Diana P. Pires is an Assistant Researcher (awarded contract from Individual Call to Scientific Employment Stimulus ) at the
Centre of Biological Engineering from University of Minho (UM), Braga, Portugal. She completed her Ph.D. degree in Biomedical
Engineering in 2016 (UM), which resulted from a collaboration (joint PhD grant) with Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT), US. Her research interests are focused on developing and applying phage-engineering tools to enhance the antibacterial
properties of phages, particularly targeting P. aeruginosa. In parallel, she is also dedicated to the implementation of phage
therapy in Portugal by assisting Portuguese patients with MDR infections with phage treatment. During her career, she already
worked as Visiting Researcher in world-renowned institutions, such as MIT (US), KU Leuven (Belgium) and Laval University (Canada).
Diana P. Pires published 30 papers in peer-reviewed international journals, 4 book chapters, and was involved in 19 oral and
25 poster communications at scientific events. She has an H-index of 16 and over 2300 citations (Scopus). Additionally, Diana
P. Pires is involved in the teaching activities of the Department of Biological Engineering of University of Minho. She also
supervised 1 Ph.D. student, 6 M.Sc. students and 2 research fellows, and is currently supervising/co-supervising 1 Ph.D. students
and 3 M.Sc. students. Furthermore, she was the Principal Investigator of 2 financed research projects and has been involved
in other 5 research projects as a Team member or research fellow. She has also participated in the organization of several
international scientific events. She is currently member of the Microbiology Spectrum (ASM) Editorial Board and was a member
of the mBio Junior Editorial Board (2022-2023). The excellence of her research in phage biotechnology field has already been
recognized both at national and international levels through the prestigious L'Óreal Portugal Medal of Honor for Women in
Science 2019 and the ESCMID-FEMS Award 2022.