tfer@iata.csic.es

Dr. MT Fernandez-Espinar is a CSIC scientific researcher at IATA (CSIC, Spain). She obtained her PhD in Food Science and Technology in 1994 from the University of Valencia, working on fungal enzymes to be applied to agrofood. She then moved for a two-year postdoctoral stay at the group of “Génétique Moléculaire et d’Amélioration de Champignons Cultivés” (INRA, France) where she worked on molecular aspects related to edible mushroom fructification. When she returned, she joined the Molecular Microbiology of Industrial Microorganisms Group at IATA-CSIC wherein she focused on the development and application of molecular techniques for species identification and strain differentiation in yeasts of biotechnological interest (starters and spoilage yeasts). After she got a permanent position in 2004, she studied food yeasts as potential emerging pathogens by “omics” approaches and assays in murine systems. She currently works as a scientist in the IATA Biological Activity of Food Compounds Laboratory to extend knowledge about the functional properties of food ingredients. Today her research lines centre on setting up and using in vivo methodologies based on simple organisms as rapid systems to track the biological effects of plant extracts and the compounds they contain against different stresses, and to look closely at the molecular mechanisms responsible for these effects. She collaborates with the IATA Cereals Group to improve the antioxidant properties of cereal bakery products.