Bioactive Lipids

Manuela Pintado is Associate Professor of the College of Biotechnology of the Portuguese Catholic University (ESB-UCP), Associate Director of ESB UCP and the director of CBQF (Chemistry and Biotechnology Center – State Associate Laboratory), an ESB UCP research unit and Associate Laboratory. Her research work is focused on functional ingredients/foods (particularly lipids, peptides, and polyphenols), and by-products valorization thought the development of new functional products. Manuela Machado has a bachelor’s degree in food science and a master’s degree in biotechnology and Food Quality. From June 2014 and December 2018, she worked as a research fellow in some research projects focused on food valorization and functional food, particularly the incorporation of bioactive lipids in food matrices. She is currently a Ph.D. student in the Food Science and Technology and Nutrition Program. She is developing her Ph.D. thesis in CBQF ESB-UCP under the supervision of Professor. Manuela Pintado, Professor Ana Gomes, and Ph.D. Luís Alcalá. Her Ph.D. project is focused on technological feasibility in terms of thermal stability and shelf-life of novel lipid-based anti-obesity functional dairy products. Ana Maria Gomes is Associate Professor at Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Escola Superior de Biotecnologia (ESB-UCP); she is currently member of the Directive Board of the Research Center, CBQF, and member (Vice-President) of the Management Board of Integralar - Knowledge division (PortugalFoods) in representation of ESB-UCP. She completed her degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of Coimbra in 1990, and her PhD degree in Biotechnology (Food Science and Technology) at ESB-UCP in 1999. She is leading the Nutrition and Health Lab at CBQF, where research targets advances in the areas of Food Added-Value and Sustainability, Nutraceutical ingredients (lipids, fibres and polyphenols) and functional foods (marine, dairy, legume and cereal-based), Micro- or nanoencapsulation delivery systems, and Microbiome and Health. She is actively engaged in national and international collaborative research activities. Ana Sofia Salsinha has a Bachelor degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology and a Master degree in Biotechnology. From July 2017 to December 2018 she worked as a Research Fellow in CBQF, ESB-UCP, in a project regarding the microbial production of Conjugated Linoleic Acid isomers. She is currently a PhD student in the Food Science and Technology and Nutrition Program. She’s developing her PhD thesis in CBQF, ESB-UCP, under the supervision of Dr. Manuela Pintado and Dr. Luís Alcalá and at the Glial Cell Group at i3S-IBMC under the supervision of Dr. João Relvas. Her PhD project aims to study the role of a western-pattern diet, namely saturated fatty acids, on hypothalamus inflammation and the potential anti-inflammatory effect of omega-3 and conjugated fatty acids enriched oils. Luis Miguel Rodriguez-Alcala developed his professional research career in the Spanish Research Council (CSIC; Madrid, Spain) from 2004 to 2013 and Catholic University of Portugal (UCP-CBQF; Porto, Portugal) from 2014 to present. I have been also invited researcher at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Madrid, Spain; 2010-2018) and Universidad Bernardo O´Higgins (Chile; 2016-2018). During all these years, I have collaborated with several companies in the characterization, isolation and purification of bioactive lipids for their utilization in foods where stability, absorption and systemic effects were monitored. Other works aimed to characterize lipid biochemistry imbalance associated with metabolic diseases, aging or environmental contaminants both in animals and humans. Currently, I am Senior research, team leader of lipidomics studies at Alchemy project involved in valorization of fermentation coproducts through downstream processing of lipids.

1. Bioactive lipids: Chemistry, biochemistry, and biological properties 2. Lipidomics 3. The pro- and anti-inflammatory activity of fatty acids 4. Bioactive lipids in cardiovascular disease 5. The role of fatty acids metabolism on cancer progression and therapeutics development 6. Role of bioactive lipids on obesity 7. Functionality of bioactive lipids in cognitive function 8. Impact of bioactive lipids on Gut microbiota 9. Lipids as antimicrobials 10. Oils as a source of bioactive lipids (olive oil, palm oil, fish oil) 11. Milk lipids and their nutritional importance 12. Alternative sources of bioactive lipids – challenges and perspectives (microalgae, plant seeds…) 13. Challenges in functional foods development based on bioactive lipids 14. Lipid delivery systems for food applications 15. Bioactive lipids as nutraceuticals (pharmaceutical perspective)