Elena Peñas Pozo

Bachelor’s degree in Biology (Complutense University of Madrid) and PhD in Food Science and Technology (Autonoma University of Madrid). She performed her PhD in the Instituto del Frío, investigating the reduction of food protein antigenicity through combination of technological treatments. In 2008 she developed her research career at Institute of Industrial Fermentations thanks to a JAE-Doc contract. During this period her research efforts were focused on the improvement of safety and functionality of vegetable foods. In 2010 she performed a 6-month stay in MTT Agrifood Research Institute (Finland) to complete her knowledge in analysis of vegetable volatile bioactive compounds. From September 2010 to March 2013 she conducted her research career at University of Milan (Italy), focusing her research lines on the in vitro and in vivo safety evaluation of cereal-based foods intended for celiac people. During these years she developed teaching activities in Italy and Albania. Since June 2013, she performed her research work at ICTAN thanks to a project-associated contract firstly, and to a Ramón y Cajal contract (awarded in 2014) afterwards. From October 2018 she is a permanent scientist at ICTAN. Nowadays, her research is focused on the development and optimization of technological approaches (germination, fermentation and enzymatic hydrolysis) for producing innovative vegetable ingredients/foods with enhanced quality, safety and health-promoting properties, directing a great deal of attention to the development and evaluation of nutritional, immunochemical and functional aspects of novel foods from cereals, legumes and pseudocereals intended for consumers with special nutritional needs (celiacs). She has participated numerous research projects and contracts with private companies as well as in dissemination projects. She has been co-editor of 1 book and several special issues in SCI journals.