Cátia Carmo

I am Senior Scientist at the Natural Bioactives and Nutraceuticals Area, where I have been working since 2022. In this role I have built up experience in project management from national and international projects. My research areas are focused on promoting a circular bioeconomy through the valorisation of residual biomasses from the Portuguese industries towards the development of innovative and healthy plant-based foods.

For this purpose, my research focused on using green technologies for the fractionation/extraction (dry-fractionation, conventional extraction and supercritical CO2 extraction) and encapsulation (spray-drying and PGSS®) of food bioactives from natural sources, and further incorporation into food matrices (homogenization and extrusion technology), with a main focus on plant proteins and peptides. Special interests include analytical methodologies for the characterization of bioproducts, namely protein-enriched fractions, extracts enriched in bioactive compounds, encapsulated bioactive compounds and food products. I also have expertise in experimental design.

I hold an MSc in Food Technology from Wageningen University, The Netherlands (2010) and a PhD in Chemistry – Nanotechnology from ITQB NOVA, Portugal (2016). My past professional experience includes roles as PostDoc and Scientist at Nofima, Norway (2017-2021) and Scientist at the Research&Development Department of Sumol+Compal (2016-2017).