Jesús Simal-Gandara

Resumen del CV del Prof Dr Jesús Simal-Gándara:

1.- Méritos:

-Full Prof. in Food Sci. at the Univ. of Vigo (Spain) since 1999.
-Leader of a research group of excellence at Galicia (NW Spain) since 2006 till now.
-Leader of CIA3 (Environmental, Agricultural and Food Research Centre) formed by 10 research groups from different fields (botany, plant physiology, soil science and agricultural chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biology, nutrition and food science, biotechnology, food technology, food rheology, chemical engineering, and colloidal chemistry) at Univ. of Vigo since 2008 till 2018.
-Head of the Department of Analytical Chemistry and Food Science at the Univ. of Vigo between 2013 and 2018.
-Vice-Chancellor for Internationalization in 2018.

2.- Actividades:

His research group is specialized in chromatographic separations (GC-MS and LC-MS) and molecular biology and proteomics. His group investigate the distribution of agricultural and environmental organic chemical contaminants in the food production chain, and how improving the sensory and functional quality of food, with an eye on the food chain globally, integrating environment, agriculture and food with nutrition and public health issues. His focus today is on the study of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) from the point of view of public health (epidemiology, toxicity of mixtures, metabolites ...), and on the study of secondary metabolites in plant foods, exploring the molecular mechanisms that explain their activity, to develop new nutraceuticals, functional foods and cosmetics.

He performed research stays at the Université de Paris-Sud (Paris, France), University of Delaware (Newark, USA), Fraunhofer-Institut für Lebensmitteltechnologie und Verpackung (Munich, Germany), Central Science Laboratory (Norwich and York, UK), TNO-Voeding (Zeist, Netherlands), Packaging Industries Research Association (Leatherhead, UK) and The Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology (Gothenburg, Sweden).

3.- Producción científica y tecnológica:

2018 & 2020 – Highly Cited Researcher & 14200 citations in 470 papers= 30 per paper; h-index= 63):
-Researcher ID: http://www.researcherid.com/rid/A-9533-2009
-Scopus: http://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?origin=resultslist&authorId=7004118440&zone=
-Orcid: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9215-9737
-Google scholar: http://scholar.google.es/citations?user=rmeHFXIAAAAJ&hl=es&oi=ao
-Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jesus_Simal-Gandara
-Mendeley: https://www.mendeley.com/profiles/jesus-simal-gandara/

4.- Resultados:

His research in the field of migration of components from plastic packaging into food constitutes a fundamental milestone for the scientific community to better understand the chemical-physical interactions between packaging and food. Some of his contributions are today a mandatory reference worldwide for all researchers working in this field:
1.-Development of analytical methodology for the control of materials used in contact with food.
2.-Study of the migration kinetics of components from the container to food, as well as the interaction of migrants with food simulants.
3.-Evaluation of food packaging and food products in the market.
4.-Calculation of diffusion and distribution coefficients of model pollutants in recycled plastic and discussion about the influence of virgin functional barriers in the control of migration.
5.-Studies of reused and recycled plastics for food contact.
6.-Optimization of the manufacturing conditions for packaging materials in such a way as to guarantee compliance with the legal limits of migration levels.
7.-Recommendations for choosing the most appropriate container for different types of food with different characteristics of pH and fat content.
8.-Publication of critical reviews, and opinion reviews, with important implications for the regulatory development in the field of food packaging.

In addition, it launched two new lines of research. One of them on the distribution of agricultural and environmental organic chemical pollutants in the food production chain, focused on achieving sustainable food production, paying attention both to the destination of pollutants (pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons...) and its effects on soil quality and agricultural yields, as well as on the bioaccumulation of pollutants and their metabolites in the agri-food production chain and the potential effect on human health as a result of the presence of pollutants in food. Another of his lines of research is on improving the sensory and functional quality of food. In this, the focus is on the development of new foods by recovering functional ingredients from by-products, with the ultimate goal of developing safe foods with high sensory, nutritional and functional quality, not only guaranteeing the quality of the food but also the protection of consumers from the risks associated with new foods. To this end, its objective is to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in the formation and transformation of bioactive compounds and to contribute to the aroma and flavor of food.

5.- Reconocimientos:

-Member of the Scientific Committee of the Spanish Agency for Consumers, Food Safety and Nutrition – AECOSAN (2013-2016).
-Elected Academic of Number of the Royal Academy of Pharmacy of Galicia (January 2020).
-President of the International Association of Dietary Nutrition and Safety (IADNS) since 2020.
-Galicia Research Medal 2020 Antonio Casares Rodríguez (Chemistry and Geology).