Professor Henryk Zielinski (Poland)

Prof. dr hab. Henryk Zieliński is the head of the Department of Food Chemistry and Biodynamics of the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Olsztyn,  Poland). His research group investigates the content of biologically active compounds in cereal raw materials, functional properties of cereals, pseudo-cereals (e.g., buckwheat), their milling products, and bakery products, including gluten-free ones. In 2013, Dr. Giménez-Bastida joined his laboratory to investigate the beneficial effects associated with the consumption of buckwheat-derived products. The results generated were published in an important number of scientific publications and presented in different international conferences. Dr. Giménez-Bastida and Prof. Zielinski have maintained their scientific (and personal) relation through these years. The publications of the PolyBiota project are the best example of this collaboration.

Professor Claus Schneider (Vanderbilt University)

 

Professor Claus Schneider is a researcher born in Germany. His degree in food chemistry was followed by a Ph.D. in the same discipline obtained in 1997 at the University of Wuerzburg (Germany). In 1998, Prof. Schneider moved to Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN) in the United States of America to work under the supervision of Prof. Alan Brash. He is now a professor of pharmacology that leads a research group focused on the study of newly discovered eicosanoids (named hemiketals) formed by the biosynthetic cross-over of the 5-lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase pathways. Over the past decade, he and his research group at Vanderbilt University have made discoveries regarding the formation and biological effects of hemiketal eicosanoids. In 2014, Dr. Giménez-Bastida joined Prof. Schneider´s laboratory in order to branch out his knowledge from food science to pharmacology. The discoveries published during the time Dr. Giménez-Bastida and Prof. Schneider worked together, along with the good personal relation they keep set the basis of an interesting collaboration that is reflected in some of the publications of the PolyBiota project.

Dr. Moisés Laparra Llopis

Dr Moisés Laparra Llopis performed his PhD in the Food Science and Nutrition Department (Faculty of Pharmacy) at the University of Valencia. Thanks to his hard work during this period, he was awarded with one of the prestigious Fullbright grants from the Ministry of Education and Science (Spain). This grant allowed Dr Laparra to work in the Food Science Department at Cornell University (NY, USA). During his stay at this University, he was an outstanding postodoctoral student publishing an important number of publications in high-impact factor journals. After this period, Dr Laparra worked in recognized institutions, including the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA-CSIC; Spain), Institute for Translational Immunology (Mainz, Germany) and the Institute of Animal and Food Research (IARFR) of the Polish Academy of Science (Olztyn, Poland). Now, as a leader of the Molecular Immunonutrition group (IMDEA Food, Madrid - Spain), he investigates how bioactive molecules (from food) exert their effects via modulation of the immune system.

In 2013, thanks to the EU-funded Refresh project, Dr. Giménez-Bastida and Dr. Laparra-Llopis met for the first time in Olsztyn. Since then, they have collaborated in an important number of studies. The PolyBiota project has not been an exception, but an exceptional opportunity to continue growing from a scientific point of view.

Academy of Sciences of the Region of Murcia Award

Thanks to the EU-funded PolyBiota project, high school students of the IES Domingo Valdivieso in Mazarrón (Murcia, Spain) participated in the IDIES project working on the "In vitro evaluation of the effect of dietary polyphenols against angiogenesis in human aortic endothelial cells" under the supervision of Dr. Giménez-Bastida.

For several weeks, the students learned a wide range of cellular and molecular techniques (find a detailed description here). The results were presented in the form of poster and oral presentation in the VIII IDIES Conference.

After the evaluation of the different research studies presented, the Committee of the Academy of Sciences of the Region of Murcia awarded our investigation as one of the most outstanding works performed.

The impact of this award is reflected by the article published by the local newspaper "Mazarrón hoy" (in Spanish) that gave details about the ceremony and the scientific activity carried out at CEBAS-CSIC.

 

2022 Annual International Conference and Exhibition (Turkey)

Turkey was the venue for the last Conference in Functional Foods, Nutraceuticals, Natural Health Products, and Dietary Supplements co-organized by the International Society For Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods (ISNFF) and Tubitak MAM (within the H2020 - PhenolAcTwin project).

Prestigious researchers from all around the world attended this international conference and its differents events. It was kicked off by outstanding plenary talks, including the oral presentations by Paul Kroon (Quadram Institute; Norwich, Uk) or Francisco A. Tomás Barberán (CEBAS-CSIC; Murcia, Spain).

The season 10 of the conference included 6 oral presentations (see book of abstracts for more information). Dr. Antonio González-Sarrías talked about the "in vitro anti-angiogenic activity of circulating metabolites" as one of the most relevant estudies published withih the PolyBiota project.

Beyond the scientific questions, the nice environment was an excellent opportunity to meet old friends and make new ones as well as to visit important historical and cultural attractions.

2022 - International Seminar (Lisbon)

NMS is an academic unit of Universidade NOVA de Lisboa that promotes scientific knowledge exchange between researchers from different disciplines. In July 2022, Dr. Ávila-Gálvez (postdoctoral student) from the group led by Claudia Nunes invited Dr. Giménez-Bastida to give a talk and share the results of the PolyBiota project.

The presentation focused on the role of VEGFR2 as the molecule by which circulating phenolic compounds modulate processes related to angiogenesis. After the 30-min presentation, we could discuss the results presented and other related questions.

Nice environment, good experience and, the most important, with outstanding scientists!

2022 - Science and Technology Week

The Science and Technology Week is an attractive event aimed at interacting with the general public to make them into active participants in activities related to science.

In 2022, the Seneca Foundation of the Región de Murcia organized the first post-COVID Science week and CEBAS-CSIC was there with numerous scientific activities: plant physiology, plant foods, food security, microorganisms... Dr. Giménez-Bastida did mark the days of the celebration of this event in the PolyBiota workplan as a must do activity.

Through different games, including crosswords and letter soups, Dr. Giménez-Bastida interacted with students and the general public discussing about plant foods, bioactive compounds and health. Practising citizien science is, with no doubts, one of the most rewarding activities for researchers.

See all of you next year in SECYT2023!!!

Highly Cited Papers from PolyBiota

The editors from Nutrients (ISSN: 2072-6643) contacted Dr. Giménez-Bastida to inform that papers published within the PolyBiota project are attracting the attention of researchers around the world. As a result, the publication "Caffeic acid Modulates Processes Associated with Intestinal Inflammation" has been selected as one of the Hot Topic Articles in Nutrients.

This recognition has been possible thanks to the good job of researchers from different institutions, including CEBAS-CSIC, Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research (Polish Academy of Science), University of Warmia & Mazury and IMDEA Food. The PolyBiota project invites you to read this interesting open access manuscript to see how our investigations contribute to give a step forward at the scientific level in the field of food science and technology.

Dr. Horacio Pérez Sánchez (UCAM)

Dr. Horacio Pérez Sánchez is an enthusiastic researcher of the Catholic University of Murcia - UCAM (Spain). His bachelor in chemistry, finished in 2000 at the University of Murcia, was the starting point of his scientific career. For a period of 6 years, Dr. Pérez Sánchez worked in the Department of Chemical Physic (University of Murcia) and investigated the "Orientational Dynamics and Electric birefringence of semiflexible macromolecules" that was the title of his PhD Thesis. As a postdoctoral researcher, he worked and collaborated with prestigious international institutions from Germany and Spain and was awarded with prestigious European grants, including the Marie Curie program. In 2013, Dr. Pérez-Sánchez became the principal investigator of the "Bioinformatics and High-Performance Computing" research group at the Catholic University of Murcia (UCAM). His research line is multidisciplinary and based on structural bioinformatics, high-performance computina as well as physical chemistry. This interesting multidisciplinary background was the main reason by which Dr. Giménez-Bastida contacted him to established a collaboration within the PolyBiota project. The recently published study "Physiologically relevant curcuminoids inhibit angiogenesis via VEGFR2 in human aortic endothelial cells" is the testament of a frutfill collaboration.