Professor Florina Ramirez Vives was born in the town of Chicomuselo in the state of Chiapas in 1954. In 1975, she came to Mexico City to study her undergraduate studies at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM), obtaining the degree of Industrial Biochemical Engineer at the Iztpalapa Campus.

In 1985, she joined the Biotechnology Department as an associate Professor teaching microbiology and microbial biochemistry course,s and since then, she has been part of the anaerobic digestion research group.

In 1992 and 1993, she specialized in anaerobic microbiology in the city of Marseille, France.

Since the 90's, she has participated in projects with the Mexican Petroleum Institute and with the anaerobic microbiology group of the IRD in Marseille, France, through the training of graduate students.

Since 2000, after graduating from her Ph.D., she has formed an important line of anaerobic microbiology at UAM and has directed and advised undergraduate and graduate students from UAM, Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and Technological Universities. Of her published articles with the highest number of citations, the isolation and part of the identification of microorganisms have been obtained in her laboratory under her advice.

She has participated as responsible for specific agreements with different companies (AirProducts, La Costeña, ADIDESA, among others) for the evaluation and assessment of their wastewater treatment plants.

In recent years, she has been working on anaerobic technology for its application in the treatment of municipal wastewater and municipal solid waste, reducing hydraulic and solids residence times as treatment alternatives. In 2017, an application was made to IMPI for a patent on the technology of joint treatment of municipal solid waste and municipal wastewater to obtain energy.

Her experience in microbiology, ecology, and anaerobic physiology, as well as in the treatment of urban water and solids by anaerobic digestion, is reflected in more than 20 indexed articles, extensive memories, and more than 20 graduate students of master's and doctorate.

This vast experience obtained in the field of anaerobic microbiology and physiology allows her to be one of the few researchers in the country quoted for the direction of graduate theses and the teaching of various refresher courses in different institutions both nationally and abroad.