Our Founder
Patrícia Dörr de Quadros, PhD
Almost two decades of primary research and product development across Brazil, Canada, and the United States.
Patrícia Dörr de Quadros is a soil scientist working across agricultural systems, microbiology, and genomics.
Her research addresses how the layers of an agricultural system act on one another: soil, plant, microbes, environment and weather, human management, and time. None of these is interpretable alone. What a soil is doing at any moment is the accumulated result of the rest, which leads to the questions her work turns on: how can we read the system, and detect what is failing and what can be improved? Which factors can we manage to improve soil health or restore soil function? What improves food production, crop productivity, and farm sustainability and efficiency?
Quadros Bio grew out of that work, built around the soil as the object, because the soil is where the other layers register their combined effect, and because it is the layer a grower can afford to measure.
Experience
Eight areas of documented work.
- →Articling Agrologist and active member of the Ontario Institute of Agrologists
- →PhD-level expertise in soil microbiology and plant-microbe-environment interactions
- →Native Brazilian with direct access to Embrapa researchers and Brazilian federal university innovation networks
- →Worked from initial R&D through commercialization at three biotech startups
- →Directly led the formulation, validation, and commercial launch of high-performing turfgrass and nitrogen-fixing inoculants
- →Specialist in plant growth promoting bacteria, from isolation to biochemical characterization and genomic analysis
- →Deep, hands-on experience securing CFIA, EPA/USDA, ECOCERT, and Brazilian SISGEN approvals
- →Integrates custom machine learning algorithms with environmental and microbiome data
Track Record
Specific work, named funders, real field outcomes.
References are available on request.
Prior R&D Leadership · 2022–2025
Head of Science, Canadian biological-input company
Before founding Quadros Bio Inc., Dr. de Quadros served as Head of Science of a Canadian biological-input company developing PGPR-based inoculants for agriculture and controlled-environment production. The following applied R&D projects were designed, executed, and delivered under her direct scientific leadership.
Turfgrass Inoculant Development
Designed, tested, and validated a microbial inoculant specifically for turfgrass of golf courses. Formulation was refined through multiple iteration cycles and positioned for commercial launch under that company's product brand.
Regulatory Experience
CFIA, EPA, USDA, MAPA, SisGen, ECOCERT.
Registration work carried out directly, across four jurisdictions, from dossier preparation to approval.
- CFIA and U.S. EPA/USDA frameworks: Fertilizer and supplement registration under the Fertilizers Act, including Schedule II biological inputs.
- Regulatory documentation preparation: Literature review, biosafety requirements, statistical analysis, efficacy test document production.
- ECOCERT certification: Hands-on experience securing organic certification for commercial microbial products.
- Brazilian MAPA and SisGen: Direct familiarity with the Brazilian inoculant registration system, enabling realistic assessment of Brazilian technology for North American market entry.
Academic Research Leadership · 2017–2022
University of Toronto Scarborough
As a Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Associate at the University of Toronto Scarborough, Dr. de Quadros led a programme of industry-funded (Weston Foundation) applied research at the intersection of microbial ecology, food science, and controlled-environment agriculture. This work produced peer-reviewed publications and industry partnerships in microbial inoculant technology.
Altering Plant Microbiome for Flavour and Nutrition · George Weston Challenge · Seeding Food Innovation
Led a four-phase industry-funded research programme in partnership with George Weston Ltd. and Loblaws, investigating whether targeted microbial inoculants could improve the flavour, aroma, and nutritional quality of hydroponically grown crops. The programme involved screening of 12+ bacterial strains and consortia across basil, mint, and bell pepper; full genomic sequencing and biosynthetic gene cluster analysis of top-performing strains; GC-MS flavour compound profiling; total polyphenol quantification; and multi-phase formulation development including liquid, gel, powder, and seed coating formats. Improvements were recorded in chlorophyll content, root and aerial biomass, and the flavour compounds eugenol, eucalyptol and cedrelanol. The programme concluded with a patent application milestone and established the scientific basis for commercializing endophyte-based inoculants in controlled-environment agriculture.
Teaching & Academic Leadership
Lecturer · UofT Scarborough · University of Waterloo · UFRGS
Dr. de Quadros has held teaching appointments at three universities across Brazil and Canada, developing and delivering graduate and undergraduate courses in microbial ecology, environmental microbiology, soil biochemistry, and genetics of microorganisms.
At the University of Toronto Scarborough (2020–2022), Dr. de Quadros developed and taught Environmental Microbiology (EESC 30H3, undergraduate) and Microorganisms and the Environment (EES1104, graduate), including full syllabus development, lab manual authorship, and transition to inclusive online delivery during COVID-19. At the University of Waterloo (2022), she taught Genetics of Microorganisms (BIOL 431), a senior undergraduate course integrating microbial genomics and functional ecology.
Earlier, as Collaborator Professor at UFRGS (2013–2016), she led curriculum development and laboratory design for courses in Microbiology, Industrial and Public Waste Treatment, and Soil Biochemistry, and supervised graduate students. She also delivered a 160-hour no-tillage transition training programme for farmers in Angola (Huambo and Kwanza Sul provinces), combining soil restoration science with practical field implementation.
Scientific Foundations · 2011–2020
PhD Research & Postdoctoral Work
Soil, plant, and airborne microbiomes · Recuperation of degraded soils
Over a decade of original research across soil science, microbial ecology, nitrogen fixation, and bioremediation, conducted across universities in Brazil, the United States, and Canada. During that period she worked with Rothamsted Research (England), the University of Toronto, and the Everglades Research and Education Center / University of Florida) that brought geographical and cultural discernment. She worked with multidisciplinary teams throughout.
Dr. de Quadros completed her PhD in Soil Science, Biochemistry and Microbiology at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil (2009–2013), with a visiting PhD period at the University of Florida (2011–2013). Her doctoral research investigated biological nitrogen fixation by Azospirillum spp. in tropical no-tillage maize systems, the influence of legume cover crops on soil microbial diversity and fertility, and the ecology of soil microbial communities under petroleum hydrocarbon contamination and bioremediation strategies. This work established her command of the full soil-plant-microbe-environment system, from molecular community analysis to field-scale agronomic outcomes.
A subsequent postdoctoral fellowship at UFRGS (2013–2016) extended this work into coal mining impacts on soil microbial biomass and diversity, oily sludge biostimulation in landfarming systems, and microbial fuel biodeterioration, producing a series of highly cited publications in Applied Soil Ecology, International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation, and Frontiers in Microbiology.
Soil science · Regenerative agriculture · Sub-Saharan Africa
Terra do Futuro / Angola: Regenerative Agriculture in African Soils (2013)
Scientific lead on a field programme evaluating no-tillage strategies for the recuperation of degraded agricultural land. Work included teaching students and farmers on Soil Genesis and Soil Biological, Chemical, and Mechanical Quality through theoretical and practical classes, 8 hours per day for one month.
Past engagements can be discussed in more detail under NDA.