Anca Ioana NICOLAU

Project role: Institutional responsible for SafeFood project, principal investigator for microbiology.

Graduated as engineer in food technology (1985) and obtained her PhD title in Industrial Biotehnology (1999). She is currently professor of Food Microbiology, Rapid methods and Automation in Microbiology and Hygiene for Food Business Operators at the Faculty of Food Science and Engineering from the Dunarea de Jos University of Galati, Romania, and coordinates PhD thesis in the domain of Industrial Engineering, specialization Food Industry. Her current research is related to the detection of pathogens in food and food processing environments and to the destruction of microorganisms using alternative technologies. She acted as institutional responsible for several European projects as Biotracer (FP6), Promise (FP7), Foodseg (FP7), Food Zoonosis (COST Action 920) and BacFoodNet (COST FA Action 2012) and as director for the projects CFP/EFSA/DATEX/2010/01 and ViLmAR (bilateral project Romania-Austria). At present, she is the institutional responsible for the SafeFood (ERA IB2) and SafeConsumE (Horizon 2020) projects. Follow her publications on Loop: https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/269090/overview.

Daniela BORDA

Project role: principal investigator responsible for high pressure processing.

Graduated in 1993 from the Faculty of Food Technology, in 1999 she obtained a MSc degree and in 2005 acquired a PhD degree in Industrial Engineering at the "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati, Romania (UGAL). She is currently a professor at UGAL, giving lectures in Food Quality and Safety & Dairy Technology, for bachelor and master students. Her main research interests are connected with high pressure processing, dairy science, gas-chromatography and edible coatings and films.

Leontina GRIGORE-GURGU 

Project role: Deputy institutional responsible for SafeFood project, principal investigator for genetics.

Graduated as biologist (2001) and obtained her PhD title in Industrial Engineering (2011). She is currently lecturer of Enzymatic and immunological methods, Genetically modified food and Genetic engineering at the Faculty of Food Science and Engineering from the Dunarea de Jos University of Galati, Romania. Her PhD thesis was, in part, the result of two FEBS fellowships and one mobility project to Instituto de Agroquimica Y Tecnologia de Alimentos (IATA)”, Laboratory of Enzyme Structure and Function, Valencia, Spain. She was the principal investigator of the Postdoctoral Fellowship with the title Induction of cellulolytic activity in yeast strains of genus Saccharomyces sp. by genomic studies, earned by competition POSTDRU/89/1.5/S/52432 contract and was team member in three research projects. Her current research is related to pathogen’s inactivation by CRISPR gene editing.

Vasilica (Viorica) BARBU

Project role: Principal investigator responsible for microscopy (CLSM).

Graduated in 1991 the Faculty of Biology from the University of Bucharest. Since 2003, she is member of the academic staff in the Department of Food Science, Food Engineering and Applied Biotechnology from the Faculty of Food Science and Engineering, where she teaches Cellular biology, Genetic engineering, Biotechnology of cell and tissues cultures, Ecology and environmental monitoring and phytosanitary control. She is associate professor since 2009. Her current research is related to the biologic active compounds and probiotics. She has 52 citations, two books as author or coauthor, 36 papers/studies published in ISI or IDB journals, over 20 studies published full or summary in the proceedings of international scientific events, 14 research, development and innovation projects of which 2 as director.

Elena-Alexandra ONICIUC 

Project role: Postdoctoral student.

Graduated as food engineer (2012) and obtained the PhD title in Industrial Engineering domain (2017). In the last years, her research was related to the incidence of Staphylococcus aureus in foods confiscated from travelers’ luggage from road and air traffic borders and characterization of isolates, especially from the point of view of antibiotic resistance and biofilm formation. Her research experience is quite vast as she worked in the FP7 PROMISE (Protection of consumers by microbial risk mitigation through combating segregation of expertise), FOODSEG (Safe Food for Europe– Coordination of research activities and dissemination of research results of EC funded research on food safety), and COST FA 1202 (A European Network for Mitigating Bacterial Colonisation and Persistence On Foods and Food Processing Environments) projects. She integrates well in international teams as she had the opportunity to work in different laboratories from prestigious European institutions based either on Short Term Scientific Missions associated to research projects or grants obtained via competitions such as FEMS and EU-FORA fellowships. Currently, she is involved in the risk assessment of antimicrobial resistance along the food chain through culture-indepedent methodologies and being part of the team working for ERA-IB project SafeFood (Development of a novel industrial process for safe, sustainable and higher quality foods, using biotechnology and cybernetic approach).

Florentina Ionela Bucur

Project role: PhD student.

Graduated as food technologist in 2014 at the Faculty of Food Science and Engineering from Dunarea de Jos University of Galati, Romania and obtained her master title with the same institution in 2016. She is currently a Ph.D. student, researching in the Industrial Engineering domain. Her research is focused on assessing incidence of human pathogens in food products and food related environments and their death/survival when using alternative technologies in food processing. She is also working as research assistant in two European projects, namely SafeFood (ERA IB2) and SafeConsumE (Horizon 2020).