Dr. Joana Castro graduated in Biomedical Engineering from Minho University (December 2012). She performed her master's thesis in a Bacterial Vaginosis project. After concluding her master's thesis, she became a research fellow in the same project. In 2014, she was awarded a PhD Grant by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia and enrolled in a Doctoral Program in Biomedical Sciences at Abel Salazar Biomedical Sciences Institute (ICBAS). During her PhD, Joana explored the phenotypical differences between Gardnerella vaginalis isolates from healthy women and women with BV, in order to better understand the etiology of BV. She performed the work in collaboration with University of Minho and Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, USA. She finished her PhD on 28th November 2018. In addition, she became a member of Agência de Avaliação e Acreditação do Ensino Superior (A3ES), participating in diverse audits. From February 2019 to August 2021, she pursued her research in the bacterial vaginosis field, as a Junior Researcher in a funded FCT project entitled “Targeting bacterial vaginosis multispecies biofilms through a Thymbra capitata based therapy”, at University of Minho. In March 2022, she moved for the National Institute for Agrarian and Veterinarian Research I. P. (INIAV).