Anabela Borges graduated in Biology holds a Master’s degree in Clinical Laboratory Biology, and a PhD in Chemical and Biological Sciences. Currently, she is an Assistant Researcher at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto and member of the Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy (LEPABE). Her main research interests are related to the problematic of antibiotic resistance and biofilm formation in bio(medical) fields. Her research is focused on the development of new antibacterial agents and strategies to fight bacterial resistance and biofilm-associated infections (e.g., chronic wounds, pulmonary), with special interest in phytochemical compounds and antipathogenic/antivirulence approaches (e.g., quorum-sensing inhibition). In recent years, she has been involved in national (5) and European projects (2) as PI or coordinator team member, and in the supervision of several students at different levels. She has held various editorial roles, including Associate, Section, Topic and Review Editor in reputable journals, and provided external services for global leader companies. She has more than 52 papers published in journals indexed in JCR (h-index = 27) on the domain of bacterial infectious diseases and antibacterial chemotherapy (specifically phytotherapy/phytomedicine). She was recognized as one of the most cited scientists in the World – on the World's Top 2% Scientists List 2021 and 2022 (Stanford University ranking).

Andreia S. Azevedo completed her PhD degree in June 2016 at Chemical and Biological Engineering from Faculty of Engineering (FEUP), University of Porto, in collaboration with the Nucleic Acid Center, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Southern Denmark (NAC, SDU). After holding a Post-doctoral position at FEUP in April 2017 (FCT-funded grant-SFRH/BPD/121601/2016), Andreia S. Azevedo started to work as a junior researcher and as a principal investigator for one FCT-funded project entitled by "Development of NAM-CLASI-FIVH method: a new in vivo tool for an accurate analysis of diversity and spatial organization of gastric microbiota" (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030431), at FEUP in January 2019. She is, from 2022, an Assistant Researcher at LEPABE. Her main research interests include exploring and studying the hybridization properties of various nucleic acid mimics (NAMs), developing innovative Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) methodologies using NAMs, and implementing and combining spectral imaging and NAM-FISH for the characterization of complex microbial communities.

Albano Beja Pereira holds a Ph.D. from the University of Porto in Agricultural Sciences, and has been conducting research in the genomics of domestic animal populations, their wild counterparts, and their parasites. He is the author of >100 publications on the origin, domestication, and patterns of genetic diversity of domestic species, some of which have been published in top journals (e.g., Science, Nature Genetics, PNAS). Lately, he has been contributing to the understanding of the genetic mechanisms that have led to a rapid adaptation of domestic species to the environment (cattle, sheep, donkey, horse, chicken, goat) through selection. He has led several research projects including the total (de novo) sequencing of the donkey and the total re-sequencing of the exome of cattle, pigs, and sheep. Among other roles, he has coordinated the research projects of five postdoctoral researchers, seven Ph.D. students, as well as numerous master's and bachelor's students. He serves on the editorial boards of three scientific journals (Frontiers in Genetics, Fronteirs Vet Sci and BMC Vet Res) and has been a reviewer and member of evaluation panels fron several funding bodies (national and International), as well as an ad hoc reviewer for various international science funding agencies (e.g., ERC), scientific journals, and scientific advisory boards for several international conferences. Currently, leads several projects, which go from building the Portuguese chart for soil biodiversity, the digestive system of domestic animals, animal-derived food products, and livestock farm holobiome, using metagenomics sequencing. He has led the "Agrigenomics" research group at the Center for Biodiversity and Genetic Resources Studies (CIBIO, InBIO) at the University of Porto since 2009 and has been an assistant professor at the Department of Geosciences, Environment, and Spatial Planning (DGAOT) since February 2019.

Ana Paula Mucha has a research position at CIIMAR, University of Porto, Portugal, being member of the Board of Directors and the Principal Investigator of the ECOBIOTEC-BMS team (Bioremediation and Microbes for Sustainability). 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. 95 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.

Benedita Sampaio Maia received her BSc in Microbiology in 1998 from the School of Biotechnology of the Portuguese Catholic University and her PhD in Human Biology in 2005 from the Faculty of Medicine of University of Porto, where she specialized in pathophysiology mechanisms of kidney diseases. She did research at the Nephrology Research & Development Unit, where she was a scientific coordinator in 2014, and afterwards, she joined i3S / INEB – University of Porto, where she is currently a senior researcher focused on exploring the role of the human microbiome in health and disease. In parallel, she is an Associate Professor at Dentistry Faculty of University of Porto, chair of the Microbiology biannual courses in the Dentistry Master’s degree, while also taking part in PhD programs from UP.

PhD in Marine Sciences, researcher of CIIMAR, professor at University of Porto and member of the coordination committee of Portuguese Polar Program. Her research cover the study of fundamental biogeochemical cycles (e.g Nitrogen) and microbial communities in extreme polar regions (Arctic and Antarctica), deep sea environments, temperate coastal waters, estuarine ecosystems and open ocean environments, with a broader perspective on how microbiomes respond to global changes. Our studies are multidimensional involving oceanographic campaigns, as well as in situ experiments, microcosms and bioreactors experimentation using biogeochemical measurements, microbiome sample processing and genomics / metagenomics / metatranscriptomics work flow analysis. She has an active participation in national, and international marine microbiome monitoring programs by generating long-term genomic data sets, with an active involvement in international microbiome consortia and metagenomics standardized initiatives.

Cláudia Serra is a Researcher at CIIMAR- Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research and an Invited Assistant Professor at FCUP- Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto, Portugal. Her current research interests include the study of fish gut microbial communities, their relation to fish health/performance, and the development of microbial-based strategies to fight aquaculture problems. Claudia has more than 20 years of practical lab experience in academic settings with strong connections to pharma and animal-feed industries, counting with 3 Patents. 1 licensing agreement and several prizes. She has been involved in national and international projects, in students supervision, and in disseminating her research to schools and the general public.

Dr. Goeres is a Research Professor of Regulatory Science at the Center for Biofilm Engineering, Montana State University (MSU) and ERA Chair at LEPABE, University of Porto. MSU is a land grant university located in Bozeman, Montana which is about 2 hours north of Yellowstone National Park. Dr. Goeres works closely with the US regulatory bodies, and her and her team are responsible for the development and validation of Standard Test Methods for growing, treating, sampling, and analyzing biofilm bacteria that enable for informed decision making at the regulatory level. While at LEPABE, Dr. Goeres is excited to lead a team working to expand how we understand and apply the concept of reproducibility in terms of biofilm form and function. Dr. Goeres’ passion in research began when she was testing swimming pool chemistry as part of a summer job in her mid-teens. Since that time, she has investigated biofilm in treated recreational water venues (swimming pools & hot tubs), oil fields, manufacturing lines, heating/cooling systems, the built environment, beverage dispense lines, and indwelling medical devices. Biofilm research has enabled her to collaborate with scientists and engineers from around the world, and this opportunity constantly reminds her that microbes do not see international boundaries, and that the really challenging problems require diversity of thought and innovation.

Luísa Peixe is a pharmacist and professor of Bacteriology at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto. She co-authored the Common European Curriculum for Health Science Courses of the Federation of European Microbiologic Societies (FEMS). She leads the Porto Culture Collection and the BACT_DRUGS research group at UCIBIO, also serving as the Vice-Director of this research unit. Recognized for her expertise in bacteriology and antimicrobial resistance, she has dedicated her career to studying the mechanisms, evolution, and transmission of antibiotic resistance, and the influence of the urobiome on health and disease. Her team's innovative contributions include the Blue-Carba test for detecting carbapenemases and efficient methods for tracking bacteria, complemented by significant discoveries about the diversity of the female urogenital tract microbiome. Her commitment to the scientific community and education has been recognized with the ESCMID-Fellow and is further demonstrated through relevant publications, active participation in prestigious scientific societies, editorial roles, project review duties, and frequent invitations to speak at national and international conferences. She acts as an expert for various organizations, such as the European Medicines Agency- EMA, European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and JPIAMR. She also coordinates the citizen science project MicroMundo@UP, focused on addressing antimicrobial resistance.

Maria de Fátima Carvalho holds a degree in Microbiology and a PhD in Biotechnology. Currently, she is Principal Investigator at the Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR), where she leads the research team "Microbial Biodegradation and Bioprospecting." She is also invited Professor at the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences of the University of Porto (ICBAS). With over 19 years of experience in scientific research, one of her main research interests focuses on the bioprospecting of marine actinobacteria for the production of novel bioactive compounds with biotechnological potential. She is author of more than 70 publications in indexed international journals and books and has more than 200 communications (oral and poster) at international and national scientific meetings. She actively participates in science outreach activities, including scientific events aimed at the general public.

Nuno Filipe Azevedo is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) and a researchers at the Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy (LEPABE). His main research interests are to explore the potential of nucleic acid mimics for the rapid diagnosis and treatment of infectious agents, as well as for the spatial location of microorganisms in multispecies biofilms. He has been involved as PI or Co-PI in several EU-funded projects, including DelNAM, a project that aimed to develop a novel therapeutic approach to solve bacterial resistance to antibiotics through the delivery of antibacterial nucleic acid mimics into bacterial biofilms, or the ERA-CHAIR e.Biofilm, a project that aims at the creation of a Group of Excellence in Engineered Biofilms at FEUP. During his research career he has authored or co-authored more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed international journals, submitted 9 patents and co-edited 7 books. He has been invited to more than 40 oral presentations in national and international conferences (e.g. keynote speaker at ECCMID 2022) and is regularly part of the scientific advisory committee of international conferences (e.g. Eurobiofilms 2024, XVth SPLC-CRS 2024).

Rui Ferreira graduated in Biology at the University of Aveiro in July 2006. During graduation, he completed a training program at the Centre for Protein Engineering, University of Liège, through the Leonardo Da Vinci program (European Commission). In 2012, he obtained his Ph.D. degree at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP), focusing on the study of the influence of Helicobacter pylori virulence factors on gastric cancer development. His postdoctoral research focused on H. pylori and the role of the microbiome in gastric cancer, where he developed bioinformatics pipelines for NGS microbiome data analysis and completed a specialization in Genomic Data Science. He currently holds a research assistant position at i3S. His work has resulted in a patent application on microbiome markers for gastric cancer and numerous publications. He is currently leading an FCT-funded project on microbiome metabolites as biomarkers in gastrointestinal cancers.

Rute Oliveira graduated in Biology by the U. Porto, received an MSc from U. Minho, and a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from U. Porto. Her research carried out at the i3S and at the John Innes Centre, UK, contributed to fundamental research on the transcriptional control of bacterial responses to oxidative stress. During the 2020 pandemic, she participated in the establishment of the i3S COVID-19 Testing Centre. Rute was invited for 2 secondments at the medical industry in Basel, Switzerland, one of them as lab supervisor. She is currently committed to the development of the new i3S diagnostics centre and put research in infectious diseases at the service of NHS patient care, to accelerate pathogen diagnosis and antimicrobial resistance surveillance with NGS-based clinical assays.

Ariana S. C. Gonçalves holds a Bachelor's and a Master’s degree in Biomedical sciences from the University of Beira Interior. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Chemical and Biological Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto. Her research is centered on developing innovative natural-based combinations to address chronic wound infections associated with biofilms.

Mariana is a 3rd year PhD student at FEUP. She got her MSc in Chemical Engineering in 2018, specialising in Biotechnology. Since then, she had a short adventure in industry working in R&D at Continental and, in 2019, she returned to academia as a project researcher at LEPABE. More recently (in 2022), she joined the Doctoral Program in Chemical and Biological Engineering, where she has pioneered research on the delivery of antisense oligonucleotides into bacteria using dendritic lipids. Her research interests range from applied microbiology to advanced microscopy, with a special mention to her passion for science communication.

Vânia is a 1st year PhD student in Chemical and Biological Engineering at FEUP. She got her MSc in Biological Engineering at University of Minho in 2007. From completing her master’s degree to starting her PhD, she spent 5 years in a laboratory producing fungi and micropropagated plants, 3 years in a research center investigating waste recovery, and 1 year in a research center investigating biofilms. Nowadays, her research is centered in biofilms related with chronic wounds and her goal is to develop and optimize a multispecies chronic wound biofilm model and use a transcriptomic approach with confocal microscopy imaging to characterize the functionality of the individual cells and to determine how individual species influence gene patterns and spatial arrangement.

Gabriela Gonçalves is a PhD student at the University of Porto and CIIMAR- Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research. Her PhD focuses on the development of oral vaccines for the aquaculture industry using Bacillus spores as delivery vehicles. She participated in 4 R&D projects, has 3 published papers and several oral comunications on national and international conferences. Her work was recognized in an International Startup Challenge in 2021 and in the NUTRECO shortlist for the Young Researchers Prize in 2022. During her PhD she has acquired skills in microbiology and synthetic biology, particularly in bacterial surface-display technology.

Miss Nellia Felicity Nyoni has extensive knowledge in the field of Molecular genetics, Animal breeding and production as well as animal husbandry which she acquired during her undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Miss Nellia F. Nyoni obtained her Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (Animal Science Honours’) in April 2017, and a Master of Science in Agriculture (Animal Science) in 2020 at the University of Namibia. She currently pursues a PhD in Biodiversity, Genetics and Evolution at the University of Porto, Portugal. Furthermore, she has worked on several publications and participated in many workshops. She was an intern at Aimeb! Super Dairy farm in 2014 (Namibia), Mariental Piggery Unit in 2015 (Namibia), Matopos Agricultural Research Centre in 2015 (Zimbabwe) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry in 2018 (Namibia).

I’m a PhD student at the University of Porto, developing my research project at CIBIO-InBIO. I obtained my BSc degree in Biochemistry at the University of Coimbra and my MSc degree in Consumer Sciences and Nutrition at the University of Porto, with a dissertation focused on the characterization of the tongue dorsum microbiome in wine tasters. This work got me interested in the evolution and interaction of microbiological ecosystems and the evolutionary processes behind it. Before I started my phD, I was an assistant researcher in a soil microbiome biodiversity project working with non-invasive samples, NGS techniques and genomic data analysis. During this time, also collaborated on other projects and developing my skills in different techniques, such as exploring the microbiome of the reproductive tract of mares and the microbiome of fecal samples from hirola (Beatragus hunteri), and the genetic characterization of Santolina semidentata through RAD-seq. My phD work focus on the diverse microbial communities found in intensive Portuguese dairy farms using metagenomics. The study of the dairy farm environmental microbiomes is vital to understand how they interact with the animal microbiomes and how the monitoring of the environmental microbiomes can work as biosecurity sentinels.

Márcia Sousa holds a Bachelor's degree in Biology and a Master's in Biotechnology for Health Sciences from UTAD, Portugal. She worked as a research fellow at FCUP and later interned at BacTdrugs Lab, FFUP, where she is currently a Ph.D. student in Pharmaceutical Sciences with a specialization in Microbiology. Her research focuses on deciphering the Female Urogenital Microbiome under both healthy and unhealthy conditions using robust, reliable, and solid methodological approaches that integrate classic and cutting-edge techniques. Márcia has published three scientific papers, attended a Ph.D. summer school, organized 8 scientific events, and participated in over 30 scientific events. She has a broad interest in the human microbiome and microorganism interactions.

Cristina S. Mesquita is a bioinformatician at i3S Diagnostics, interested in the development of rapid and precise diagnostic tools to identify pathogenic agents and their antimicrobial resistance. Cristina holds an BSc in Biochemistry, an MSc in Applied Biochemistry (Biomedicine Specialization) and a PhD in Molecular and Environmental Biology from the University of Minho. Her doctoral research focused on elucidating the genomic heterogeneity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates. Cristina brings bioinformatic expertise in distinct fields, encompassing the development of customized analysis workflows for comparative genomics and screening for antimicrobial resistance and virulence determinants, transcriptomic and gene expression studies, and metagenomics, having assessed microbial diversity in several hosts.

Maria Inês Magalhães é microbióloga e mestre em Microbiologia Aplicada. Atualmente é aluna do 1º ano do Programa Doutoral em Ciências Biomédicas do ICBAS. O seu projeto de mestrado, financiado pela bolsa Biocodex Microbiota Foundation, centrou-se no potencial papel da obesidade materna no estabelecimento da microbiota intestinal no início da vida e desenvolvimento do sistema imunitário. Recentemente, recebeu uma bolsa de investigação do NWO (Dutch Research Council) para estudar a relação entre o microbioma e a prevalência de cáries orais e obesidade em crianças de famílias vulneráveis. As suas atuais áreas de investigação incluem o microbioma humano, as interações humano-microrganismo, imunologia e metabolismo.

Joana Pereira Marques is a Biologist with a MSc in Applied Microbiology (Univ. Lisbon), and a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biotechnology Applied to Health Sciences (Univ. Porto, 2019). Her research is focused on the implementation of molecular approaches based on next-generation sequencing to characterize the microbiome. Currently, as Junior Researcher at Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S), she has been working on the development of a metatranscriptomics strategy for efficient characterization of the microbiome in human tissues with low microbial biomass. She is also involved in international consortia (LEGACy, H2020 and AIDA, Horizon Europe), in which her extensive technological expertise in omics approaches for microbiome profiling is highly recognized. Joana published a total of 17 peer-reviewed publications with over 720 citations in the field of microbiome and cancer.

Juliana Morais é nutricionista e mestre em Investigação biomédica. Atualmente, é estudante do terceiro ano de doutoramento na Universidade do Porto (UP). A Juliana Morais colaborou em mais de 12 projetos clínicos relacionados com nutrição e metabolismo. Nos últimos anos, a Juliana Morais tem trabalhado na área cardiovascular, tanto em modelos humanos quanto em animais, desenvolvendo técnicas de biologia molecular, incluindo PCR, respiração mitocondrial e ELISA.

Eva Lopes (EL) is a first-year PhD student. She aims to understand how Arctic planktonic microbial communities interact and the role of viruses in controlling microplankton dynamics and their diversity and functions. EL is part of the research team of national and international six projects at CIIMAR. EL uses molecular, high-throughput sequencing, bioinformatics, and biogeochemical methodologies to study microbial community composition and their functions in different natural environments. In 2022 and 2023, EL participated in an Arctic Expedition in the Svalbard region (Kongsfjorden) to contribute to a weekly microplankton monitoring program. EL collected water samples of dissolved inorganic carbon, dissolved organic matter, O18 isotope, nutrients, phytoplankton taxonomic analysis, chlorophyll-a, carbon, particulate organic nitrogen, and genomic analysis of the microbial community. Also in 2023, EL participated in the sampling campaign across the Pacific Arctic region, onboard of the research vessel Mirai (JAMSTEC).

Mariana Oliveira is graduated in Biology and has a Master’s degree in Human Biology and Environment from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon. During her studies, Mariana developed a particular interest in microbiology and biotechnology. This fascination led her to embark on the doctoral program in Marine Sciences – Biology and Ecology, at the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences of the University of Porto. In her PhD project, she aims to isolate novel natural bioactive compounds from marine Actinobacteria and which can be used for the development of future new therapies.

Rafaela Perdigão holds a BSc degree in Biology (FCUP) and a MSc degree in Environmental Toxicology and Contamination (ICBAS), from the University of Porto. She is currently a last-year PhD student at CIIMAR/ICBAS, exploring biodegradation of oils, maritime fuels and other pollutants inside ports, such as plastics, using marine microorganisms. With know-how on autochthonous bioremediation of hydrocarbons, her main research interests rely on the recovery of polluted marine environments, biotechnology, and optimization of degradation processes.

Anabela Borges graduated in Biology holds a Master’s degree in Clinical Laboratory Biology, and a PhD in Chemical and Biological Sciences. Currently, she is an Assistant Researcher at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto and member of the Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy (LEPABE). Her main research interests are related to the problematic of antibiotic resistance and biofilm formation in bio(medical) fields. Her research is focused on the development of new antibacterial agents and strategies to fight bacterial resistance and biofilm-associated infections (e.g., chronic wounds, pulmonary), with special interest in phytochemical compounds and antipathogenic/antivirulence approaches (e.g., quorum-sensing inhibition). In recent years, she has been involved in national (5) and European projects (2) as PI or coordinator team member, and in the supervision of several students at different levels. She has held various editorial roles, including Associate, Section, Topic and Review Editor in reputable journals, and provided external services for global leader companies. She has more than 52 papers published in journals indexed in JCR (h-index = 27) on the domain of bacterial infectious diseases and antibacterial chemotherapy (specifically phytotherapy/phytomedicine). She was recognized as one of the most cited scientists in the World – on the World's Top 2% Scientists List 2021 and 2022 (Stanford University ranking).

Andreia S. Azevedo completed her PhD degree in June 2016 at Chemical and Biological Engineering from Faculty of Engineering (FEUP), University of Porto, in collaboration with the Nucleic Acid Center, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Southern Denmark (NAC, SDU). After holding a Post-doctoral position at FEUP in April 2017 (FCT-funded grant-SFRH/BPD/121601/2016), Andreia S. Azevedo started to work as a junior researcher and as a principal investigator for one FCT-funded project entitled by "Development of NAM-CLASI-FIVH method: a new in vivo tool for an accurate analysis of diversity and spatial organization of gastric microbiota" (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030431), at FEUP in January 2019. She is, from 2022, an Assistant Researcher at LEPABE. Her main research interests include exploring and studying the hybridization properties of various nucleic acid mimics (NAMs), developing innovative Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) methodologies using NAMs, and implementing and combining spectral imaging and NAM-FISH for the characterization of complex microbial communities.

Albano Beja Pereira holds a Ph.D. from the University of Porto in Agricultural Sciences, and has been conducting research in the genomics of domestic animal populations, their wild counterparts, and their parasites. He is the author of >100 publications on the origin, domestication, and patterns of genetic diversity of domestic species, some of which have been published in top journals (e.g., Science, Nature Genetics, PNAS). Lately, he has been contributing to the understanding of the genetic mechanisms that have led to a rapid adaptation of domestic species to the environment (cattle, sheep, donkey, horse, chicken, goat) through selection. He has led several research projects including the total (de novo) sequencing of the donkey and the total re-sequencing of the exome of cattle, pigs, and sheep. Among other roles, he has coordinated the research projects of five postdoctoral researchers, seven Ph.D. students, as well as numerous master's and bachelor's students. He serves on the editorial boards of three scientific journals (Frontiers in Genetics, Fronteirs Vet Sci and BMC Vet Res) and has been a reviewer and member of evaluation panels fron several funding bodies (national and International), as well as an ad hoc reviewer for various international science funding agencies (e.g., ERC), scientific journals, and scientific advisory boards for several international conferences. Currently, leads several projects, which go from building the Portuguese chart for soil biodiversity, the digestive system of domestic animals, animal-derived food products, and livestock farm holobiome, using metagenomics sequencing. He has led the "Agrigenomics" research group at the Center for Biodiversity and Genetic Resources Studies (CIBIO, InBIO) at the University of Porto since 2009 and has been an assistant professor at the Department of Geosciences, Environment, and Spatial Planning (DGAOT) since February 2019.

Ana Paula Mucha has a research position at CIIMAR, University of Porto, Portugal, being member of the Board of Directors and the Principal Investigator of the ECOBIOTEC-BMS team (Bioremediation and Microbes for Sustainability). 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. 95 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.

Benedita Sampaio Maia received her BSc in Microbiology in 1998 from the School of Biotechnology of the Portuguese Catholic University and her PhD in Human Biology in 2005 from the Faculty of Medicine of University of Porto, where she specialized in pathophysiology mechanisms of kidney diseases. She did research at the Nephrology Research & Development Unit, where she was a scientific coordinator in 2014, and afterwards, she joined i3S / INEB – University of Porto, where she is currently a senior researcher focused on exploring the role of the human microbiome in health and disease. In parallel, she is an Associate Professor at Dentistry Faculty of University of Porto, chair of the Microbiology biannual courses in the Dentistry Master’s degree, while also taking part in PhD programs from UP.

PhD in Marine Sciences, researcher of CIIMAR, professor at University of Porto and member of the coordination committee of Portuguese Polar Program. Her research cover the study of fundamental biogeochemical cycles (e.g Nitrogen) and microbial communities in extreme polar regions (Arctic and Antarctica), deep sea environments, temperate coastal waters, estuarine ecosystems and open ocean environments, with a broader perspective on how microbiomes respond to global changes. Our studies are multidimensional involving oceanographic campaigns, as well as in situ experiments, microcosms and bioreactors experimentation using biogeochemical measurements, microbiome sample processing and genomics / metagenomics / metatranscriptomics work flow analysis. She has an active participation in national, and international marine microbiome monitoring programs by generating long-term genomic data sets, with an active involvement in international microbiome consortia and metagenomics standardized initiatives.

Cláudia Serra is a Researcher at CIIMAR- Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research and an Invited Assistant Professor at FCUP- Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto, Portugal. Her current research interests include the study of fish gut microbial communities, their relation to fish health/performance, and the development of microbial-based strategies to fight aquaculture problems. Claudia has more than 20 years of practical lab experience in academic settings with strong connections to pharma and animal-feed industries, counting with 3 Patents. 1 licensing agreement and several prizes. She has been involved in national and international projects, in students supervision, and in disseminating her research to schools and the general public.

Dr. Goeres is a Research Professor of Regulatory Science at the Center for Biofilm Engineering, Montana State University (MSU) and ERA Chair at LEPABE, University of Porto. MSU is a land grant university located in Bozeman, Montana which is about 2 hours north of Yellowstone National Park. Dr. Goeres works closely with the US regulatory bodies, and her and her team are responsible for the development and validation of Standard Test Methods for growing, treating, sampling, and analyzing biofilm bacteria that enable for informed decision making at the regulatory level. While at LEPABE, Dr. Goeres is excited to lead a team working to expand how we understand and apply the concept of reproducibility in terms of biofilm form and function. Dr. Goeres’ passion in research began when she was testing swimming pool chemistry as part of a summer job in her mid-teens. Since that time, she has investigated biofilm in treated recreational water venues (swimming pools & hot tubs), oil fields, manufacturing lines, heating/cooling systems, the built environment, beverage dispense lines, and indwelling medical devices. Biofilm research has enabled her to collaborate with scientists and engineers from around the world, and this opportunity constantly reminds her that microbes do not see international boundaries, and that the really challenging problems require diversity of thought and innovation.

Luísa Peixe is a pharmacist and professor of Bacteriology at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto. She co-authored the Common European Curriculum for Health Science Courses of the Federation of European Microbiologic Societies (FEMS). She leads the Porto Culture Collection and the BACT_DRUGS research group at UCIBIO, also serving as the Vice-Director of this research unit. Recognized for her expertise in bacteriology and antimicrobial resistance, she has dedicated her career to studying the mechanisms, evolution, and transmission of antibiotic resistance, and the influence of the urobiome on health and disease. Her team's innovative contributions include the Blue-Carba test for detecting carbapenemases and efficient methods for tracking bacteria, complemented by significant discoveries about the diversity of the female urogenital tract microbiome. Her commitment to the scientific community and education has been recognized with the ESCMID-Fellow and is further demonstrated through relevant publications, active participation in prestigious scientific societies, editorial roles, project review duties, and frequent invitations to speak at national and international conferences. She acts as an expert for various organizations, such as the European Medicines Agency- EMA, European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and JPIAMR. She also coordinates the citizen science project MicroMundo@UP, focused on addressing antimicrobial resistance.

Maria de Fátima Carvalho holds a degree in Microbiology and a PhD in Biotechnology. Currently, she is Principal Investigator at the Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR), where she leads the research team "Microbial Biodegradation and Bioprospecting." She is also invited Professor at the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences of the University of Porto (ICBAS). With over 19 years of experience in scientific research, one of her main research interests focuses on the bioprospecting of marine actinobacteria for the production of novel bioactive compounds with biotechnological potential. She is author of more than 70 publications in indexed international journals and books and has more than 200 communications (oral and poster) at international and national scientific meetings. She actively participates in science outreach activities, including scientific events aimed at the general public.

Nuno Filipe Azevedo is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) and a researchers at the Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy (LEPABE). His main research interests are to explore the potential of nucleic acid mimics for the rapid diagnosis and treatment of infectious agents, as well as for the spatial location of microorganisms in multispecies biofilms. He has been involved as PI or Co-PI in several EU-funded projects, including DelNAM, a project that aimed to develop a novel therapeutic approach to solve bacterial resistance to antibiotics through the delivery of antibacterial nucleic acid mimics into bacterial biofilms, or the ERA-CHAIR e.Biofilm, a project that aims at the creation of a Group of Excellence in Engineered Biofilms at FEUP. During his research career he has authored or co-authored more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed international journals, submitted 9 patents and co-edited 7 books. He has been invited to more than 40 oral presentations in national and international conferences (e.g. keynote speaker at ECCMID 2022) and is regularly part of the scientific advisory committee of international conferences (e.g. Eurobiofilms 2024, XVth SPLC-CRS 2024).

Rui Ferreira graduated in Biology at the University of Aveiro in July 2006. During graduation, he completed a training program at the Centre for Protein Engineering, University of Liège, through the Leonardo Da Vinci program (European Commission). In 2012, he obtained his Ph.D. degree at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP), focusing on the study of the influence of Helicobacter pylori virulence factors on gastric cancer development. His postdoctoral research focused on H. pylori and the role of the microbiome in gastric cancer, where he developed bioinformatics pipelines for NGS microbiome data analysis and completed a specialization in Genomic Data Science. He currently holds a research assistant position at i3S. His work has resulted in a patent application on microbiome markers for gastric cancer and numerous publications. He is currently leading an FCT-funded project on microbiome metabolites as biomarkers in gastrointestinal cancers.

Rute Oliveira graduated in Biology by the U. Porto, received an MSc from U. Minho, and a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from U. Porto. Her research carried out at the i3S and at the John Innes Centre, UK, contributed to fundamental research on the transcriptional control of bacterial responses to oxidative stress. During the 2020 pandemic, she participated in the establishment of the i3S COVID-19 Testing Centre. Rute was invited for 2 secondments at the medical industry in Basel, Switzerland, one of them as lab supervisor. She is currently committed to the development of the new i3S diagnostics centre and put research in infectious diseases at the service of NHS patient care, to accelerate pathogen diagnosis and antimicrobial resistance surveillance with NGS-based clinical assays.

Ariana S. C. Gonçalves holds a Bachelor's and a Master’s degree in Biomedical sciences from the University of Beira Interior. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Chemical and Biological Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto. Her research is centered on developing innovative natural-based combinations to address chronic wound infections associated with biofilms.

Mariana is a 3rd year PhD student at FEUP. She got her MSc in Chemical Engineering in 2018, specialising in Biotechnology. Since then, she had a short adventure in industry working in R&D at Continental and, in 2019, she returned to academia as a project researcher at LEPABE. More recently (in 2022), she joined the Doctoral Program in Chemical and Biological Engineering, where she has pioneered research on the delivery of antisense oligonucleotides into bacteria using dendritic lipids. Her research interests range from applied microbiology to advanced microscopy, with a special mention to her passion for science communication.

Vânia is a 1st year PhD student in Chemical and Biological Engineering at FEUP. She got her MSc in Biological Engineering at University of Minho in 2007. From completing her master’s degree to starting her PhD, she spent 5 years in a laboratory producing fungi and micropropagated plants, 3 years in a research center investigating waste recovery, and 1 year in a research center investigating biofilms. Nowadays, her research is centered in biofilms related with chronic wounds and her goal is to develop and optimize a multispecies chronic wound biofilm model and use a transcriptomic approach with confocal microscopy imaging to characterize the functionality of the individual cells and to determine how individual species influence gene patterns and spatial arrangement.

Gabriela Gonçalves is a PhD student at the University of Porto and CIIMAR- Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research. Her PhD focuses on the development of oral vaccines for the aquaculture industry using Bacillus spores as delivery vehicles. She participated in 4 R&D projects, has 3 published papers and several oral comunications on national and international conferences. Her work was recognized in an International Startup Challenge in 2021 and in the NUTRECO shortlist for the Young Researchers Prize in 2022. During her PhD she has acquired skills in microbiology and synthetic biology, particularly in bacterial surface-display technology.

Miss Nellia Felicity Nyoni has extensive knowledge in the field of Molecular genetics, Animal breeding and production as well as animal husbandry which she acquired during her undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Miss Nellia F. Nyoni obtained her Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (Animal Science Honours’) in April 2017, and a Master of Science in Agriculture (Animal Science) in 2020 at the University of Namibia. She currently pursues a PhD in Biodiversity, Genetics and Evolution at the University of Porto, Portugal. Furthermore, she has worked on several publications and participated in many workshops. She was an intern at Aimeb! Super Dairy farm in 2014 (Namibia), Mariental Piggery Unit in 2015 (Namibia), Matopos Agricultural Research Centre in 2015 (Zimbabwe) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry in 2018 (Namibia).

I’m a PhD student at the University of Porto, developing my research project at CIBIO-InBIO. I obtained my BSc degree in Biochemistry at the University of Coimbra and my MSc degree in Consumer Sciences and Nutrition at the University of Porto, with a dissertation focused on the characterization of the tongue dorsum microbiome in wine tasters. This work got me interested in the evolution and interaction of microbiological ecosystems and the evolutionary processes behind it. Before I started my phD, I was an assistant researcher in a soil microbiome biodiversity project working with non-invasive samples, NGS techniques and genomic data analysis. During this time, also collaborated on other projects and developing my skills in different techniques, such as exploring the microbiome of the reproductive tract of mares and the microbiome of fecal samples from hirola (Beatragus hunteri), and the genetic characterization of Santolina semidentata through RAD-seq. My phD work focus on the diverse microbial communities found in intensive Portuguese dairy farms using metagenomics. The study of the dairy farm environmental microbiomes is vital to understand how they interact with the animal microbiomes and how the monitoring of the environmental microbiomes can work as biosecurity sentinels.

Márcia Sousa holds a Bachelor's degree in Biology and a Master's in Biotechnology for Health Sciences from UTAD, Portugal. She worked as a research fellow at FCUP and later interned at BacTdrugs Lab, FFUP, where she is currently a Ph.D. student in Pharmaceutical Sciences with a specialization in Microbiology. Her research focuses on deciphering the Female Urogenital Microbiome under both healthy and unhealthy conditions using robust, reliable, and solid methodological approaches that integrate classic and cutting-edge techniques. Márcia has published three scientific papers, attended a Ph.D. summer school, organized 8 scientific events, and participated in over 30 scientific events. She has a broad interest in the human microbiome and microorganism interactions.

Cristina S. Mesquita is a bioinformatician at i3S Diagnostics, interested in the development of rapid and precise diagnostic tools to identify pathogenic agents and their antimicrobial resistance. Cristina holds an BSc in Biochemistry, an MSc in Applied Biochemistry (Biomedicine Specialization) and a PhD in Molecular and Environmental Biology from the University of Minho. Her doctoral research focused on elucidating the genomic heterogeneity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates. Cristina brings bioinformatic expertise in distinct fields, encompassing the development of customized analysis workflows for comparative genomics and screening for antimicrobial resistance and virulence determinants, transcriptomic and gene expression studies, and metagenomics, having assessed microbial diversity in several hosts.

Maria Inês Magalhães é microbióloga e mestre em Microbiologia Aplicada. Atualmente é aluna do 1º ano do Programa Doutoral em Ciências Biomédicas do ICBAS. O seu projeto de mestrado, financiado pela bolsa Biocodex Microbiota Foundation, centrou-se no potencial papel da obesidade materna no estabelecimento da microbiota intestinal no início da vida e desenvolvimento do sistema imunitário. Recentemente, recebeu uma bolsa de investigação do NWO (Dutch Research Council) para estudar a relação entre o microbioma e a prevalência de cáries orais e obesidade em crianças de famílias vulneráveis. As suas atuais áreas de investigação incluem o microbioma humano, as interações humano-microrganismo, imunologia e metabolismo.

Joana Pereira Marques is a Biologist with a MSc in Applied Microbiology (Univ. Lisbon), and a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biotechnology Applied to Health Sciences (Univ. Porto, 2019). Her research is focused on the implementation of molecular approaches based on next-generation sequencing to characterize the microbiome. Currently, as Junior Researcher at Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S), she has been working on the development of a metatranscriptomics strategy for efficient characterization of the microbiome in human tissues with low microbial biomass. She is also involved in international consortia (LEGACy, H2020 and AIDA, Horizon Europe), in which her extensive technological expertise in omics approaches for microbiome profiling is highly recognized. Joana published a total of 17 peer-reviewed publications with over 720 citations in the field of microbiome and cancer.

Juliana Morais é nutricionista e mestre em Investigação biomédica. Atualmente, é estudante do terceiro ano de doutoramento na Universidade do Porto (UP). A Juliana Morais colaborou em mais de 12 projetos clínicos relacionados com nutrição e metabolismo. Nos últimos anos, a Juliana Morais tem trabalhado na área cardiovascular, tanto em modelos humanos quanto em animais, desenvolvendo técnicas de biologia molecular, incluindo PCR, respiração mitocondrial e ELISA.

Eva Lopes (EL) is a first-year PhD student. She aims to understand how Arctic planktonic microbial communities interact and the role of viruses in controlling microplankton dynamics and their diversity and functions. EL is part of the research team of national and international six projects at CIIMAR. EL uses molecular, high-throughput sequencing, bioinformatics, and biogeochemical methodologies to study microbial community composition and their functions in different natural environments. In 2022 and 2023, EL participated in an Arctic Expedition in the Svalbard region (Kongsfjorden) to contribute to a weekly microplankton monitoring program. EL collected water samples of dissolved inorganic carbon, dissolved organic matter, O18 isotope, nutrients, phytoplankton taxonomic analysis, chlorophyll-a, carbon, particulate organic nitrogen, and genomic analysis of the microbial community. Also in 2023, EL participated in the sampling campaign across the Pacific Arctic region, onboard of the research vessel Mirai (JAMSTEC).

Mariana Oliveira is graduated in Biology and has a Master’s degree in Human Biology and Environment from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon. During her studies, Mariana developed a particular interest in microbiology and biotechnology. This fascination led her to embark on the doctoral program in Marine Sciences – Biology and Ecology, at the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences of the University of Porto. In her PhD project, she aims to isolate novel natural bioactive compounds from marine Actinobacteria and which can be used for the development of future new therapies.

Rafaela Perdigão holds a BSc degree in Biology (FCUP) and a MSc degree in Environmental Toxicology and Contamination (ICBAS), from the University of Porto. She is currently a last-year PhD student at CIIMAR/ICBAS, exploring biodegradation of oils, maritime fuels and other pollutants inside ports, such as plastics, using marine microorganisms. With know-how on autochthonous bioremediation of hydrocarbons, her main research interests rely on the recovery of polluted marine environments, biotechnology, and optimization of degradation processes.