João Varela is a founding member of CCMAR (CCMAR; ccmar.ualg.pt) and, together with Luísa Barreira, he leads the MarBiotech group at CCMAR, which focuses on Microalgae Biotechnology.  He has participated in more than 30 competitively funded projects and 2 research contracts. He is a member of the editorial boards of Algal Research, Marine Biotechnology and Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences. Recently, he became an Associate Professor in Biotechnology and is the current director of Marine Biology MSc program. He joined the DiBaN project to lead and implement a plan for improving microalgae that will be used to feed A. domesticus in terms of their bioactivities and nutritional value due to his past experience in developing novel microalgal strains with enhanced properties, such as a “yellow” and a “white” Chlorella and the isolation of microalgae strains rich in lipids and/or carotenoids.

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