The Southern California Institute of Food Technologists, in partnership with UC Davis, presents the UC Davis Education Track at the Natural Products Expo West at the Anaheim Convention Center Marriott.
This track will be on Wednesday, March 9, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., located at the Marriott, Grand Ballroom F.
As a SCIFTS member, the first 50 members who contact the SCIFTS office at 714-282-0919 will be eligible for free attendance to this track ONLY.
The following day is the Southern California Food Industry Conference.
Below is an outline of the speakers and topics that will be presented at the UC Davis Education Track:
Ameer Taha: "Vegetable Oil Intake and Brain Function"
Dr. Taha is an Assistant Professor in the Food Science and Technology Department at UC Davis. He holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology and a M.S. in Nutritional Sciences, both from the University of Toronto.
His research focuses upon dietary linoleic acid and its impact on health. Linoleic acid is a type of fat found in vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, and animal products. Small amounts of linoleic acid are required for proper nutrition, but too much may be detrimental. Americans whose diet includes a lot of processed foods typically consume too much linoleic acid, which can contribute to chronic inflammation, heart disease, and other health problems.
The adverse effects of linoleic acid are thought to be caused by chemical transformations that occur during cooking or food processing, which create oxidized metabolites. The goal of my research program is to determine the extent of oxidized linoleic acid metabolite formation during various food processing or handling conditions, and to understand the impact of these metabolites on brain function. Other collaborative projects will address the impact of oxidized linoleic acid metabolites on peripheral organs and whole-body physiology.
Understanding the mechanisms of oxidized linoleic acid metabolite formation and impact on health will aid in devising strategies to minimize human exposure and will help establish dietary safety limits.
Maria Marco: "Probiotics: Fact and Fiction"
Dr. Marco is an Associate Professor in the Food Science and Technology Department at UC Davis. She received her BS from The Pennsylvania State University (1995) and PhD from The University of California, Berkeley (2002). Her thesis work under the supervision of Professor Steven E. Lindow led to the identification of plant-inducible genes of the plant pathogen and epiphyte Pseudomonas syringae. Her post-doc was performed with Professor Michiel Kleerebezem at the Wageningen Centre for Food Sciences (now TI Food & Nutrition) in Wageningen, The Netherlands. For her post-doctoral studies she investigated the molecular adaptations of probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum for growth in the mammalian gastrointestinal tract.
Carolyn Slupsky: "Measuring the Impact of Diet on Health"
Dr. Carolyn Slupsky is a Professor in the Departments of Nutrition and Food Science & Technology at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Slupsky holds a Ph.D. and B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of Alberta. Dr. Slupsky's research includes understanding the impact of diet on human health from the perspective of nutrition, the gut microbiome, and host-microbial co-metabolism. She uses a multi-discplinary research approach that integrates metabolomics with clinical measures, global gene expression profiles, as well as microbial community analysis to understand the intimate link between our gut microbiome, metabolism, and health. In addition, she is looking into the implication of food processing, agricultural practices, and plant health status on the nutrient content and sensory aspects of the food we eat. These studies will provide novel insight on health management and food development, and usher us into the era of personalized nutrition.
Daniela Barile: "Next Generation Prebiotics: Challenges and Opportunities"
Daniela Barile is Associate Professor at the University of California Davis. She received her degrees in the area of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Food Science from the Piemonte Orientale University (Italy). Her research, focused at the nexus of food, health, and the environment, aims to understand food bioactive compounds formation, their recovery from food production side streams, and their specific interactions within the human body. Her lab utilizes analytical platforms based on mass spectrometry to investigate foods and a range of relatively untapped organic waste streams for valuable, healthful bioactive compounds (such as free oligosaccharides, peptides, glycoproteins and glycolipids). Her approach of sequential molecular deconstruction of food streams is generating valuable bioinformatic libraries of source materials and the underlying biological and processing conditions that give rise to their formation/preservation.
