Research lines: - Carotenoids and fat soluble vitamins: analysis, nutritional status and bioavailability in humans. - Lutein: intake, biomarkers of status and visual function.

Identification and genetic improvement of bacteria, enzymes and metabolites to improve food elaboration processes

The Group ‘Innovative Processes and Food Quality’ is characterized by its experience in the use of innovative technologies for food processing. Currently, the research team is made up of two Tenured Scientists with complementary training: a PhD in Agronomical Engineering (Laura Otero) who is expert in characterization, modeling, and simulation of processes and a PhD in Pharmacy (Miriam Pérez Mateos) who is expert in food quality and development of restructured products and functional foods.

The group is made up of 2 research professors, 1 research scientist, 3 senior scientists, 1 senior technician who participates in departmental tasks, 1 part-time laboratory technician (50%), and trainee staff (pre-doctoral FPI 2018, trainees, TFM, TFG, 2 contracted Youth Guarantee 2020 CAM, mobility, etc.). Sharing the scarce technical staff available between a large number of researchers from 2 groups is a great WEAKNESS, and makes the work difficult. The scientific research activities are related to: Valorisation of waste to obtain functional and bioactive materials.

Activity related with the quality and safety of fishery and aquaculture products. At present the main objective is centred a) in the design and development of strategies to reduce the risk of parasites present in seafood in terms of their viability and allergenicity, and b) in the development of methods to authenticate the treatments given to the fish to reduce this risk, or in the detection of fraude.

The Meat and Meat Products group engages essentially in research on both basic/applied science and technological applications designed to improve the quality and safety of meat and meat products, and also on the development of healthier meat products.

The research group deals with the design, preparation and evaluation of biocatalysts, focused on carboligases, and molecules active as modulators of biological activity (MABs). The design is addressed by computational models of the biocatalyst-subtrate complexes or in general protein- ligand complexes with biologically relevant molecules of interest.

The main scientific activity of this group is centered in the study of lipid structures of membranes and coloidal systems that are fundamental for biological processes. To this end, several strategies are being used such as small-angle (SAXS) and wide-angle (WACS) X-ray diffraction, sincroton and electronic microscopy. Based in this basic principles our group specialized in two main research lines: In one side the phisico-chemical study of aggregated systems of biological interest that are basically formed by lipids.

Research in the group is devoted to the self-assembly properties of amphiphilic (surfactant) molecules and the application of those self-assemblies (micelles, liquid crystals, vesicles) and related colloidal systems (emulsions, microemulsions) in the synthesis of advanced nanostructured materials and for the design of tailor-made formulations in various technological applications.

The Nanobiotechnology for Diagnostics group (Nb4D) is a consolidated investigation group, recognised by the Catalan government (2014SGR1484), and also a member of CIBER-BBN (Biomedical Research Networking center in Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine). It is made up of four research staff (1 Professor of Investigation, 1 Tenured Scientist, 1 Superior Specialised Technician and 1 CIBER-BBN Investigator), along with a variable number (approx. 10) of postdoctoral and predoctoral investigators.