Mónica Sebastiana (MS) graduated in Applied Plant Biology in 1994 and completed her master’s degree in plant biotechnology in 1999, and her PhD degree in Molecular Biology in 2006, at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon. Presently, MS is a contacted researcher working at the Plant Stress and Signalling lab from the Institute of Biosystems and Integrative Sciences (BioISI) at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon. She is a molecular biologist working on the interaction of plants with mycorrhizal and pathogenic soil microorganisms and using genomics to understand the molecular mechanisms used by plants to respond to their symbiotic/pathogenic partners. She has been mainly working with woody plants such as Chestnut, Cork Oak and Grapevine as model plants and using Pisolithus tinctorius as a mycorrhizal fungal model. She has developed skills in the identification and characterization of plant and fungal transcriptome/proteome/metabolome in the ectomycorrhizal symbiosis of trees. Currently, her research interests are focused on the study of plant's response to soil symbiotic (mycorrhizas) fungi at a molecular and genome-wide level, and on soil biodiversity, especially on the effect of multiple drivers of anthropogenic and climatic changes on soil microbial communities and their aboveground interaction with plants. MS has published 30 papers in peer-reviewed journals, having been cited more than 1000 times, and having an h-index of 17 (SCOPUS, June 2024). She has also published 2 book chapters and a large volume of omics data in public databases. MS has presented more than 40 posters in scientific meetings/conferences, having authored more than 20 oral communications. During her research carrier MS got financial support as Principal Investigator of 3 research projects on mycorrhizas and soil biodiversity and has participated in 11 research projects as a team member. In the last 5 years she has been involved in 6 projects, focusing on several topics, including tropical soil biodiversity, regenerative agriculture in grapevine, plant-microbe genomics in cashew and coffee, and biosynthesis of secondary compounds in grape berries, financed by diverse funding sources, including National FCT funds and international agencies (FAO, H2020). In 2010, MS won a prize for best research work in the Valorization and Sustainability of Cork Oak and Associated Biodiversity, afforded by “Corticeira Amorim”, the principal Portuguese company of cork industry, and integrated in the European initiative “Business and Biodiversity”. She has been invited to evaluate project applications for scientific funding agencies (American NSF, Israel Science Foundation) and has been a regular reviewer for several international scientific journals, having edited two special issues as a guest editor. Besides research activities, MS has been actively involved in teaching and supervision of students at the BSc, MSc and post-Doc level at the Faculty of Sciences. Since 2014, she participates in teaching of several curricular units from the Biology BSc and the Molecular Biology and Genetics MSc program. She has also been involved in the supervision of several MSc students and post-Doc students at the Faculty of Sciences, having also mentored numerous BSc students on molecular biology laboratory training. She has also developed activities in scientific knowledge transfer to the business sector by providing consultancy and research assistance in the application of mycorrhizas to increase plant performance. MS has been highly committed to science dissemination to the society by organizing/participating in several events promoting science for students, schoolteachers, and the public in general, such as the European Researchers Night, Pint of Science and Fruits with Science.