Sandra Hilário is graduated in Agronomic Engineering (2012) from the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu. Completed her Master’s Degree in Microbiology (2017) and her Ph.D. in Biology (specialization in Microbiology) (2023) at the University of Aveiro. Most of her research is focused on microbial diversity and its potential as biocontrol agents, phytopathology, mycology, molecular evolution, phylogenetics, plant physiology and fungal genomics. During her academic career, she mentored undergraduate, masters and Ph.D. students and was invited speaker in an advanced course for Microbiologists and in classes of Phytopathology and Evolution and Microbial Diversity. Since 2019, she has published 22 articles in international peer reviewed journals and is a reviewer and editor of special issues of SCI journals. Recently, she was awarded with an honorable mention by the Portuguese Society of Microbiology (SPM) and an Early Career Scientist Grant offered by the Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS). Currently, she is a researcher at FCUP and CIIMAR, developing work on endophytic bacteria isolated from palm trees that hosts the weevils Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (RPW) aiming to evaluate the ability of bacteria as biofertilizers and to develop novel biocontrol methods based on recombinant DNA.
