Bárbara Pires has a BSc in Biology (FCUP) and a MSc in Functional Biology and Biotechnology of Plants (FCUP). She completed her master dissertation at CIIMAR, focusing on the discovery and isolation of cyanobacterial natural products, as well as on uncovering mechanisms related to lipid catabolism in these organisms. Currently, she is enrolled in the Molecular and Cellular Biology doctoral program (MCbiology, ICBAS/FCUP) and her PhD work focuses on the implementation of oxygen-consuming devices in the model cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803.