Magda Alexandra Pereira de Barros holds a BSc in Biology-Geology and a MSc in Biophysics and Bionanosystems from the University of Minho (Portugal) graduated in December 2018. During her Master's project she developed electrochemical biosensors to detect a specific allergen in tomato seeds at the University Complutense of Madrid.

Magda joined the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science in February 2019 to pursue a PhD in Forensic Chemistry. Her research project focuses on the synthesis and characterisation of new nanomaterials and nanohybrids (graphene oxide, quantum dots, nanoparticles, MIPs, and many others) to be integrated on novel colorimetric and fluorometric nanobiosensors formats for body fluids identification such as blood, saliva and semen. These nanobiosensors are aimed to be selective, sensitive, non-destructive, fast, and easy to handle in order to be applied as presumptive and confirmatory tests within a forensic investigation.