After graduating in Biological Sciences from the University of Granada in 1994, the Spanish scientist Maximino Manzanera began his doctoral studies at the Instituto de Investigaciones Agronómicas Estación Experimental del Zaidín, part of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC). There, he obtained his PhD on molecular bioremediation in 2000. From the end of his PhD until 2005, he held postdoctoral positions at several centres of the University of Cambridge, such as the Institute of Biotechnology and the Departments of Genetics, Chemistry and the Cambridge Medical Research Institute, where he received training on desiccation tolerance. In mid-2006, he received a grant that allowed him to join the Water Research Institute of the University of Granada as a researcher, and in July 2011, the Department of Microbiology. Dr. Manzanera collaborates with multiple international institutions through short stays at universities, including San Diego State University and the Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory. He has participated in more than 30 research projects and has published more than 50 papers on bioremediation, desiccation tolerance, and biofuels in high impact journals. In recent years Maximino launched VitaNtech Biotechnology, highlighted as one of the top 20 startups in the Spanish agri-biotech sector.

Lecture title:

“Beneficios y riesgos de combinar microorganismos como bioestimulantes de plantas”