Luara Simões is currently an Assistant Researcher at the University of Minho, working on the STOParasites project under the PRR-Blue Bioeconomy initiative. She holds a PhD in Microbiology (2019) from the Federal University of Lavras/University of Minho. From 2020 to 2023, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Minho, contributing to projects on bioactive compounds and DNA barcoding. In 2024, she became a Junior Researcher at CIIMAR, focusing on microalgae-based aquafeeds. Her research centers on DNA barcoding and microbial bioactive compounds, with a focus on sustainable marine resource management and high-throughput molecular methodologies. She is currently involved in a project aimed at optimizing molecular methodologies to track fish parasites and contribute to the sustainable management of marine resources, ensuring the impactful application of molecular tools to real-world challenges.
Disney Ribeiro Dias is an Associate Professor of Food Microbiology at the Department of Food Science, Federal University of Lavras. He graduated in Pharmacy from the Federal University of Alfenas (1998) and received his Master’s in Food Science from the Federal University of Lavras (2001) and PhD in Food Science from the same institution (2007). He was a Visiting Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) under the PrInt/CAPES program (2019–2020), working in the laboratory coordinated by Prof. Anthony J. Sinskey. His expertise lies in Microbiology, with a focus on Industrial and Fermentation Microbiology, particularly in fermentation biotechnology and products of microbial metabolism.
