Marcela developed a passion for sustainable projects through her training as a Biotechnology Engineer and her subsequent Master’s degree in Environmental Studies, both of which she received at Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico. In 2014, she moved to the UK to complete a PhD at Oxford University, focusing on plant-bacteria interactions.

During her postdoctoral research at Oxford, she gained valuable innovation and business skills by participating in interdisciplinary programs such as the Innovation Champions at the Oxford University Innovation Department and Ideas 2 Impact at the Saïd Business School. She also contributed to the GrowCab project, an open-source growth cabinet designed with speed breeding in mind.

In 2019, Marcela moved to Aarhus to work as a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, contributing to the EU project Profaba. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor leading projects that bridge academia and industry. These include the Innoexplorer project, which focuses on customized biofertilizers for enhanced yield and earnings in high-protein crops, SPARK-Denmark, which aims to scale up nitrogen biosensors to enhance sustainable legume crop production; and the BII-Venture Lab program. Marcela is passionate about achieving sustainable agriculture by making research more innovative, open, and closely linked with industrial applications. She is currently applying these principles in her role as CEO of SymbioMatch.