in a 4 months ERAMUS+ internship at the Group of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain. She is currently a research fellow at the Nutrition and Immunobiology (NUTRIMU) group of CIIMAR.

Sara Oliveira Pinto is a Senior Researcher in Renewable Energy at Equinor and CIIMAR and a PhD researcher at UPorto, where she graduated with a Masters developed in collaboration with Instituto Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC) and Consulmar, on the topic of perforated vertical harbour structures: design and experimental evaluation. Sara has been working in the Oil & Gas sector as a Subsea Engineer focusing in major capital projects and currently while still at Equinor, as a Senior Researcher in Renewable Energy, working mainly with solar energy, as a technical advisor to solar energy projects, performing market research of new & niche solar energy solutions, mainly within floating solar and in solutions & strategies for operation and maintenance of utility-scale solar parks. During her work she has collaborated with various research entities such as MIT Energy Initiative (MITei), National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Institutt for energiteknikk (IFE) and Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) with a main focus as radical innovation within the renewable energy domain. She is currently undertkaing her doctoral studies on the topic of wave energy converters, identifying a niche market enabler to launch commercial feasibility of the wave energy sector, and at a later stage proposing a novel hybrid wave energy converter.

Sara Rodrigues (SR) has a Ph.D. in Biology (FCUP; 2018) with solid experience in physiology, biochemistry, and ecology of different aquatic organisms and complementary expertise in risk assessment and ecotoxicology of several xenobiotics, and in the integrated assessment of water quality and ecological potential of reservoirs, using several biological responses (multispecies and multimarkers approach). In 2019, SR earned an investigator position (REDEFINE – ref: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029368) at CIIMAR-UP, which ended in October 2021. Since November of 2021, SR is a researcher of CIIMAR/FCUP (2020.00464.CEECIND – CEEC Individual/3rd edition). SR has had the opportunity to consolidate her career in scientific research focused on aquatic ecology and the ecotoxicity of different xenobiotics (pesticides, detergents, and pharmaceuticals), and the environmental safety of non-target organisms. Over the years of a short, yet prestigious career, SR has been specializing in individual (reproduction, behavior of organisms), and sub-individual responses, (multimarker approaches: biochemical, physiological, cellular, and tissue/organ ecotoxicological tools). SR has been actively involved in communication and outreach activities (for different target audiences), participating in the organization of international and national scientific events, and giving laboratory assistance to different academic degrees. Of the 30 published papers in peer-reviewed journals, 18 were published in the last 5 years, 10 as of 1st author, and 8 as co-author.

Sara Santos has a master’s degree in Marine Sciences – Marine Resources from the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar. Passionate about the marine environment and communicating, she found the perfect combination of these two areas at CIIMAR. She is currently working in the area of Science Communication where she explores her area of interest, Ocean Literacy, by developing and implementing activities related to the different aquatic ecosystems for the general population and schoolchildren.

Sayedreza Jafarzadeh is a Ph.D. student in Civil Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering (FEUP), University of Porto, Portugal, since 2020. His professional background includes computational fluid dynamics, mainly in the fluvial area (flow and sediment transport modeling). Currently, Sayedreza’s primary research focus is the Study of sediment transport in the Douro River and sedimentation in the Douro reservoirs and its possible impact on the reduction of the solid load in the coastal sediment drift.

Sergio Fernández Boo graduated in Marine Biology by the University of Santiago de Compostela. During my PhD I have been working in the interaction between the clam Ruditapes spp. and the parasite Perkinsus olseni. After that, I joined the EU Reference Lab for Bivalve Diseases (LRUE/IFREMER) in France. Since 2016, I am working at Aquatic Animal Health group, first as a researcher in the project INSEAFOOD within a postdoc grant and currently I have an Auxiliary research contract from FCT. The main areas of my work are the interaction host/parasites and the search for biomarkers of disease resistance in invertebrates using genomics and proteomics as the main source for biomarker characterization.

Sérgio Salgado was born in Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in civil production engineering. He holds a master’s degree in Hydraulic Engineering and Sanitation from the São Carlos School of Engineering at the University of São Paulo (EESC-USP). He has considerable experience in the public sector in Brazil, including work in the areas of environmental impact assessment and water resources management. He is particularly noted for his contributions to the National Water and Sanitation Agency (ANA). At ANA, her work centered on the regulation of dam safety and the management of water transfer services. He employs a range of tools, including HEC-HMS and HEC-RAS, to conduct analyses, including those evaluating the potential failure of dams. He is currently pursuing his PhD at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP). Since 2023, his research has been supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and is focused on the classification and safety of dams. The primary objective of his work is to identify deficiencies in the downstream damage assessment processes and propose enhancements to safety methodologies and policies.

Seyed Shahabedin Khalooei is a researcher at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. I am presently working in the research team of the project “WEC4Ports – A Hybrid Wave Energy Converter for Ports” (OCEANERA/0004/2019), funded by FCT/MCTES through national funds (PIDDAC). I got my MSc degree from the University of Tehran the most prestigious university in Iran and conducted my MSc thesis on the topic of computational fluid dynamic (CFD) titled “Experimental investigation on Wave-Induced Vibrations (WIV) of The Tandem Circular Cylinders.”. I was also at the Hydraulic lab of the University of Tehran as a research assistant.

Sharath Chandra Thota is a first-year PhD student at CIIMAR, holding a Master’s in Biology of Extreme Environments from Italy and a Master’s in Biotechnology from India. Passionate about extreme environments and their microbes, his research is supervised by Irina Gorodetskaya and Catarina Megalhaes, funded by an AIR Center grant. He explores atmospheric rivers’ role in extreme temperatures and precipitation and their potential effect on microbial biodiversity on the Antarctic Peninsula. Experienced with fungi, bacteria, viruses, haptophytes, and diatoms, he also evaluated SARS-CoV-2 in the air during COVID-19. His past research includes studies on transgenerational epigenetic inheritance and Svalbard permafrost microbial diversity.