Ana Maria da Silva Paulo works as a post-doc at Escola Superior de Biotecnologia from Universidade Católica Portuguesa. The main interests are related to waste and wastewater treatment, using aerobic and anaerobic processes. Previous research with bioreactors and bacterial isolates has been essential for understanding the complex relationships occurring between microbial groups responsible for the metabolic processes behind the performance of each type of biological treatment. She has an Environmental Engineering degree from the University of Aveiro and a master´s degree on Environmental Management from the University of Minho. Her PhD degree on Environmental Microbiology was obtained at the University of Wageningen (The Netherlands), also supervised by the University of Valladolid (Spain).