Gemma Reguera has a broad background in applied and environmental microbiology, with research projects spanning human, terrestrial and anthropogenic environments. She is particularly interested in interdisciplinary approaches that harness microbial components, microorganisms and microbiomes as technologies that prevent human exposure to contaminants, pollutants and pathogens. She holds a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and received a postdoctoral fellowship from Spain’s Ministry of Science to work on the ecology of infectious diseases (with Roberto Kolter, Harvard Medical School) and metal cycling (with Derek Lovley, University of Massachusetts-Amherst).

Since joining Michigan State University in 2006, she has led seminal studies to describe the electric nature of metal-reducing microbes and apply this knowledge to develop sustainable technologies for bioremediation, nanotechnology and bioenergy applications. These studies have provided new paradigms in biological electron transfer and have established electromicrobiology as a new subfield in microbiology. She has also been recognized for her applied research and efforts to bridge the divide between academia and industry. She was elected to fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology in 2019 and appointed in 2021 as Editor in Chief of Applied and Environmental Microbiology, one of the oldest and most recognizable scientific journals of the American Society for Microbiology. She is also known for her advocacy and initiatives to promote the full participation and advancement of women in the microbial sciences, efforts that were recognized in 2022 with the ASM Alice C. Evans Award for Advancement of Women from the American Society of Microbiology.