Ramón y Cajal researcher at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), she holds a degree in Chemistry (2004) and a PhD (2012, Cum Laude with European Mention, Extraordinary PhD Award and Research Award from the Diputación de Pontevedra) from the USC. Her main research interests include the microbiology of cultural heritage stone, subaerial biofilms (SABs), bioreceptivity and the development of innovative environmental technologies aimed at managing, assessing and mitigating natural and human impacts on heritage stone. She has obtained funding for her research through the collaboration grant, MEC (2003), Tercer Ciclo, Xunta de Galicia (2006), FPI, MICINN (2007), Fundación Barrié (2012), Postdoctoral (mod. A), Xunta de Galicia (2013), return contract, Xunta de Galicia (2015), Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación, MINECO (2016), postdoctoral (mod. B), Xunta de Galicia (2016) and CPI project Smartiago-Challenge 3, FEDER (2020).
Her research activity has been carried out mainly at the USC and also at the universities of Alicante (2008 and 2009), Milan (2010, 2012 and 2015), Harvard (2013-2014) and Oxford (2019). She is the author of 105 scientific publications: 63 articles in WoS journals, 8 articles in non-WoS journals, 7 international books and book chapters, 23 full article publications in conference proceedings and 4 other publications. These works have received more than 1500 citations in the last 5 years. She is also a member of the editorial team of Elsevier’s International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation journal. She has made around 70 presentations at 50 scientific conferences in Europe and America (receiving 3 speaker awards in USA and Spain), has been a member of the scientific and technical committees of 10 international congresses and 2 national congresses, invited speaker with plenary lecture on 5 occasions in Portugal, France, Italy and USA, and organiser of a session on heritage conservation in stone at the EGU General Assembly 2019 held in Vienna (Austria). In 2019, she has received the I3 certificate of Accreditation of Research Excellence from the General Secretariat of Universities (Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities).
