​Dr. Ana Otero completed her Ph.D. in 1995 in the University of Santiago de Compostela with a thesis on continuous cultivation of marine microalgae for biotechnological applications. She is currently an  Associate Professor of Microbiology in the same University after being a postdoctoral fellowship of the European Union in Japan (National Institute for Basic Biology) and Italy (Universitá degli Studi di Firenze), working on molecular biology of microalgae and physiological aspects of the production of cyanobacterial polysaccharides respectively. Besides continuing the research on biotechnological applications of photosynthetic microorganisms, since 2006 her group is working on the development of alternatives to the use of antibiotics through the inhibition of bacterial communication (quorum quenching). The group has already patented two bacterial strains with high quorum quenching activity against acyl-homoserine-lactone signals. Otero has co-authored more than 60 papers in international journals, has supervised 10 PhD thesis and has participated in more than 15 research projects.