BiotechLab

The AgriFood BioTech research group is coordinated by Giuseppe Meca, professor at the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Food Science, Toxicology and Legal Medicine of the University of Valencia. Consisting of a multidisciplinary scientific team, our activity focuses on the study of agri-food biotechnology, dealing with aspects ranging from the study of agricultural biotechnology to animal and microbial biotechnology. The facilities are perfectly equipped with the main chromatographic and omic techniques to offer different services in the field of industrial biotechnology. Our research is based on the purification, isolation and identification of antimicrobial compounds present in food matrices and soils; analysis of mycotoxins in food, in vitro and in vivo toxicity study and the factors that influence intestinal bioaccessibility and decontamination procedures in order to evaluate risk; biostimulation and biocontrol of crops, etc. A large amount of waste is generated daily in the primary and secondary sector, the management of which poses a problem for companies and the environment. Many of these by-products are undervalued. At Biotech Agrifood we work on their revaluation through processes that allow them to be transformed into resources with high added value. We devise strategies for obtaining functional biocomplexes that allow the reduction of synthetic additives in food conservation, as well as formulations of biofertilizers and biocontrol agents for agriculture. We work on the development of ingredients and natural antimicrobial devices to prevent the development of mycotoxigenic fungi (Aspergillus, Fusarium, Penicillium, Claviceps, Alternaria, etc.) in food and thereby extend the shelf life of products. In recent years we have focused on biotechnologies of lactic bacteria for use as functional ingredients in bread, dairy or meat products, as well as for the biostimulation and biocontrol of different pests in the field. Likewise, we develop new probiotics for medical use. We carry out different physico-chemical and microbiological analyses of food matrices, gastrointestinal digestion in vitro to understand the interaction between the composition of food and the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of mycotoxins, and LC-MS / MS and LC-Q-TOF analyses of bioactive metabolites of microbial and food origin.