Current Functional Foods

Dr. Letizia Giampietro completed her Degree in Pharmacy in 2000 and received her Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry in 2003 from “Università G. d’Annunzio”, Chieti, Italy. Since 2006, she is an Assistant Professor and a teacher of Pharmaceutical Analysis. She obtained the "National Academic Qualification as Associate Professor". She is responsible for a medicinal chemistry synthesis laboratory, and she is the supervisor of undergraduates and Ph.D. students. She has been invited as a speaker and an organizing and scientific committee member at Medicinal Chemistry conferences. She has experience in medicinal chemistry, and her research focuses on the design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of small molecules active on PPARs and as inhibitors of NOS and aromatase. Lately, her research has been directed towards the synthesis of neuroprotective, antioxidant, and anticancer compounds.

Prof. Mahmoodally is an Associate Professor and the head of the Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Mauritius. He works in the field of health sciences, with a deep-rooted interest in biomedical and biopharmaceutical sciences, ethnopharmacology and documenting/validating the use of complementary & alternative medicine and traditional knowledge pertaining to the use of natural products/nutraceuticals medicinal herbs/spices/food plants/animal products/practices. Prof Mahmoodally has published around 300 articles and has also received the Young Educator’s Award- ASMCUE.

Gokhan Zengin PhD is working as Associate Professor in the Department of Biology, Science Faculty, Selcuk University, Konya, Turkey. His MSci thesis was on the genus Centaurea and PhD thesis was also on the subject of genus Asphodeline. He authored more than 400 original scientific papers published in peer reviewed international journals with impact factor (h-index WoS = 39). His current scientific interests include biological properties and chemical characterization of medicinal plants, especially Turkish as well as antioxidant capacity and inhibition of key enzymes linked to global health problems. He is a reviewer for several leading scientific journals.

Dr. Serap Cosansu Akdemir is a Full Professor in the Food Engineering Department, Engineering Faculty, Sakarya University, Turkey. Her research area has been focused on food microbiology. Recent research topics include growth and survival of foodborne pathogens in food matrix, growth and survival models, potentials of bioactive compounds for control of foodborne pathogens, effect of herbal extracts on thermal resistances of pathogens, etc. She participated in more than twenty research projects as project leader or researcher.

Dr. Wai Mun has accumulated substantive academic and industrial expertise in functional food/ nutraceutical product R&D, manufacture, and validation. He has authored more than 30 scientific articles in internationally peer-reviewed journals and has been involved in the design and development of numerous innovative functional food and nutraceutical products. Dr. Mun obtained his Ph.D. with distinction in Chemistry & Pharmacology from the University of Western Australia, and continued his postdoctoral training from the National University of Singapore. In 2013, he developed the Centre for Functional Food & Human Nutrition at Nanyang Polytechnic. He also established the Innovfood Pte Ltd to manufacture and retail innovative functional food and nutraceutical products – designed and developed by Innovprof. He currently holds an adjunct lecturer position, teaching food chemistry and nutritional science at Nanyang Polytechnic, Singapore.

Nohemí Gámez Meza is currently a professor and researcher at the University of Sonora and also a member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences. She has 50 articles published in the WoS that have been cited more than 774 times, with publication H-index 17 (WoS). She has been a part of the peer review committees. Professor Gámez has written several book chapters on edible oil processing. Her research interests include processing of marine and vegetable oils such as refining process, chemical characterization, omega-3 fatty acids; and natural products such as phenolic substances, bioactive compounds from grapes, peppers, coffee and nuts.

Dr. Pankaj Pathare is an Assistant Professor of Postharvest Technology at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. He has graduated with a B. Tech. degree in Agricultural Engineering from India and PhD in Process & Chemical Engineering from the University College Cork, Ireland. Before joining SQU, he worked as a researcher at Newcastle University, UK and Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Over the years, he gained expertise on food engineering & postharvest technology which includes quantification of Food agglomeration/granulation, process optimization, food drying and cooling, structural design for ventilated corrugated packaging; renewable energy in food processing for Sub-Saharan Africa and energy efficient production processes in the SME food & beverage industry based around Europe. The research results are well documented in 40 original scientific papers published in international peer-reviewed journals.

Péter Sipos, PhD, associate professor at the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, Institute of Nutrition, University of Debrecen, has been working in the scientific issues of cereal qualification and processing for nearly 20 years. He evaluated the possibilities of reducing the salt content of bakery products, worked on the development of biscuits with high antioxidant activity, pasta with high-protein content and similar research topics. Besides technological developments, he studied the rheological properties of food materials. Previously, he was the head of the Institute of Food Technology of University of Debrecen, and worked as the head of production and technical department of a milling, pasta manufacturing and vegetable oil production plant.

Tiziano Tuccinardi is an Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry in the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Pisa. Since 2016, he is also the Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at the Temple University’s College of Science and Technology, Philadelphia, PA, USA. He has published more than 170 papers with an H-index of 33 and more than 3400 citations, six patents and he is a scientific advisory board member of the Bio Future Medicine (BFM) start-up. His research interests include drug and lead discovery, with a focus on computer-assisted approaches and medicinal chemistry, including synthesis of small molecules, virtual and biomolecular screening.

Dr. Zaidi is currently working as Associate Professor of Pharmacology in the Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine (COM), King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), Jeddah, Saudi Arab. His area of interest mostly covers the pathogenesis and treatment of 1) H. pylori associated disorders like peptic ulcer/ gastric cancer, 2) ulcerative colitis, 3) colon cancer and 4) food allergy. Dr. Zaidi has published around 50 papers with more than 900 citations, one international patent and has been awarded with the best presentation and young investigator award in USA and Korea, respectively. Moreover, based on his academic excellence, he has been nominated twice for the Best Teacher Award for 2017-2019, under Annual President Award KSAU-HS. Last but not least, he was also awarded with Best Tutor Award in 2017-2018 by COM.

Dr. Mehmet Öztürk is Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University and the Assistant Manager of Food Analysis Application and Research Center at the same University. Dr. Öztürk received his bachelor’s degree from the Mediterranean University in 1998 and received his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry at the Faculty of Pharmacy of Istanbul University in 2008. He is one of the leading research experts in the area of Natural Products Chemistry and Food Chemistry, as well as in vitro biological activities of various molecules including sensitized compounds. He has published more than 120 papers and 4 books chapters in the area of chemical ingredients of natural products related to Food and Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Recently, he has been working on cytotoxic and immunomodulatory activity of Mushrooms.