Alberto Romero

University of Seville, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Chemistry, 41012 Seville, Spain

Alberto Romero is Professor in Chemical Engineering at the Universidad de Sevilla, with a Degree in Chemistry, and a Master’s in Industrial Chemistry. In 2005, he was awarded a grant (FPU-grant) by the Spanish government to develop his PhD thesis, which was presented in 2009 and received the European Doctor degree and an Honourable mention in the Iberian Award to the most Distinguished PhD thesis (2009-2011). He carried out postdoctoral research at Leuven University under the supervision of Professor Jan Vermant, at the University of Lorraine, and as a visiting Professor at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Department of Chemical Engineering). He leads the Ibero-American network of investigation about the valorization of food by-products and waste (VALORAL) with more than 20 research groups from 11 different countries. He has supervised two awarded PhD theses and more than 15 MSc degree students. Currently, he supervises three PhD theses and acts as reviewer for different scientific journals. He has taken part in more than 20 R+D projects, is author of 2 patents, more than 20 international book chapters, and 100 articles in indexed journals. He has been awarded different research prizes in his career. His main research activities have been focused on the development of products with tailored microstructure and functionality (e.g., complex interfacial fluid-fluid layers, protein-based emulsions, dispersions and gels, protein-polysaccharide matrices, and scaffolds for tissue engineering). Particular emphasis has been given to the relationships between material processing, rheology, and microstructure and their implications in potential food applications.

Victor Perez-Puyana

University of Seville, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Chemistry, 41012 Seville, Spain

Dr. Victor Perez-Puyana is a postdoctoral researcher in the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Seville. He finished his Bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 2014 before completing two Master’s degrees in teaching (2016) and in advanced studies in chemistry (2015), where he focused on the research, study, and development of 3D structures for muscle regeneration with applications in tissue engineering in collaboration with the Biomedicine Institute of Seville. In 2016, he began his doctoral studies in the Chemical Engineering Department by obtaining a predoctoral fellowship within the “VPPI-US” of the University of Seville. He has completed three predoctoral research stays at the MERLN Institute for Technology-Inspired Regenerative Medicine of Maastricht University in the Netherlands for a total period of 9 months. He defended his thesis in December of 2019 with the outstanding Cum Laude qualification. He has published more than 40 scientific articles in international high impact journals within the Journal Citation Reports, and participated in numerous national and international conferences or scientific dissemination meetings. Furthermore, his research work has been supported by his participation as part of the collaborator/work team in several research projects. In addition,, he has collaborated as a reviewer in prestigious international journals, and is currently an Assistant Editor for the American Journal of Biomedical Science & Research and for the journal Polymers.

Mercedes Jimenez-Rosado

University of Seville, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Chemistry, 41012 Seville, Spain

Mercedes Jiménez-Rosado studied industrial chemical engineering at the University of Seville, Spain and completed her MS in 2018. She joined the research group of Technology and Design of Multicomponent Products (TEP-229) through a research grant, developing superabsorbent soy protein-based matrices with micronutrients for horticulture. There, she has gained experience in any different fields, such as biopolymers, bioplastics, and biomaterials. She is currently working under a predoctoral contract from the Spanish government under the doctoral program “Installations and Systems for Industry.” She has published 26 JCR-indexed articles. In addition, she has participated in 51 national and international congresses.