My name is Ricardo Manuel Fernandes Santos. I have a degree in Biology (University of Aveiro, UA, 2017) and a master's degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology (Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto, FCUP, 2019). I was a Private tutor in Bússola Dinâmica Ass. (Biology and Geology) and a R&D Freelancer for FI-GROUP (2021 and 2023). I was also a technical consultant at FI-GROUP (R&D) for 9 months (2021-2022). I participated in 7 events and received 2 honors for my work as a Master's representative and my presence at the New England Biolabs Workshop (USA). I have expertise in the area(s) of Natural sciences (Biological Sciences, Molecular Biology, Microbiology, Mycology, Plant Biology, Biotechnology, and Agriculture) and Exact Sciences (Bioinformatics). I am a very enthusiastic scientist passionate about the study of life, especially microorganisms. During my degree, I was a volunteer at The Laboratory of Molecular Biotechnology, LBM (CESAM-UA) and my job was to detect Vibrio tapetis, Perkinsus and Minchinia tapetis in mollusks - Ruditapes decussatus and Venerupis corrugata - via DNA extraction and PCR analysis. I also helped in another project, in the same laboratory, specifically, the growth of multi-resistant bacteria isolated from hospitals, antibiotic resistance analysis by antibiogram, bacteria platting, and CFU count. My annual wet lab work (a curricular unit to finish my degree), focused on the production of Staphylococcus aureus biofilms and the evaluation of antimicrobial compounds (Laboratory of Molecular Biotechnology, LBM - UA). Also, I presented a poster at the XIII Aquaculture Seminary (Setúbal, 2017), named "The use of macroalgae extracts as a preventive agent against Vibrio spp. in aquaculture" with Fábio Mota, as authors. In my master's degree, I had the chance to elaborate on a complex work using bioinformatics tools that culminated in a report named "New DNA signatures as molecular tools for Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus detection and strain differentiation in hospital environment". Furthermore, in my dissertation, I carried out genotoxicity tests on Saccharomyces cerevisiae, using the comet assay, to highlight the possible effects of effluents from abandoned uranium mines (a collaboration between UA and FCUP). Throughout my academic career, I managed to take part in several workshops (highlighting the Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics Workshop in Boston (USA) and advanced courses that allowed me to work with different microorganisms, contributing to my experience in asepsis techniques, accommodation with the laboratory routine procedures and instruments, protocol optimization, as well as the production of culture media, microorganism culture handling, and protein extraction. All these opportunities led to my ability to perform database research, and statistical and genomic analysis using bioinformatics tools. I am currently a Ph.D. student at Nova School of Science and Technology in collaboration with the University of Manchester and the Imperial College London (UK): Investigating virus-host interactions in the killer yeast system.