Gaia Santini holds a BSc in Agricultural Sciences and Technologies (2013) and an MSc in Plant and Microbial Biotechnology (2017), both from Italian universities, achieving high honours. Her MSc thesis focused on the characterization of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. From 2013 to 2017, she collaborated with F&M in the isolation and characterization of microalgal and cyanobacterial strains. Currently, she is pursuing a PhD in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Florence, specialising in Microbiology.