Marcos Quintela Baluja

Marcos Quintela Baluja is a Researcher at the University of Santiago de Compostela, affiliated with the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and the Department of Analytical Chemistry, Nutrition and Bromatology. His work focuses on food safety, microbiology, and veterinary medicine, with a particular emphasis on bacterial identification, antibiotic resistance, and mastitis diagnostics.

• PhD (2023) from University of Santiago de Compostela, with a thesis on omic technologies for food-altering/pathogenic bacteria
• Key research groups: LHICA-USC (Food Hygiene, Inspection and Control)

His research spans multiple subfields: antibiotic resistance gene dynamics in wastewater, virulence factors in Enterococci, phyloproteomic differentiation of mastitis-causing Streptococci, and application of MALDI-TOF MS in food microbiology. Collaborative work includes studies on urban pollution impacts on aquaculture and genetic discrimination of Bacillus species.

He has pioneered the use of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry for rapid bacterial identification in dairy products, demonstrating its superiority over traditional biochemical methods. His studies on camel milk probiotics and clonal education in non-specialized teaching further highlight his interdisciplinary contributions.