MIGUEL ANGEL
PRIETO LAGE

The research group has tackled various topics, maintaining Food Science as its main area. The group focus on finding molecules from natural sources (agro-industrial by-products, algae, plants, micoorganisms, among others), optimizing the extraction and evaluating their biological activities. The research areas can be grouped as follows: 1. Chemical Engineering: mathematical modeling (RSM) and extraction of bioactive compounds through green processes (HAE, MAE, UAE, PLE). 2. Analytical Chemistry: identification of phytochemicals using advanced chromatographic techniques (LC-MS/MS, GC/MS). 3. Molecular Biology: in vitro analysis of biological activities. 4. Food Science and Technology: nutritional composition and food formulations with bioactive extracts. The researcher has addressed several research topics across different fields, but always keeping Food Science as his major research area. The applicant has strongly contributed to the optimization, implementation, and development of various analytical techniques for different molecules, bioactivity evaluation of the mentioned natural matrices, including antioxidant, antimicrobial, and antitumor activities. His research line can be summarized in two main research sublines: 1. Food Chemistry and Food Technology, focusing on 1.a) characterization of bioactive compounds by analytical techniques; 1.b) development of novel natural food products enriched with bioactive compounds obtained from natural sources by emergent technologies and green sustainable processes. 2. Bioinformatics and Chemical Engineering, focusing on the mathematical modelling of complex biological responses for 2.a) assays, procedures, protocols, or revision of old systematic methods to improve the production, reproducibility, and assessment criteria; 2.b) to develop global solutions for an efficient description of biological processes.