Research Program. Innovation, Communication and Education Unit

Objectives: The aim of this unit is to boost innovation from a communication perspective. Currently, there is a low flow of information between scientists, industry and end-users which delays knowledge transfer. This recently created unit has been implemented in IMDEA Food to catalyze the interaction between the IMDEA Food research community and relevant stakeholders. On the other hand, we aim to search and facilitate the transfer of knowledge generated through applied and basic research into applications for precision nutrition, and from whose use Society and Industry can equally profit.This unit brings Science to both Industry and Society through four strategic pillars:

  • Innovation
  • Education
  • Communication
  • Business creation

  

Members

  

Prof. Guillermo Reglero Rada

Head of Business Creation and Technology Transfer. Full Professor of Food Science at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid.

Guillermo J. Reglero Rada, PhD in Chemistry (1985). Full Professor of Food Sciences at the University Autonoma de Madrid (1999) and Senior Researcher of Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científi cas, CSIC (on leave). Between 1993 and 1994 he worked as Specialist Technician of Industrial Projects for Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial (CDTI). Between 2002 and 2006 he was the Manager of the Food Science and Technology Program of the National Plan of R&D and between 2005 and 2010 he was a member of the Steering Committee of the UAM-CSIC Research Institute in Food Sciences, CIAL. He is the Former Director of IMDEA Food Institute and member of the Council of Science and Technology of the Community of Madrid. His line of research is focused on the relationship between food and health. He has directed projects of the EU Framework Program, as well as Consolider and Cenit Ingenio 2010, Cien, National Plan of R&D, projects of industrial R&D Innpacto and projects in collaboration with companies. Since 2005 he has coordinated a Program of Activities in Technology funded by the Comunidad de Madrid which is composed of groups of 10 research centers and hospitals. He has authored over 260 original research articles and 3 licensed patents in exploitation. In 2001 he received the Award of the American Oil Chemists Society, in 2008 the Prize of the Spanish Society of Gastrononía as Best Spanish Researcher in Food Science and in 2015 the Fundación García Cabrerizo Award to the Invention.

E-mail: guillermo.reglero@imdea.org

Dr. María Jesús Latasa Sada

Head of Innovation and Education

Dr. Maria-Jesús Latasa holds a Pharmacy degree by the University of Navarra and a Ph.D. in Pharmacy, specialized in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, by the University of Alcalá. Throughout all her professional career, her research expertise has always been the regulation of gene expression on different tissues and systems, as well as in diverse physiopathological conditions. Thus, her work covers several topics, going from the regulation of the APP gene (implicated in Alzheimer’s disease) by various hormones and growth factors (IIBM-CSIC-Spain), to gene expression regulation during nervous system development by epigenetic factors (IC and IIBM CSIC-Spain), and research on the effect of the nutritional state on the regulation of FAS, the central enzyme in lipid synthesis (UCBerkeley-USA). Since her arrival to IMDEA Food, her scientific interests have focused on the effect of diet on the regulation of microRNA and other non-coding RNAs expression. For the last two years, she has also been involved in R&D&I activities within the EIT Food, with a special focus on the Education pillar.

Email: mariajesus.latasa@imdea.org
Phone: +34 91 727 81 00 , ext. 201

Sara Castillo Alonso

Head of Comunication and Societal Impact

Sara Castillo Alonso holds a bachelor degree in Economics from the University Carlos III in Madrid, she has obtained a Master’s degree in Commercial Management and Marketing at Instituto de Empresa, as well as a Superior Program in Digital Marketing at ESIC Business & Marketing School. She has extensive professional experience in the areas of communication and marketing that she has carried out both in multinational companies operating in the field of consulting as well as in the industrial sector, and in public institutions. In 2014, she joined the IMDEA Food Institute as Communication and Institutional Relations coordinator being responsible for the Interactive Nutrigenomic Center development. In 2017 she became part of the newly created Innovation & Communication unit, being in charge of the Institute outreaching activities and the communications projects linked to EIT Food.

Email: sara.castillo@imdea.org
Phone: +34 91 727 81 00 , ext.106