Maria joined the IOI in 2023 as a DPhil candidate, after completing her undergraduate degree in Microbiology at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), and master’s degree in Clinical Microbiology  at Universitat de Barcelona (UB) in 2017. Maria joined Professor Walsh’s team in the BARNARDS I project at Cardiff in 2018. Her current research uses samples of antibiotic-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae recovered from hospital surfaces in South-East Asian hospitals as part of the BARNARDS II study. She is examining the bacterium’s ability to form biofilms on different materials that mimic hospital surfaces, as well as assessing the effectiveness of different disinfectants at eradicating these. By combining this information with data about the infection prevention and control (IPC) measures in the BARNARDS hospitals, Maria hopes to provide evidence to improve IPC guidelines to minimise colonisation of hopsital surfaces with antibiotic-resistant K. pneumoniae.