Begoña Espiña holds both Diploma (2003) and PhD (2009) degrees in Biology from the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Her research focuses on applied nanotechnology to find new solutions for mitigating the impact of water contaminants in human health, environment and industry. Begoña has integrated and managed several major competitive research projects funded by EU: SUDOE NANODESK, ATLANTOX and PHARMATLANTIC. She also coordinates the recently approved EU-Interreg ATLANTIC AREA NANOCULTURE and participated in FP6-BIOCOP and participates in the H2020-SAFE-N-MEDTECH project. She is principal investigator for several ERDF regional and national projects: ERDF-Innterconecta Mytitox and PT2020 pBio 4.0, and has led several industrial collaborations. Begoña has published 36 peer-reviewed papers indexed in the SCI (with circa 500 citations; h‐index of 13), and is co-author of 4 book chapters and 2 patents.
Begoña Espiña | Group Leader
%20(2)_editado.jpg)
Marília Santos
Staff Researcher
Marília Santos holds a PhD degree in Nanosciences from the University of Barcelona (Spain). She is involved on project related with the development of nanoengineered surfaces for the control of bacterial adhesion and the development of nanotechnology based sensors for the automatic detection of water contaminants.
Laura Rodriguez
Staff Researcher
Laura received her PhD from the University of Vigo related to plasmonics, SERS and their application in sensing. Her work is focused on the development of devices to monitor in real time the purification of urban wastewater from persistent organic pollutants.
Ivone Pinheiro
Junior Research Fellow
Ivone is graduated in Applied Biology from the University of Minho (Portugal) and has a MSc in Environmental Contamination and Toxicology from University of Porto (Portugal). She joined Water Quality Group to study nanoparticles bioaccumulation studies with adult zebrafish and marine mussels. Currently her work is focused on monitoring the presence and effects of engineered inorganic nanoparticles in aquaculture products.
Ana Castanheira
Junior Research Fellow
Ana holds a Master degree in Biological Engineering from University of Minho (Portugal). At Water Quality group, she is currently involved in a project related the development of characterization techniques and portable systems for the detection of micro and nanoplastics.
Renato Gil
Research Fellow
Renato Gil holds a Master degree and a PhD degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Porto (Portugal). In the Water Quality Group, he works on the development of a portable device for monitoring water chemical parameters in recirculating aquaculture systems.
Sofia Azevedo
Junior Research Fellow
Sofia has a graduation in in Biology and a MSc in Toxicology and Ecotoxicology. She joined Water Quality Group to develop new tools and methods to evaluate the release, fate and toxicity of nanomaterials to aquatic organisms.
Ana Vieira
Junior Research Fellow
Ana is a Biochemist and holds a MSc in Biophysics and Bionanosystems. She joined Water Quality Group to develop and evaluate multifunctional materials for removal of microorganisms from water. She also works on removal and detection of contaminants from water.
Monica Quarato
Junior Research Fellow
Monica holds Bachelor degree in Biotechnology and a Master degree (2017) in Industrial Biotechnology from the University of Turin. She joined the Water Quality Group to work on the development of a portable detection system for engineered inorganic nanoparticles in aquaculture water.
Najib Messaoud
Research Fellow
Najib holds a PhD in Engineering Physics from University of Sousse (Tunisia). During his PhD, he focused on the study and development of carcinogenic species microsensors by surface nanoengineering. In the Water Quality Group, he works on the development of new sensing strategies for electrochemical detection of nanomaterials in water samples.
Samuel Silva
Junior Research Fellow
Samuel holds a Msc in Biological Engineering from University of Minho, Portugal, with specialization in Environmental Technology. His focused in the development of new sensing technologies, for the monitoring of heavy metals in industrial wastewater, based on electrochemical sensing systems.
Antonio Rubino
Research Fellow
Antonio holds a MSc in Industrial Chemistry and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Sapienza University of Rome, focusing on the electrochemical production of nanostructured materials and related applications. He joined the Water Quality Group to work on the development of electrochemical sensing systems for the monitoring of metals in industrial wastewaters.
Patricia Taladriz
Research Fellow
Patricia holds a PhD degree in Chemistry from the University of Vigo (Spain). Her core research expertise and interests are plasmonic nanoparticles, microfluidics, plastics and bio-nano interactions. Her work at the Water Quality group focuses on developing portable systems for the detection of nanoplastics, mainly by SERS spectroscopy.
Lurdes Gonçalves
Junior Research Fellow
Lurdes Gonçalves holds a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Instituto de Engenharia do Porto (Portugal), specialising in Environmental Protection Technologies. At Water Quality group, she is involved in a project related to the developing biosensors for harmful cyanobacterial blooms (CyanoHABs) monitoring.
Tânia Rebelo
Scientific Visitor
Tânia Rebelo holds a Master degree in Chemical Engineering-Energy Optimization and received her PhD in Sustainable Chemistry from the New University of Lisbon (Portugal).
Her work is focused on the development of biomimetic materials (selective sensory surfaces) applied in (bio)sensors.
Sofia Neto
MsC Student
Sofia is a Master's student from University of Minho. She will be assessing a novel anti-virulence therapy against drug-resistant bacterial infections using the Zebrafish in vivo model.
Maria Catarino
MsC Student
Maria is a graduate in Biochemistry and is currently working on her master's degree in Micro/Nano Technologies at University of Minho. She joined the Water Quality Group to develop her master's thesis on the toxicity of small micro and nanoplastics in zebrafish development.
Former members
Alejandra Albaz, Scientific visitor
Giulia Santopolo, Scientific visitor
Riya Gupta, Junior research fellow
Blanca Astray, Scientific Visitor
Filipe Ferreira, BSc Student
Vanesa Romero, Scientific Visitor
Marisa Passos, Research Fellow
Catarina Ribeiro, Internship
Juliana Dias, Scientific visitor
Carmen Sorasan, Scientific visitor
Tianxing Wang, Scientific visitor
Juan Lopez, Scientific visitor
Beatriz Santamaria, Scientific Visitor
Alexsandra Valerio, Scientific Visitor
Nagamalai Vasimala, Research Fellow
Vânia Vilas-Boas, Research Laboratory Assistant
Teodora Miclăuș, Research Fellow
Cindy DIas, Master Student
Sara Pinela, Master student
Ana Castanheiro, Master student
Rui Oliveira, BSc student
Soraia Fernandes, PhD student
Verónica Silva, BSc Student
João Cheixo, BSc Student
Photos
