Adelaide Almeida

Adelaide Almeida is a Full Professor of Microbiology at the Department of Biology (DBio) of the University of Aveiro (UA), where she got her PhD degree, in 2001, and her Habilitation, in 2015.

She is the Director of the Doctoral Program in Biology of the DBio of UA, since 2024, she was the Director of the Master in Biology the DBio of UA since 2018 till 2024, and she has also been involved in the scientific board of other master and undergraduate courses. She is the Head of the Laboratory of Applied Microbiology of the DBio, since 2002.

She is an integrated member of the Research Unit Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM), since 2002, being the coordinator of the Thematic Line “Environment and Health” (EH), since 2018, integrating the Scientific Coordinating Commission of this Center.

Over the last years she placed great emphasis on the development of alternative technologies to conventional antimicrobial methods to inactivate pathogenic microorganisms, namely phage therapy and photodynamic therapy, relevant for clinic, food, agriculture and aquaculture areas. The results obtained have clearly shown that these new technologies have the potential to prevent/treat infections, even in situations where conventional chemotherapy methods (such as antibiotics) are not effective and can thus contribute to lightening the well-known problem of developing microbial resistance to antibiotics. More recently, she has also been involved in the evaluation of the beneficial effects of natural plant extracts on health, mainly as antimicrobials, but also as anti-inflammatories and antioxidants.

She has participated in 40 national and international research projects, as coordinator (PI) of 4, CoPI of 1, coordinator at the UA of other 4. She was inventor of 6 patents and published 3 books, 18 book chapters, 3 theses, and more than 280 scientific papers in ISI journals. These scientific papers were cited around 12000 times in the SCOPUS searches, corresponding to an H factor of 58. She presented around 500 communications in international and national meetings, around 200 as oral communications (44 as an invited speaker) and 300 as posters. The results of her investigation have also been disseminated through science outreach articles, videos, interviews and news in social media, around 120. As a result of her research she has received some awards (5) and distinctions (10).

She has been in charge of the supervision of graduate (10 Post-docs, 21 PhD students, 110 MSc) and undergraduate (154) students. She has participated in several academic juries of habilitation (5), PhD (39), MSc (223) and projects of undergraduate students (103).

She is Section Editor-in-Chief of the Journal Antibiotics, Associate Editor of Frontiers in Microbiology (9 papers edited), Academic Editor of Plos One Journal (70 papers edited), Academic Editor of Antibiotics Journal (72 papers edited) and Academic Editor of Microorganisms Journal (53 papers edited), having edited 2 special issues for Microorganisms Journal and 3 for Antibiotics Journal as Guest Editor, and member of the Editorial Board of SM Journal of Hepatitis Research, Open Medicine Journal and EC Microbiology (16 papers revised), totaling around 220 edited papers. She has been also a regular reviewer for other scientific journals (more than 240 papers revised). She acted as peer reviewer of projects and grants for international financing agencies (15 projects evaluated).

She has been involved in organizing various scientific events, as Co-Chair of an international congress of the 16th Congress of the European Society for Photobiology ESP2015 which held in Aveiro in 2015, and as member of other organizing committee of 7 scientific meetings, 3 symposiuns, 5 advanced courses and 3 seminars/workshops. She has also chaired some sessions in international meetings. She was consultant of an international project, consultant for a company and an expert in a process running in a court. She was the coordinator of the Erasmus (2008-2011) and Campus Europae (2009-2011) Programs of the BDio of UA.

She is member of several scientific societies. She has been a member of the Portuguese Society of Microbiology (SPM) and of the Order of Biologists, since 1990. She is also a member of the European Photobiology Society (ESP), since 2008, and actively joined the ESP executive committee board between 2017 and 2019. Presently is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the ESP and member of the “Education and Training Committee” of the ESP . Since 2013, she is also member of the Society of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanine (SPP).