Isabel Sá-Correia

She is a Distinguished Full Professor and Emerita Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), University of Lisbon (ULisboa), in the area of Biological Sciences which she founded and coordinated, at IST, until her retirement. Graduated in Chemical Engineering (IST, 1975), her training and activity evolved into Biological Sciences. With a PhD in Yeast Physiology, developed at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, she carried out, as Fulbright Scholar, post-doctoral studies (Bacterial Molecular Biology) at the Medical Center of the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Her research activities at the Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences (iBB), IST, are in the areas of Molecular and Cellular Microbiology, Functional and Comparative Genomics, and Microbial Diversity, with an impact on Microbial Biotechnology and Human Health. She was President of the Portuguese Society of Microbiology (SPM) (2009-2020). Co-founder of the International Microorganism Day in Portugal, she led its internationalization.

The IST-Yeasts Culture Collection of Blue Yeasts is based on research programs that explore yeast diversity for the new Bio-based Economy, in particular on recent efforts in the framework of the “Portuguese Blue BioBank” and “Algae Vertical” of the “Blue Bioeconomy Pact” project.