Karen Valverde Méndez is a biologist specializing in Biotechnology and holds a master’s degree in Biology with a focus on Genetics and Molecular Biology. She is a researcher and professor at the University of Costa Rica, with experience in molecular biology, virology, molecular diagnostics, and bioinformatics.
Her research career has included the study of plant viruses, insect vectors, and microbial communities associated with insects, as well as the application of molecular and metagenomic techniques. She has served as a principal investigator and co-investigator on projects involving plant virology, metagenomics of bacterial endosymbionts, phytoplasmas, and Xylella fastidiosa.
More recently, she has participated in projects involving wastewater-based epidemiological surveillance and the detection of viruses of public health importance. As part of LEGEMA, she is expanding her expertise to the study of aquatic environments, with a focus on characterizing microbial communities and antimicrobial resistance genes in tropical river ecosystems, integrating molecular, physicochemical, and environmental data.
