Scientific & expert work

About us

Scientific research activities pursued by the FFTB go through and mirror in national and international scientific research and expert (applicative) projects and projects jointly organised with the industrial sector, that cover the fields of Food Technology, Food Engineering, Food Quality & Food Safety Control, Bioprocess Engineering and Environmental Protection-Oriented Biotechnological Processes, Molecular Biology and Genetics, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Nutrition Science and other kindred scientific disciplines.

 

Currently, on the Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology is performing 35 scientific projects (Ministry of Science) (6 research programs), 10 international projects, and 3 active research and development projects in other national sources (UKF, NSF, other government institutions and the domestic economy).

 

When it comes to scientific-research activities, the mission of the Faculty boils down to the implementation of scientific, fundamental and developmental research in the interdisciplinary Food Technology and Biotechnology fields, as well as in other kindred scientific disciplines, so as to encourage criticism and creativity capable of yielding novel notions and ideas, as well as innovations needed for the transfer of knowledge and technology into the economic sector. Research output should ultimately lead to international recognisability of the Faculty and its perception as a centre of scientific research excellence within its field of expertise. Pursuant to the mission stated above, the strategic research programme shall mostly rely on research projects that yielded internationally recognisable outputs and have managed to establish a close international collaboration of any form.

 

When it comes to the Biotechnology field, the projects that fit the above-described profile are those aiming at the development of biotechnological processes of relevance for the production of bio-chemicals and bio-fuels that shall allow for a leap towards the development of modern industrial biotechnology and the implementation of traditional technologies into the modern industrial biotechnological production of vinegar, wine, beer and fermented food using functional starter cultures.

 

Research programme conducted in the Food Technology field has been focused on developmental projects making use of modern technological processes of relevance for production, devoted to production and packaging optimisation, the development of novel food products of a longer shelf life and a higher nutritive value and the products covering for special dietetic needs, as well as to the development of new methods of food quality and food safety control and identification and isolation of bioactive ingredients.

 

As for the Nutrition Science field, research devoted to the impact of dietary regimen, i.e. food and its specific ingredients, on the nutrition status of various target population groups, that is to say, that of children, adolescents, adults and the elderly, as well as that investigating into the relationship between the consumer and food and factors defining the relationship in question shall be pursued. Within this frame, B vitamin and homocysteine status of vegetarians and omnivores shall be investigated, together with the impact of dietary regimen, physical activity and lifestyle on the bone status, phenol food components and anti-oxidative effects, glycaemic index and glycaemic burden "in vivo".

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