Dr Alejandro Garrido-Maestu holds a Diploma in Biology (2006) and a Master's in Methodologies and Applications in Life Sciences (2010) from the University of Vigo, where he also obtained his Ph.D. (2013). He started his postdoctoral training at the Emerging Pathogens Institute, working on the synthesis and evaluation of chitosan nanoparticles for the control of E. coli O157 in cattle. He joined the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory in July 2015 as a Marie Curie COFUND Fellow, and at present, he is a staff researcher within the Food Quality and Safety Group. He is interested in developing and applying molecular methods for the rapid detection and quantification of microbial pathogens, with broad expertise in sample preparation and nucleic acid extraction. To this end, he works with DNA amplification techniques such as PCR/ qPCR, LAMP or RPA, and long-read nanopore sequencing.