Helena Abreu

What makes Helena Abreu a Global Shaker?

Helena Abreu is a co-founder and managing director of ALGAplus-Seaweed a seaweed production and commercialization firm based in Ílhavand their derivatives, production and commercialization Ltd – based in Ílhavo, Portugal. It is the first European company selling seaweed produced in an organic certified land-based IMTA system for the food and cosmetic international markets.

Abreu has been educated between Portugal, the USA and Chile, with a research background of more than 15 years in seaweed ecophysiology and cultivation.
Besides her general managing duties, Helena manages the external R&D activities of ALGAplus, interacting with scientific institutions, private companies as well as funding bodies. She is also responsible for liaising with ALGA+™ B2B customers.

Helena has supervised more than 20 BSc, master and Ph.D. students from several Portuguese and foreign universities. She has published 6 book chapters and 37 papers in indexed scientific journals, always related with seaweed ecology, ecophysiology, cultivation, IMTA, sustainable exploitation and seaweed applications in food, feed, HAVs and biomaterials: Aquaculture, Journal of Applied Phycology, Phycologia, European Journal of Phycology, Algal Research, Carbohydrate Polymers, Food Chemistry among others. The paper published in Aquaculture (2011), vol. 312, 77-87, one of the results of her Ph.D., is among the most cited articles in Aquaculture since 2011. Helena also reviews papers for several indexed scientific journals.

Helena collaborated as a researcher or SME partner in over 20 international projects and networks, aimed at fostering the sustainable exploitation of seaweed of commercial value, looking into harvesting, cultivation (namely in IMTA systems), applications and socio-economic impact in coastal communities.
In terms of dissemination, Helena has presented in more than 20 international conferences on marine sciences and phycology and is regularly called upon as a seweed expert from major news outlets and publications.

Helena was recentlyy elected as a member of the International Seaweed Association Council (ISAC) and participates in the International Society for Applied Phycology (ISAP), the Portuguese Association of Applied Algology (R&D and Industry), BlueBioAlliance (BlueBiotech), the Portuguese Association of Aquaculture Producers (APA) and the most recent Portuguese Association of Algae Producing Companies (PROALGA). She also participates in Portuguese and EU working groups relevant for the development of the seaweed sector.

Last updated: September 29, 2020

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