Rita Cordeiro
Post-Doc Researcher
Academic Background:
2022 - PhD in Biology, University of the Azores (Portugal)
2016 - MSc in Biomedical Sciences, University of the Azores (Portugal)
2013 - BSc/BSc in Health Sciences and Biology, University of the Azores (Portugal).
Research interests:
In my Ph.D., I continued and deepened my work with cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins. This work was developed in parallel with the projects REBECA (MAC1.1a/060), in which BACA, the Azores Bank of Algae and Cyanobacteria), and REBECA-CCT (MAC2/1.1b/269), which allowed the consolidation and federation of the culture collection, BACA is now a member of ECCO and PT-mBRCN. Ph.D. contributed 150 cyanobacterial isolates from the 9 islands of the Azores, from various habitats, which were characterized morphologically, ecologically, genetically (16S rRNA phylogenetic analysis and cyanotoxin biosynthesis gene search), and analytically (LC-MS/MS for identification of toxic cyanobacteria). These analyses resulted in published papers reporting the diversity of cyanobacteria in the Azores, and in the identification of cyanotoxins in environmental samples and in isolated cyanobacteria.
Currently, my research focuses on cyanobacterial and cyanotoxin monitoring in the Azores, regarding public health risks related to cyanotoxins, genetics, cyanobacterial diversity in islands, endemism, habitat diversity and adaptation, and evolution of cyanobacteria.