Portuguese Microbiology and Biotechnology societies recognise the impact of both scientists in their respective fields
Researchers Nelson Lima and José António Teixeira, from the School of Engineering’s Centre of Biological Engineering (CEB), were honoured by the Portuguese Society of Microbiology and the Portuguese Society of Biotechnology for their significant contributions to these fields.
The scientists received the Nicolau van Uden Award and the Júlio Maggiolly Novais Award, respectively, at the closing of the “Microbiotec’25” congress, held in Ponta Delgada, in the Azores. The awards highlight the unique careers of Portuguese researchers in microbiology and biotechnology every two years, namely their scientific influence, level of internationalisation and impact on the training of new generations.
Nelson Lima is 67 years old and lives in Braga. He is the first Portuguese to chair the World Federation for Culture Collections (WFCC), which preserves 4.5 million microorganisms in 884 public collections in 81 countries. He also heads the national centre for Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure (MIRRI-ERIC), the UMinho Microbial Collection, and has directed the European Organisation for Culture Collections. He holds a PhD in Engineering Sciences – Biotechnology from UMinho, where he has been teaching since 1988 and is a full professor and researcher at CEB and the associated Labbels laboratory. In Brazil, he has been a visiting professor at several federal universities, such as the University of Pernambuco, from which he holds an honorary doctorate. He has more than 400 publications, 650 conference papers and 59 dissertation and thesis supervisions to his name, and is also a reviewer for around 50 international journals, as well as research support projects and agencies, such as the European Commission, Brazil, Belgium and Chile.
José António Teixeira is 68 years old and lives in Porto. He is among the top 2% of the most cited scientists in the world and is a leading figure in food and industrial biotechnology, bioprocess development and the training of specialists in this field. PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Porto, he is a professor at the School of Engineering of UMinho and a researcher at CEB and Labbels. He led the Portuguese Society of Biotechnology, CEB, the Department of Biological Engineering at UMinho and is the Portuguese hub of the Iberian Cross-Border Biotechnology Cluster. He has coordinated 40 national and European research projects and is the (co)author of more than 800 scientific articles and six books. He is on the editorial board of several international journals and has received the FCT Excellence Award and Seed of Science Award, among others.
The Júlio Maggiolly Novais Award was presented for the first time in 2021, precisely to Manuel Mota, professor emeritus at the UMinho School of Engineering, who, interestingly, supervised the doctoral theses of Nelson Lima and José A. Teixeira. The Nicolau van Uden Award, also named after a notable scientist, was created in 2011, with the second edition (2013) highlighting Cecília Leão, professor emeritus at the UMinho School of Medicine.
