Soler Rivas, Cristina

Dr. Cristina Soler Rivas obtained her degree as biologist (specialist in Biochemistry) at the University of Valencia (Spain) and her PhD degree in Biochemistry (European Doctorate) at the University Claude Bernard of Lyon (France). She was working for almost 10 years in an agrotechnological research centre (nowadays called Food and Biobased Research, FBR) in Wageningen (The Netherlands) carrying out research projects related with food and food products. Her main expertise includes the study of edible mushrooms therefore, she developed many research projects to improve their quality, to study their beneficial properties for human health and to use them as organisms able of secreting interesting degradative enzymes for instance to valorize polluted residues or to improve the life support cycle designed for astronauts (in a Mars mission).  At the present, she is approximately 20 years working at one of the public Universities of Madrid (UAM, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) teaching undergraduates students that want to get a degree in carriers related to Food Science or Nutrition and graduated students that study for a Master degree and supervising young scientists to get their Ph.D. degree.  She also develops research activities using edible mushrooms and plants as raw materials to extract (using advanced and environmentally friendly technologies) interesting fractions that can be used to design new functional foods because they have particular bioactive compounds with, for instance, hypocholesterolemic or immunomodulatory properties. Identification and quantification of the responsible compounds as well as their effect on the expression of particular genes are also usually investigated by analytical and molecular biology technologies. She was responsible of 11 research projects financed by European or national Programs and collaborated in 28 other projects obtaining 7 patents, publishing more than 75 articles in scientific journals and a few books and communicating the obtained results in many national and international congresses. Currently, she is co-founding CEO of Algarikon Mar Menor S.L., a start-up promoted by the UAM and recognized by EINSA (national institution), created to transfer and exploit Algarikon results. It intends to valorize the algae clumps from Mar Menor seashore into useful products using a sequential process to reach circular economy.