College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition

Degrees

PhD  Food Science. Technological Institute of Veracruz, 2011
MSc Chemical Engineering. Technological Institute of Orizaba, 2002
BS Chemical Engineering. Technological Institute of Orizaba, 1998

Research Interests

Effects of oxidative stress on peroxidation of lipids and steroids. The goals of our laboratory are elucidate molecular mechanisms governing oxidative stress, and to translate our findings to develop biomarkers for prevention and treatment of chronic diseases (e.g. cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases). Current projects are focused on 1) developing drug modulators of cholesterol oxidation to damp inflammation on cardiovascular disease, and 2) metabolomic mapping of oxysterols and other lipid peroxides for risk assessment in highly susceptible populations, 3) Fingerprinting of plant secondary metabolites and understanding its role in life processes.

Our research group focuses in the following omics areas

1. Lipidomics: Mechanism of free radicals reactions on lipids, steroids and lipoproteins (e.g., LDL and HDL) using model, in vitro and in vivo systems. Critical for this research is to determine the products of lipid oxidation and the molecular mechanisms by which these compounds contribute to major chronic diseases.
2. Metabolomics: Plant secondary metabolites fingerprinting, developing new strategies for its identification by metabolomics mass spectrometry methods GC-MS, LC/MS/MS, IF-TR, EPR and NMR, as well as modelling of metabolic pathways to understand its role on life processes.
3. Processomics: Understanding the impact of traditional and novel processing technologies on the bioavailability and functionality of phytochemicals on food systems. A novel kinetic approach is used for mechanistic and predictive modelling through Chemical Reaction Networks. We rely in several mathematical and multivariate statistical approaches (parametric and non-parametric statistics, and chemical reaction networks, among others).

Selected Publications

Barnaba C., Rodriguez-Estrada, M.T., Lercker G., Garcia H.S., Medina-Meza I.G.* (2016) Cholesterol photo-oxidation: A chemical reaction network for kinetic modeling. DOI: 10.1016/j.steroids.2016.10.004.

Medina-Meza I.G., Aluwi N., Saunders S., Ganjyal G.M. (2016). GC-MS Profiling of triterpenoid saponins from 28 quinoa varieties (Chenopodium quinoa Willd) grown in Washington State. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.6b02156.

Millin T.M., Medina-Meza I.G., Walters B.C., Huber K.C., Rasco B., Ganjyal G.M. (2016). Assessment of physical and structural properties of French fries during the entire frying processing. Food and Bioprocess Technology. DOI:10.1007/s11947-016-1790-2.

Kowalski R.J., Medina-Meza I.G., Thapa B.B., Murphy K., Ganjyal M.G. (2016). Extrusion processing characteristics of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd) var. Cherry Vanilla. Journal of Cereal Science. (DOI: 10.1016/j.jcs.2016.05.024).

Paciulli M., Medina-Meza I.G.*, Chiavaro E., Barbosa-Cánovas G.V. (2016) Effects of HHP processing on quality parameters of beetroot (Beta vulgaris L.), LWT-Food Science and Technology (DOI: 10.1016/j.lwt.2015.12.029).

Medina-Meza I.G.*, Boioli, P., Barbosa- Cánovas G. V. (2015) Assessment of the effects of Ultrasonics and Pulsed Electric Fields on nutritional and rheological properties of Raspberry and Blueberry purees. Food and Bioprocess Technology (DOI: 10.1007/s11947-015-1642-5).

Medina-Meza I.G.*, Barbosa-Cánovas G.V. (2015). Assisted extraction of bioactive compounds from plum and grape peels by ultrasonic and pulsed electric fields. Journal of Food Engineering, 166, 268-275.

Medina-Meza I.G.*, Barnaba C., Villani F., Barbosa-Cánovas G.V. (2015) Effects of thermal and high pressure treatments in color and chemical attributes of an oil-based spinach sauce, LWT-Food Science and Technology. 60, 86-94.

Medina-Meza I.G.*, Barnaba C., Barbosa-Cánovas G.V. (2014) Effects of high pressure processing on lipid oxidation: a review, Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies, 22, 1-10.

Medina-Meza I.G., Rodríguez-Estrada M.T., Barnaba C., Lercker G (2014) Kinetics of 25-hydroperoxy-cholesterol formation during photo-oxidation of crystalline cholesterol, Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 94(8), 1543-1551.

Medina-Meza I.G.*, Barnaba C. (2013) Kinetics of cholesterol oxidation in model systems and foods: current status, Food Engineering Reviews, 5, 171-184.
Medina-Meza I.G.*, Rodríguez-Estrada M.T., García-Galindo H.S., Lercker G. (2012) Oxidative pattern from fluorescent light exposition of crystalline cholesterol, Food Biophysics, 7, 209-219.