Natural Bioactives & Nutraceuticals Team

Valorization of bioactives in food and industrial by-products: from extraction to characterization and evaluation of health-promoting effects.

Research Focus

The NB&N research team focuses on developing green extraction technologies with purification techniques to isolate bioactive compounds and pigments from natural sources, including by-products from the agri-food industry.

State-of-the-art analytical tools are combined with cell-based assays and human intervention studies to unveil the health benefits of the natural bioactives.

Areas of Activity

Process Technology

Development of green processes to isolate and (micro)formulate bioactive compounds and extracts from different natural sources and residues from agrifood industry.

Functionality

Design of bioassays and human intervention studies to evaluate the bioacessibility, bioavailability and bioactivity of natural bioactives.

Chemical Characterization

Implementation of chromatographic methodologies and rapid screening methods of analysis for the chemical characterization of bioactive compounds from natural sources.

Teresa Serra

Head of Natural Bioactives and Nutraceuticals Area

Current research interests focus on i) the design of innovative processes (extraction, purification and formulation) and (bio)analytical tools to support the development of functional foods and nutraceuticals, and ii) evaluation of health promoting effect of natural bioactives by combining state of art analytical tools with advanced cell-based assays.

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Maria do Rosário Bronze

Senior Scientific Advisor

Senior scientific advisor for the Natural Bioactives and Nutraceuticals area, I support our scientists developing R&D projects with academic and industry partners.

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