Alicia PRIETO ORZANCO is a Senior Scientist at the Margarita Salas Biological Research Center of the CSIC. She holds a PhD in Biology from the Complutense University of Madrid. Her research has focused on the biotransformation of agro-industrial 
plant wastes mediated by lipases and fungal glycosyl- hydrolases. She is now researching the enzymatic synthesis of bioplastics, such as polylactic acid (PLA) from agro-industrial wastes and the degradation of conventional plastics and bioplastics. She has published more than 140 scientific articles and 6 patents, participated in 37 regional, national or EU projects and in technological support contracts for companies. In addition to her research activity, she has been Scientific Secretary of the Spanish Society of Microbiology since 2021, teaches in different doctoral and master's programs, supervises undergraduate, master's and doctoral students, and regularly participates in scientific dissemination activities and citizen science.