Mirva (Maria-Varvara) Sarafidou (female, PhD candidate) is a Food Scientist and Human Nutritionist with a BSc from the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the Agricultural University of Athens (2021). Her PhD concerns the valorisation of the sugar industry by-products, the production of bacterial cellulose and other value-added co-products and its usage as packaging materials. Her research interests are focused on the waste valorization, biorefinery development, microbial fermentation, and applications of the biopolymers for the production of biogenic and biosynthetic food packaging.