Paula Parreira (1984) graduated in Microbiology by the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (Portugal) in 2007. In the same year she joined the team of Prof. M. Cristina Martins at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering of University of Porto (INEB), and from 2007 to 2013 conducted her PhD studies, under the guidance of Prof. M. Cristina Martins and Prof. Deborah Leckband (University of Illinois, at Urbana-Champaign in the USA), a pioneer in the use of force measurements techniques. During her time abroad, Paula Parreira worked mainly with Atomic Force Microscopy techniques in order to study and characterize bacterial interactions (adhesion-ligand complex). Her PhD has provided new insights for the development of alternative therapeutics for Helicobacter pylori infection, based on the creation of surfaces able to specifically bind this pathogen in order to eliminate it from infected hosts.

After finishing her PhD, Paula Parreira joined the Bioactives Research Group of Centro de Biotecnologia Agricola e Agro-Alimentar do Alentejo (CEBAL) as a Postdoc Researcher. Her research focused on the antibacterial performance of bioactives obtained from natural and endogenous matrices as alternatives to conventional antibiotics.

In 2017, Paula Parreira joined the Bioengineered Surfaces group at INEB/i3S, being currently a Junior Researcher. Her main focus is the development of bioengineered strategies able to specifically attract and bind the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori.