MARIO
MARTINEZ MARTINEZ

Mario Martinez is Associate Professor (Profesor Titular) and Consolidated Researcher (Consolidación Investigadora 2023, AEI) at the Department of Agricultural Engineering. He started his independent research career as Tenure-Track Assistant Professor at the University of Guelph (ON, Canada) in August 2017, where he was awarded the College of Engineering and Physical Science (CEPS) Assistant Professor Research Excellence Award from CEPS, the Ontario Early Researcher Award (ERA) from the Government of Ontario, and the Young Scientist award from the Cereals & Grains Association. Mario Martinez joined Aarhus University in April 2020 as Tenure-Track Assistant Professor, where his research was recognized with prestigious awards and elite grants, including the Nils Foss Talent Prize 2021 (Foss Analytics, Denmark) and the DFF-Sapere Aude excellence grant (Denmark, equivalent to the ERC-Starting grant in Denmark and with a concession of 1M euro). Besides his main affiliation at the University of Valladolid, Mario holds secondary positions including Associate Professor at Aarhus University’s Department of Food Science and Adjunct Associate Professor at the Whistler Center for Carbohydrate Research (Purdue University, USA). He became editor of International Journal of Biological Macromolecules (IF=8.2) in September 2023. His research program focuses on designing and utilizing plant macromolecule assemblies that precisely target metabolic responses, bioactivity, and technological performance for applications in food, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and packaging. Research lines • Structure-function relationships in relation to building novel foods and food packaging materials. • Analytical methods to elucidate structural features of polysaccharides, including monomer composition, linkage patterns, sequencing, hydrodynamic and molecular weight, anomeric configuration and chain length distributions. • Chemical, enzymatic and physical modifications of plant polysaccharides and proteins. • Interactions between food macromolecules and small metabolites (e.g., polyphenols) in complex systems. • Health aspects, particularly the digestion and bioaccesibility of plant biopolymers and phenolic compounds and the role of polysaccharides as dietary fiber. • Physical properties, including the rheological and colloidal properties of edible systems. • The encapsulation and controlled release of active compounds for inclusion in food formulations • The film forming properties of plant polysaccharides and proteins with application in edible films, coatings and active packaging.