Expertise: Yeast physiology, Genomics, Non-conventional yeasts, Wine yeasts
Short Bio:
Diogo Santos is a PhD student in Biotechnology and Biosciences at IST, developing his work at iBB in the field of wine yeasts. With a Master in Biological Engineering (2022) from IST, Diogo studies the molecular biology and physiology of Hanseniaspora yeasts, focusing in particular on their aroma production capacity and ethanol tolerance, and aiming to unravel the genomics behind these traits. Through his work, Diogo seeks to understand and expand Hanseniaspora’s role in the vinification process, with the goal of developing improved starter cultures for the wine industry, as well as aroma-producing strains of interest from a bioeconomic perspective.
Research Focus:
Exploration of non-conventional yeasts in a wine production context
SMARTWINE 2.0: Tailoring 2-in-1 new Yeast starter cultures for production of distinct “greenly-preserved” wines (2022.06777.PTDC)
Seixas, I., Santos, D., Vasconcelos, I., Mira, N.P., & Mendes-Ferreira, A. (2023). Insights into the transcriptional regulation of poorly characterized alcohol acetyltransferase-encoding genes (HgAATs) shed light into the production of acetate esters in the wine yeast Hanseniaspora guilliermondii. FEMS Yeast Research, 23. https://doi.org/10.1093/femsyr/foad021