Ricardo Parreira holds a PhD degree in Genetics and Microbial physiology from the University of Paris (Orsay) and is currently holds a position as Associate Professor at the Medical Microbiology Unit at IHMT. He has long-term experience in zoonotic pathogens, combining targeted and metagenomic approaches with viral genomic characterization, molecular epidemiology, phylogeography, and the development of molecular diagnostic methods for circulating viruses. His research activity spans environmental and medical virology, viral genomics, and surveillance-oriented approaches, providing a strong framework for interpreting viral diversity, evolution, and transmission dynamics. In addition to viral-focused work, Ricardo Parreira has also been using many bioinformatics tools towards the study of hematophagous arthropod vector diversity and taxonomy, and more recently, also addressing pathogen detection/characterization in wastewaters.