Maria Papadatou pursued a BSc in Marine Sciences at the University of the Aegean (Greece). She holds a MSc in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation with studies at Ghent University (Belgium) and Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie (France). Her master thesis implemented at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen (Germany) dealt with the bacterial diversity associated with anthropogenic/plastic particles and neuston in the surface layer of the East Atlantic Ocean. Maria has obtained a PhD in Environmental Microbiology from the University of Portsmouth (United Kingdom). Her doctoral project focused on understanding marine biofilm (bacterial and microalgal) formation on artificial and antifouling surfaces, both toxic and environmentally benign coatings. She has authored four articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals (h-index: 3, citations: 378). Her main research spotlight is to decipher the diversity and activity of complex environmental microbial communities upon the application of molecular tools. More specifically, her research interests lie on (1) the ecosystem-level assessment of pesticides toxicity on soil microorganisms, (2) the response of microbial fouling (biofouling) on antifouling applications, (3) microbially mediated processes regulating sinking particulate organic matter and ocean carbon cycle, and (4) the effect of plastic pollutants on structuring aquatic microbial communities. Currently, she is a Postdoctoral fellow in Soil Microbial Ecology at the University of Thessaly (Greece) working on the assessment of pesticides toxicity on different microorganisms within the soil food-web (predator – prey).
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