Leandro Teixeira Marinho graduated in Marine Biology in 2019 and concluded a Master’s degree in Marine and Coastal Systems in 2023 from the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of the Algarve (FCT-UAlg). The assessment of the effects of exposure to deep-sea sediments on the antioxidant defence system of the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis and the first effects on deep-sea organisms following in situ exposure to a sediment plume produced by a prototype polymetallic nodule collector (PATANIA II) were the main research focuses of the dissertation.

Since January 2023, Leandro is working as a Research fellow for project BiDiRisk - Biomarker discovery for risk assessment in the deep sea at CIMA-UAlg (https://www.cima.ualg.pt/pt/research/projects-in-execution/bidirisk) and also collaborates in two projects: DEEP REST -Conservation & restoration of deep-sea ecosystems in the context of deep-sea mining (https://deep-rest.ifremer.fr/ ); and UALG-BGR -Ecotoxicological study to assess environmental risks in the context of deep-sea mining, under the supervision of Dr. Nélia C. Mestre.

Keywords: Marine biology; Deep-sea mining; Ecotoxicology; Environmental Impacts