Academic Qualification

Ph.D. in Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Minho, Portugal

Master in Clinical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

Bachelor in Biotechnological Engineering, University Lusófona of Humanities and Technologies, Lisbon, Portugal

Teaching Area

• Planetary Sciences

• Astrobiology

• Microbiology

• Biology

• Biotechnology

Research Area

• Astrobiology

• Planetary Protection

• Astromycology

• Microbiology

• Mycology

• Applied Mycology

• Altered gravity / Microgravity.

Professional Services

• Macau coordinator of the Portuguese Language Office of Astronomy for Development (PLOAD, https://pload.org/), developed by the Office of Astronomy for Development – International Astronomical Union (IAU, www.iau.org), since 2022.

• Member of the Climate Action Advisory Group (CAAG) from the Applied Microbiology International (AMI, https://appliedmicrobiology.org/), since 2023.

• Champion of the Microbiology Society (https://microbiologysociety.org/, Member since 2018), since 2024.

• Member of the Editorial Board of Microbiology Today (https://microbiologysociety.org/members-outreach-resources/microbiology-today.html, https://microbiologysociety.org/), since 2024.

• Part of the Analysis Working Groups (AWG) of the NASA Open Science Data Repository (OSDR) (https://awg.osdr.space/about), part of the subgroup OSDR Microbes AWG, since 2024.

Working Experience

• Aug. 2021 ~ present, Assistant Professor, State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences, MUST

• Aug. 2019 ~ Jul. 2021, Postdoctoral research fellow, State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences, MUST

• Feb. 2018 – Jun 2019, Associate Tutor, Biology Department, Edge Hill University, United Kingdom

• Aug. 2017 – Jun 2019, Junior research fellow, Biology Department, Edge Hill University, United Kingdom

• Jul. 2016- Aug 2017, Biology technician, Biology Department, Edge Hill University, United Kingdom

• Dec. 2014 – Jan 2015, Postdoctoral research fellow, Computational Bioscience Research Center (CBRC), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia

• Sep. 2010 – Nov. 2013, Curator and PhD student, Micoteca da Universidade do Minho (MUM), Center of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

• 2008-2009, researcher, Centre for Molecular Pathogenesis, University of Lisbon, Portugal

• 2006-2007, research assistant, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon, Portugal

Academic Publication (selected)

1. Wua, L.C., Simões, M.F., Xua, X.R. & Yin, W.-B. (2026) Microbial adaptation and biological effects in the spaceflight environment. Mycology (TMYC), Article ID: TMYC 2688594. https://doi.org/10.1080/21501203.2026.2688594. IF = 5.7, Q1

2. Cavini, A.P.S., Cardoso, M.F.M., Vieira, A.C., Simões, M.F., Almeida, A.F., Teixeira, M.L.A.N., Morales, S.A.V., Maiorano, A.E., Perna, R.F. & Ottoni. C.A. (2026) Use of demerara and VHP sugars combined with various nitrogen sources for enhanced fructosyltransferase production in Aspergillus oryzae IPT-301. Processes 2026, 14, 840: 1-18. DOI: 10.3390/pr14050840. IF = 3.4, Q3

3. Baxter, K.J., Sas, E., Clark, K.B., Walsh, M., Pradeep, N., Batool, A., Naney, C., Cruz, M.A.V., Kennerdale, N., Das, K., Shi, Z., Kelam, A., Verma, V., Simões, M.F., Neefs, D., Ravichandran, V., Tirumalai, M.R., Barcenilla, B.B., Macori, G., Gonzalez, E., Sikes, B., Karouia, F. and Brereton, N.J.B. (2026). Biofilms: From the cradle of life to life support. npjBiofilms and microbiomes. DOI: 10.1038/s41522-025-00875-8. IF = 9.2, Q1

4. He, Y., Simões M.F., de la Haba, R.R., Santos-Pereira, C., Sousa, J., Gomes, J.S., Silvério, S.C., Rodrigues, L.R. & Antunes, A. (2025). Fodinibius alkaliphilus sp. nov., a moderately halophilic and alkalophilic bacterium isolated from an inland saltern in central Portugal and reclassification of “Aliifodinibius salipaludis” as Fodinibius salipaludis comb. nov.. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 2025 DOI: 10.1099/ijsem.0.00684. IF = 2, Q1

5. Trotta, C., Alves, A.L., Cardoso, M., da Silva, C., Léo, P., de Castro, L., Domínguez, Y., Simões, M.F., & Ottoni, C.A. (2025). Marine mycosilver nanoparticles: Screening, evaluation of their antimicrobial properties and synthesis optimization. Sustainable Chemistry, 6(1), 10. DOI: 10.3390/suschem6010010. IF = 4.2, Q2

6. Wang, S.-Y., Zhang, Y-J., Chen, L.X., Pang, Y.-B., Herrera-Balandrano, D.D., Daly, P., Liu, F.-Q., Simões, M.F., Shi, X.-C. & Laborda, P.* (2025). Discovery of the dipicolinic acid synthase in the spoilage fungus Paecilomyces reveals its role in spore heat, salt, and alkaline pH resistance. Food Research International, 115994. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2025.115994. IF = 8, Q1

7. Zhang, J., Simões, M.F., Wen, Q., Shen, H., Zhang, X., Liu, B., Antunes, A. & Zhang, S.* (2024). Co–upcycling hazardous solid wastes of MSWI fly ash and secondary aluminum ash into iron and glass ceramic foams. Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 215 (April 2025): 108082.  DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2024.108082. IF = 10.9, Q1

8. Aguiar, A., Gama, L., Fornari, M., Neto, A., de Souza, R., Perna, R., Castro, L., Kovacs, S., Simões, M.F., Ferreira, N., Domínguez, Y., de Castro, L. & Ottoni, C.A.* (2024). Bioprospecting of mangrove filamentous fungi for the biodegradation of polyethylene microplastics. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 12, 1629. DOI: 10.3390/jmse12091629. IF = 2.8, Q2

9. Aguiar, A.P., Ottoni, C.A., Aquaroli, C.L.R., Mendes, E.C.V., Araújo, A.L.S., Simões, M.F. & Barbieri, E.* (2024). Mycogenic silver nanoparticles (from Penicillium citrinum IB-CLP11) – their antimicrobial activity and potential toxicity effects on freshwater organisms. Environmental Science-Nano, 11, 2229–2238. DOI: 10.1039/D4EN00002A. IF = 5.1, Q2

10. Wang, S.-Y., Jiang, Y.-H., Chen, X., Herrera-Balandrano, D.D., Simões, M.F., Shi, X.C.* & Laborda, P.* (2024). Biocontrol strategies for the management of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in Brassica species: A review. Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology, 130, 102239. DOI: 10.1016/j.pmpp.2024.102239. IF = 3.3, Q2

11. Zhang, J., Deng, J., He, Y., Wua, J., Simões, M.F., Liu, B., Li, Y., Zhang, S. & Antunes, A.* (2024). A review of biomineralization in healing concrete: Mechanism, biodiversity, and application. Science of the Total Environment, 170445. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170445. IF = 8, Q1

12. Zhang, J., Simões, M.F., Deng, J., Shi, Z., He, Y., Wen, Q., Shen, H., Antunes, A. & Zhang, S.* (2023) Isothermal foaming-nucleation-crystallization of glass ceramic foams with hierarchical pore structure: A sustainable approach for disposal of secondary aluminum ash. Journal of Materials Research and Technology-JMR&T, 26: 5638-5650. DOI: 10.1016/j.jmrt.2023.08.276. IF = 6.6, Q1

13. Simões, M.F.*, Cortesão, M., Azua-Bustos, A., Bai, F.-Y., Canini, F., Casadevall, A., Cassaro, A., Cordero, R.J.B., Fairén, A.G., González-Silva, C., Gunde-Cimerman, N., Koch, S., Liu, X.-Z., Onofri, S., Pacelli, C., Selbmann, L., Tesei, D., Waghmode, A., Wang, T., Zucconi, L. & Antunes, A.* (2023). The relevance of fungi in astrobiology research – Astromycology. Mycosphere, 14(1): 1190–1253. DOI: 10.5943/mycosphere/14/1/13. IF = 16.72, Q1

14. Wu, J.-H., McGenity, T.J., Rettberg, P., Simões, M.F., Li, W.-J. & Antunes, A.* (2022). The archaeal class Halobacteria and astrobiology: Knowledge gaps and research opportunities. Frontiers in Microbiology, 13: 1023625. DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1023625. IF = 4.5, Q1

15. Silva, C.A., Ribeiro, B.M., Trotta, C.V., Perina, F.C., Martins, R., Abessa, D.M.S., Barbieri, E., Simões, M.F. & Ottoni, C.A.* (2022). Effects of mycogenic silver nanoparticles on different trophic levels organisms. Chemosphere, 308(3):136540. DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.136540. IF = 8.8, Q1

16. Zhang, H.* & Simões, M.F. (2022). Species recognition of Aspergillus conidia using convolutional neural networks in scanning electron microscopy imagery. International Journal of Pharma Medicine and Biological Sciences, 11(1): 8-13. DOI: 10.18178/ijpmbs.11.1.8-13.

17. Méndez, A.*, Rivera-Valentín, E.G., Schulze-Makuch, D., Filiberto, J., Ramírez, R., Wood, T.E., Dávila, A., McKay, C., Ceballos, K.O., Jusino-Maldonado, M., Torres-Santiago, N., Heller, R., Byrne, P., Malaska, M.J., Nathan, E., Simões, M.F., Antunes, A., Martínez-Frías, J., Carone, L., Izenberg, N.R., Atri, D., Chitty, H.I.C., Nowajewski-Barra, P., Rivera-Hernández, F., Brown, C., Lynch, K., Catling, D., Zuluaga, J.I., Salazar, J.F., Chen, H., González, G., Jagadeesh, M.K. & Haqq-Misra, J. (2021). Habitability Models for Planetary Sciences. Astrobiology, 21, 8. DOI: 10.1089/ast.2020.2342. IF = 2.6, Q2

18. Simões, M.F.* & Antunes, A. (2021). Microbial pathogenicity in space. Pathogens, 10(4): 450. DOI: 10.3390/pathogens10040450. IF = 3.3, Q2

19. Simões, M.F.*, Ottoni, C.A. & Antunes, A. (2020). Mycogenic metal nanoparticles for the treatment of mycobacteriosis. Antibiotics, 9(9): 569. DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics9090569. IF = 4.6, Q1

20. Simões, M.F.*, Ottoni, C.A. & Antunes, A. (2020). Biogenic metal nanoparticles: a new approach to detect life on Mars? Life, 10(3), 28. DOI:10.3390/life10030028. IF = 3.2, Q2

21. DasSarma, P., Antunes, A., Simões, M.F. & DasSarma, S.* (2020). Earth’s Stratosphere and Microbial Life. Current Issues in Molecular Biology, 38:197-244. DOI: 10.21775/cimb.038.197. IF = 3, Q2

22. Simões, M.F., Maiorano, A.E., Santos, J.G., Peixoto, L., Souza, R.F.B., Neto, A.O., Brito, A.G. & Ottoni, C.A. (2019). Microbial fuel cell-induced production of fungal laccase to degrade the anthraquinone dye remazol brilliant blue R. Environmental Chemistry Letters, 17(3): 1413–1420. DOI: 10.1007/s10311-019-00876-y. IF = 20.4, Q1

23. Ottoni, C.A., Simões, M.F., Santos, J.G., Peixoto, L., Martins, C.R., Silva, B.P., Neto, A.O., Brito, A.G. & Maiorano, A.E. (2018). Application of microbial fuel cell technology for vinasse treatment and bioelectricity generation. Biotechnology Letters, 41(1):107-114. DOI: 10.1007/s10529-018-2624-2. IF = 2.3, Q3

24. Salhi, A., Essack, M., Radovanovic, A., Marchand, B., Bougouffa, S., Antunes, A., Simões, M.F., Lafi, F.F., Motwalli, O.A., Bokhari, A., Malas, T., Al Ahmoudi, S., Othum, G., Allam, I., Mineta, K., Gao, X., Hoehndorf, R., Archer, J.A.C., Gojobori, T. & Bajic, V.B. (2015). DESM: Portal for microbial knowledge exploration systems. Nucleic Acids Research gvk1147. DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkv1147. IF = 16.9, Q1

25. Simões, M.F., Antunes, A., Ottoni, C., Alam, I., Amini, M.S., Mokhtar, N., Archer, J.A.C. & Bajic, V.B. (2015). Soil and rhizosphere associated fungi in grey mangroves (Avicennia marina) from the Red Sea - a metagenomic approach. Genomics, Proteomics & Bioinformatics, 13(5): 310-320. DOI: 10.1016/j.gpb.2015.07.002. IF = 8.85, Q1

26. Antunes, A., Alam, I., Simões, M.F., Daniels, C., Siam, R., El-Dorry, H. & Bajic, V. B. (2015). First insights on the viral communities of the deep-sea anoxic brines of the Red Sea. Genomics, Proteomics & Bioinformatics 13(5): 304-309. DOI:10.1016/j.gpb.2015.06.004. IF = 8.85, Q1

27. Simões, M.F., Valente, E., Rodriguez-Gomez, M.J., Anes, E. & Constantino, L. (2009). Lipophilic POA amide and ester prodrugs. Stability, activation and activity against M. tuberculosis. European journal of pharmaceutical sciences, 37: 257-263. DOI: 10.1016/j.ejps.2009.02.012. IF = 4.9, Q1

28. More here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=sm5g6nsAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

Research Grants

• 2026.01 – 2029.01, Project: “Urgent life support research for upcoming space missions: a Brazil-Macau initiative on fungal survivability, adaptation, and resilience to extraterrestrial stressors – UrgeXstress”, (FDCT)

• 2024 – 2029, Project: “National Institute for Identification, Quantification, Dispersion, Environmental Risks and Mitigation of Pollution by Emerging Contaminants in Marine and Coastal Environments – CEMAR”, INCT 2024 call, Brazil’s National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development (FNDCT, CAPES, and the Ministry of Health).

• 2024.12 – 2026.12, Project: “Mitigating Outer-planetary Risks: Fungal Adaptation in Space exploration – M.O.R.SpaceEx”, (FDCT)

• 2024.07 – 2025.10, Project: Low-cost deep space small body detection scientific research of the National Key R&D Program of China led by Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of CAS (IAMCAS): “China-Portugal Belt and Road Joint Laboratory on Space & Sea Technology Advanced Research and new technologies for Space-Marine Interdisciplinary research

• 2024.06- 2024.08, Project: “Impact of climate change in the enzymatic profile of filamentous fungi”, Applied Microbiology International (AMI, https://appliedmicrobiology.org/)

• 2023 Project: “HyperSpacEx – Medical and Biotechnological potential of Fungi in Hypergravity for Space Exploration”, HyperGES fellowship, from the joint programme of United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and European Space Agency (ESA)

• 2023.01 – 2024.12, Project: “Simulated microGravity effects on Fungal Genomics – GFG”, with Turin University (Italy), Open Project (SKLPlanets, MUST)

• 2022.05 – 2023.05, Project: “MBF_SpacEx: Medical and Biotechnological potential of Fungi for Space Exploration”, FRG-MUST

• 2022.04 – 2022.05, Project: “MiBiT-CV – Microbiology and Biotechnology Training for Cabo Verde”. International Development Fund, (Microbiology Society)

Patents

• Constantino, L., Anes, E., Simões, M.F., Valente E. (2017). Vesicular formulations containing organic acid prodrugs, process for their preparation. National Invention Patent No.: 103495, ref. DP/01/2017/41417.

• Constantino, L., Anes, E., Simões, M.F., Valente E. (2013). Vesicular formulations containing organic acid prodrugs, process for their preparation. Euroasian Patent No.: 018246.

• Constantino, L., Anes, E., Simões, M.F., Valente E. (2007). Vesicular formulations containing organic acid prodrugs, process for their preparation, new prodrugs, pharmaceutical compositions and method for the treatment of tuberculosis and other mycobacteriosis. United States Patent WO/2007/142548, PCT No.: PCT/PT2007/000024.

• Constantino, L., Anes, E., Simões, M.F., Valente E. (2006). Vesicular formulations containing pro-drugs from the pyrazinoic acid or other organic acids, which allow the protection of the pro-drug from plasmatic degradation and processes for the elaboration of these formulations. National Invention Patent No.: 103495, ref. DP/01/2007/3349.

Professional Certification and Awards

• Biolog Identification System and proper handling, preservation (freeze drying & freezing technique) and quality control of microorganisms, organized by the Microbial Culture Collection Unit (UNiCC), Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Serdang, Malaysia, (2015.08 – 2015-09)

• ESCMID Postgraduate Technical Workshop – Aspergillosis: from Allergy to Invasive Disease, organized by EFISG, University Hospital of South Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom, (2011.05 – 2011.06).

• Training and Outreach Programme – Transnational Access Grants, EMbaRC – European Consortium of Microbial Resources Centres, organized by the CIRM-CF collection (International Centre of Microbial Resources dedicated to Filamentous Fungi), INRA (French National Institute for Agricultural Research), Marseille, France, (2011.01- 2011.02).

• Certified training on “Pedagogical Training of Trainers” at GesQaf, Braga, Portugal, (2010.11-2010.12)

Professional Society Membership

• Analysis Working Groups (AWG) of the NASA Open Science Data Repository (OSDR) (https://awg.osdr.space/about), part of the subgroup OSDR Microbes AWG since 2024.

• Applied Microbiology International (AMI, https://appliedmicrobiology.org/), former Society for Applied Microbiology (sfam), UK (Member No. 201328, since Jan 2018 until the present), and part of the society’s Publishing Subcommittee (PuS), operating under the Executive Committee, responsible for ensuring that matters relating to the publishing of the Society’s journals are carried out in accordance with the principles established and monitor the performance of individual journals. Also, member of the AMI Climate Action Advisory Group (since January 2023).

• Asian Network of Research Resource Centers (ANRRC, https://anrrc.info/; since 2015).

• Astrobiology Society of Asia-Pacific (ASAP, https://astrobiology.asia/; since Jun 2020).

• CMM-FAILSAFE Medical Mycology Network (https://cmm-failsafe.com/; since March 2026).

• Global Portuguese Scientists (www.gps.pt) (since Oct 2019).

• Macao Association for Scientific Cooperation between China and Portuguese Speaking Countries (ASCMAC, www.ascmac.org/; since April 2021).

• Microbiology Society, UK (https://microbiologysociety.org/, Member No. C012902, since March 2018 until the present), part of the Microbiology Society Sustainability Committee (from August 2021 until December 2024), part of the Microbiology Society’s Environmental Impact Working Group (until the end of 2024), and Champion of the society (since December 2024).

• Network of European Researchers in Biology and Medicine in China (NERBIMEC – https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/worldwide/china/network-european-researchers-biology-and-medicine-china; since July 2022).

• Origins of Life Early-career Network (OoLEN, www.oolen.org; since Jan 2021).

• Portuguese Language Office of Astronomy for Development (PLOAD, https://pload.org/), developed by the Office of Astronomy for Development – International Astronomical Union (IAU, www.iau.org). Member of and Macau coordinator (since March 2022).

• Portuguese Society of Biophysics (SPBf; www.spbf.pt/, since 2012).

• Portuguese Society of Microscopy (SPMicros, www.spmicros.com/en/home-2/, since 2012).

• Rede Lusófona de Microbiologia (Member  of the “Lusophone Network of Microbiology”, https://redelusofonamicrobiologia.wordpress.com), coordinator from Macau University of Science and Technology, since July 2024. Senior Member, IEEE