Marília Santos is an INL Staff Researcher in the Water Quality Research Group. Her research focused on developing biosensors for detecting water contaminants and engineered surfaces to control microorganism adhesion. She is experienced in optical and electrochemical biosensors, sample processing systems, microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip devices, integration and development of automated and portable monitoring systems, surface functionalization and characterization, and engineered surfaces and coatings for antibacterial adhesion and antifouling.

She holds a BSc in Chemistry (2007) and an MSc in Analytical Chemistry and Quality Control (2008) from the University of Aveiro (Portugal). She received her PhD in Nanosciences in 2014 from the University of Barcelona (Spain) and the Nanobioengineering group (IBEC), with an internship in the IMAGES laboratory (BIOMEM group) at the University of Perpignan (France). Her research was focused on developing multi-electrode impedimetric biosensors for the detection of pathogenic bacteria and mycotoxins. She worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the 3B's Research Group at the University of Minho (Portugal) in 2015, developing novel bioinspired antibacterial surfaces. She joined INL in 2016 as a research fellow to develop nanotechnology-based sensors and lab-on-a-chip devices for detecting toxins and bacteria, as well as innovative surfaces for controlling the adhesion of microorganisms.