Ricardo Louro awarded Fulbright Grant for biofilm research
Ricardo Louro, Principal Investigator and Associate Professor at ITQB NOVA, has been selected as one of the Portuguese Fulbright awardees for the 2025/26 academic year. He joins two other researchers from Universidade do Minho and Universidade do Porto in the category “grant for scholars and researchers with a PhD”.
With his Fulbright grant, Ricardo Louro will spend six months at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), working in the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering with Professor Dianne Newman. The goal is to develop a new method for monitoring the viability of bacterial biofilms, helping identify the conditions that limit their persistence.
“The project I will develop seeks to forge new interdisciplinary links between microbiology, inorganic biochemistry, and bioelectrochemistry,” he explains. “This research holds significant promise for advancing innovative solutions in clean energy technologies, as well as in the development of novel therapeutic strategies for combating persistent infections”, he concludes.
For the researcher, whose work focuses on the spectroscopy of metalloproteins and cellular bioenergetics, applied to investigate the molecular mechanisms of electricity production by bacteria, “receiving this Fulbright grant is a personal honor and a recognition of the research work that has been developed in my laboratory over the past two decades. It represents a unique opportunity to further consolidate and expand the scope of our scientific research.”
The Fulbright Programme, established in 1946, is active in over 150 countries. In Portugal, it is administered by the Fulbright Commission and has been supporting exchanges since 1960, providing opportunities for Portuguese and American academics to share knowledge and develop solutions to global challenges.
