Andreia Leite

AL obtained her PhD degree in December 2011 from the Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto and continued her research at REQUIMTE-LAQV. In 2013, she was awarded with a FCT post-doc scholarship, which allowed her to develop important research work in the implementation of advanced synthetic methodologies based on green chemistry concepts. During this time, she also improved her knowledge in potentiometry and several spectroscopic techniques, which allowed her to collaborate in different projects and publish important research work. In the period of 2013 to 2019 AL research was mainly focused on the interface of coordination, medicinal, and environmental chemistry, with the main goal of designing new sensors that combine chelators and fluorophores or other spectroscopic probes with a specific response to different analytes. AL also focused on the use of different spectroscopic techniques to access the solution behavior of new compounds. AL collaborations allowed her to carry out the application of the new compounds in several areas and encouraged her to follow a new research line in the preparation of new biowaste based materials that allow the simultaneous detection, quantification, and removal of target analytes in different matrices, the repurpose of the materials as optical sensors and the preparation of new catalysts. In 2019, her project, FloWater, was considered for funding by FCT. In the last three years AL research has been focused on the preparation of new materials using biowastes as a resource namely rice husks, sugar press mud and bacterial cellulose from kombucha production. This experience allowed them to increase her network connections and establish collaborations with Portuguese companies. The realization that there is a need to properly manage agro-industrial wastes and incorporate them into company manufacturing processes, turning them into value-added products, led her to establish strategies that involves not only using the companies fundings but also apply to international funding opportunities together.