???global.info.a_carregar???
Ana Pereira is a molecular biologist and microbial ecologist with expertise in host-microbiome interactions and genetics. She graduated in Biology (2014) and completed a Master's degree (2017) and is a PhD candidate (2025) in Biodiversity, Genetics and Evolution from the University of Porto. During her doctoral research, Ana Pereira specialized in the skin microbiome of fish, developing advanced proficiency in molecular techniques, next-generation sequencing, and computational analysis of microbial communities. Currently, she is working as a research fellow at ICVS/School of Medicine, University of Minho, where she is performing data analysis of molecular and microbial mechanisms underlying immune responses to invasive fungal infections. This translational research aims to identify novel therapeutic targets and diagnostic biomarkers for improved clinical management of fungal diseases.
Read full resume ↓
Identification

Personal identification

Full name
Ana Isabel Antunes Pereira
Date of birth
1992/07/03

Citation names

  • Pereira, Ana

Author identifiers

Ciência ID
6B18-EDCA-8AE4
ORCID iD
0000-0001-5328-1668

Knowledge fields

  • Natural sciences - Biological Sciences - Biology
Education
Degree Classification
2019 - 2025
Ongoing
 Doutoramento em Biodiversidade, Genética e Evolução (Doutoramento)
Universidade do Porto Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Portugal
""Cleaning stations as hubs for the maintenance and recovery of microbial diversity on coral reefs"" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
2015 - 2017
Concluded
 Master's Degree in Biodiversity, Genetics and Evolution (Mestrado)
Universidade do Porto Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Portugal
""A metabarcoding approach to assess the diet of lacertid lizards from the High Atlas Mountains"" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
2015/02 - 2015/06
Concluded
 Adaptations of lizards in insular environments (Erasmus+ research trainee) (Outros)
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Faculty of Biology, Greece
2011 - 2014
Concluded
 First Degree in Biology (Licenciatura)
Major in Biology
Universidade do Porto Faculdade de Ciências, Portugal
"“Variation in parasitaemia levels of blood parasites in reptiles endemic to the Canary Islands”" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
Affiliation

Science

Category
Host institution 		Employer
2025 - Current Researcher (Research) Universidade do Minho Instituto de Investigação em Ciências da Vida e Saúde, Portugal
2014 - 2025 Research Trainee (Research) Universidade do Porto Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Portugal
Universidade do Porto Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Portugal
2021/09 - 2021/12 Research Trainee (Research) Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, United States
Projects

Grant

Designation Funders
2025 - Current A High-Resolution Functional Genomics Approach to Inform Precision Medicine for Fungal Disease
HR24-00686 - FUNPATH
Research Fellow
2019 - 2024 Garbage dumps or primary care clinics? Cleaning stations as hubs for the maintenance and recovery of microbial diversity on coral reefs.
SFRH/BD/144928/2019
PhD Student Fellow
Concluded
2018 - 2019 Microbioma - To be or not to be diseased: the effects of microbiome on parasitic infections in farmed seabream and seabass
PTDC/MAR-BIO/0902/2014
Research technician
Universidade do Porto Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Portugal
Outputs

Publications

Conference abstract
  1. Canada, Paula; Costas, Benjamin; Xavier, Raquel; Santos, Miguel; Couto, Ana; Cerqueira, Marco; FERNANDEZ-BOO, SERGIO; et al. "CAGED GILTHEAD SEABREAM LIKES BITING THE NETS. SO WHAT?". Paper presented in Aquaculture Europe 2021, Funchal, 2021.
    Accepted
  2. Tomé, Beatriz; Pereira, Ana; Jorge, Fátima; Carretero, Miguel A.; Harris, D. James; Perera, Ana. "Exploring the diversity, distribution and host-specificity of haemogregarine parasites infecting lizards in the Canary Islands". Paper presented in XIX Congreso Español de Herpetología – XV Congreso Luso-Español de Herpetología, Salamanca, 2018.
  3. Damas-Moreira, Isabel; Pereira, Ana; Oliveira, Daniel; Santos, Joana L; Riley, Julia; Harris, D. James; Whiting, Martin. "Learning skills in an invasive lizard". Paper presented in Australasian Evolution Society Conference, 2017.
  4. Perera, Ana; Tomé, Beatriz; Sousa, Amanda; Pereira, Ana; Carretero, Miguel A.; Harris, D. James; Roca, Vicente; Jorge, Fátima. "Paterns of diversification of parasites infecting reptiles in the Canary Islands: Different parasites, same answers?". Paper presented in II International Conference on Island Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation, Terceira Island, 2016.
  5. Pereira, Ana; Perera, Ana; Jorge, Fátima; Harris, D. James. "Variation in parasitaemia levels of blood parasites in reptiles endemic to the Canary Islands". Paper presented in XIII Iberian Congress of Herpetology, Aveiro, 2014.
Conference poster
  1. Barroso, Ricardo Alexandre; Saraiva, Aurélia; Pereira, Ana; Xavier, Raquel. "Apicomplexa parasites of the European pilchard, Sardina pilchardus (Walbaum, 1792) from Portuguese waters". Paper presented in IJUP - Investigação Jovem da Universidade do Porto, 2020.
Journal article
  1. Pereira, Ana; Brown, Anya; Strobel, Davis; Soares, Marta C.; Xavier, Raquel; Apprill, Amy; Sikkel, Paul. "Effects of two common antibiotics on the skin microbiome of ornamental reef fishes: Implications for manipulative experiments in microbial dynamics". Aquaculture, Fish and Fisheries 4 3 (2024): http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aff2.162.
    10.1002/aff2.162
  2. Abderrahim S’Khifa; Ana Pereira; Mohamed Amine Samlali; Tahar Slimani; D. James Harris; Raquel Xavier. "Exploring the dietary niche of Atlantolacerta andreanskyi (Lacertidae) using DNA metabarcoding". Herpetozoa (2023): https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.36.e103198.
    10.3897/herpetozoa.36.e103198
  3. Vasconcelos, Diana S.; Harris, D. James; Damas-Moreira, Isabel; Pereira, Ana; Xavier, Raquel. "Factors shaping the gut microbiome of five species of lizards from different habitats". PeerJ 11 (2023): e15146. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.15146.
    10.7717/peerj.15146
  4. Ana Pereira; Marta C. Soares; Teresa Santos; Ana Poças; Marcos Pérez-Losada; Amy Apprill; Paul C. Sikkel; Raquel Xavier. "Reef Location and Client Diversity Influence the Skin Microbiome of the Caribbean Cleaner Goby Elacatinus evelynae". Microbial Ecology (2023): https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-022-01984-z.
    10.1007/s00248-022-01984-z
  5. Rosado, Daniela; Pérez-Losada, Marcos; Pereira, Ana; Severino, Ricardo; Xavier, Raquel. "Effects of aging on the skin and gill microbiota of farmed seabass and seabream". Animal Microbiome 3 1 (2021): https://doi.org/10.1186/s42523-020-00072-2.
    10.1186/s42523-020-00072-2
  6. Xavier, Raquel; Barroso, Ricardo; Cardoso, João; Cruz, Cristina; Pereira, Ana; Saraiva, Aurélia. "Phylogenetic Affinities and Infection Patterns of Goussia Infecting Sardina pilchardus from the NE Atlantic". Acta Parasitologica (2021): http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11686-020-00319-7.
    Published • 10.1007/s11686-020-00319-7
  7. Pereira, Ana; Samlali, Mohamed Amine; S’Khifa, Abderrahim; Slimani, Tahar; Harris, D James. "A pilot study on the use of DNA metabarcoding for diet analysis in a montane amphibian population from North Africa". African Journal of Herpetology 70 1 (2021): 68-74. https://doi.org/10.1080/21564574.2021.1921058.
    10.1080/21564574.2021.1921058
  8. Xavier, Raquel; Pereira, Ana; Pagan, Andres; Hendrick, Gina C.; Nicholson, Matthew D.; Rosado, Daniela; Soares, Marta C.; Pérez-Losada, Marcos; Sikkel, Paul C.. "The effects of environment and ontogeny on the skin microbiome of two Stegastes damselfishes (Pomacentridae) from the eastern Caribbean Sea". Marine Biology 167 7 (2020): http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00227-020-03717-7.
    Published • 10.1007/s00227-020-03717-7
  9. Xavier, Raquel; Cardoso, João; Barroso, Ricardo; Nogueira, Sara; Cruz, Cristina; Pereira, Ana; Saraiva, Aurélia. "Effects of Goussia infecting the blue whiting and phylogenetic placement of Goussia infecting marine fish off Northern Portugal". Parasitology Research 119 7 (2020): 2139-2147. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00436-020-06727-y.
    Published • 10.1007/s00436-020-06727-y
  10. Harris, D. James; Pereira, Ana; Perera, Ana. "A metabarcoding approach detects rare blood parasites in fossorial amphisbaenians". North-Western Journal of Zoology 16 1 (2020):
    Published
  11. Canada, Paula; Pereira, Ana; Nogueira, Natacha; Png-Gonzalez, Lydia; Andrade, Carlos; Xavier, Raquel. "Analysis of bacterial microbiome associated with nylon and copper nets in an aquaculture context". Aquaculture 516 (2020): 734540. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2019.734540.
    10.1016/j.aquaculture.2019.734540
  12. Ana Pereira; Raquel Xavier; Ana Perera; Daniele Salvi; D James Harris. "DNA metabarcoding to assess diet partitioning and feeding strategies in generalist vertebrate predators: a case study on three syntopic lacertid lizards from Morocco". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society (2019): https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blz061.
    10.1093/biolinnean/blz061
  13. Tomé, Beatriz; Pereira, Ana; Harris, D. James; Carretero, Miguel A.; Perera, Ana. "A paradise for parasites? Seven new haemogregarine species infecting lizards from the Canary Islands". Parasitology (2019): 1-12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0031182018002160.
    Published • 10.1017/s0031182018002160
  14. Tomé, Beatriz; Pereira, Ana; Jorge, Fátima; Carretero, Miguel A.; Harris, D. James; Perera, Ana. "Along for the ride or missing it altogether: exploring the host specificity and diversity of haemogregarines in the Canary Islands". Parasites & Vectors 11 1 (2018): http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13071-018-2760-5.
    Published • 10.1186/s13071-018-2760-5
  15. Pereira, Ana; Harris, D. James; Kunutu, Katlego D.; Luus-Powell, Wilmien J.; Halajian, Ali. "Screening for Hepatozoon parasites in gerbils and potential predators in South Africa". Journal of the South African Veterinary Association 88 (2017): http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/jsava.v88i0.1339.
    10.4102/jsava.v88i0.1339
  16. Rosado, Daniela; Harris, D. James; Perera, Ana; Jorge, Fátima; Tomé, Beatriz; Damas-Moreira, Isabel; Tavares, Isabel; et al. "Moroccan herpetofauna distribution updates including a DNA barcoding approach". Herpetozoa 28 3 (2016): 171-178.
    Published
Thesis / Dissertation
  1. Ana Isabel Antunes Pereira. "A metabarcoding approach to assess the diet of lacertid lizards from the High Atlas Mountains". Master, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10216/111453.