Ana Vilas Boas has been a fellow research at Escola Superior de Biotecnologia da Universidade Católica since 2017. Her academic education includes a BSc in Biotechnology (2016) with an ERASMUS+ program in Mendel University in Brno and an MSc in Food Engineering (2020). Her scientific career started as a BSc fellow researcher in a national project (ESSENCE), where she works on the development of a coffee with a high level of antioxidant compounds. Currently, she works as a BSc fellow researcher in a national project (Nature Bioactive Food) and European project (FODIAC), intending to develop new functional ingredients through the valorization of nonconforming fruit and a dietary solution to tackle type 2 diabetes and cognitive dysfunction of the elderly, respectively. The participation in these projects has allowed her to acquire and improve scientific and practical skills related to microbiology analysis, chemical and nutritional characterization of food matrixes and by-products (e.g., HPLC and LC-ESI-QqTOF-HRMS), bioactivity analyses of bioactive molecules (antioxidant, antimicrobial, prebiotic, antidiabetic activity) and in development of new functional products while tackling the important topics of food waste and the circular economy. In the past years, she authored four publications in international journals, two book chapters, one oral conference communication, three conference abstracts and six conference posters.