Editor

Dr. Lorena Ruiz is a microbiologist with strong expertise in microbial biotechnology, microbe-host interactions, and microbial ecology applied to the development of novel functional foods and probiotic supplements capable of beneficially modulating gut microbiota and host health. She conducted her Ph.D. studies at IPLA-CSIC, receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Oviedo (2011). Since then she has worked at prestigious research institutions in Spain and Ireland, having realized postdoctoral stays at the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre and University College Cork, Ireland (2011-2014); and the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain (2015-2017). Since then she is a senior researcher at IPLA-CSIC. The inclusion of food ingredients such as prebiotics or probiotic microorganisms in functional foods are strategies that are receiving increasing interest from consumers and food producers as a means to promote human health by restoring the balance in the human microbiota. Within this field, Dr. Lorena Ruiz has made outstanding contributions, having conducted research from diverse angles throughout her career, including (1) molecular characterization of functional and technological properties of interest in classical probiotic species; (2) development of novel molecular tools to study potential novel probiotic strains; (3) isolation and characterization of potential novel probiotics (including classical and next-generation species); (4) study of food and human-associated microbiomes; and (5) study of the prebiotic potential of selected agri-food by-products. She has participated in over 20 research projects and has published over 70 scientific documents, including papers in high-impact journals, has presented her research work at over 50 scientific conferences, and has regularly participated in teaching activities at different universities and specialization courses.

Probiotics, Prebiotics, Gut microbiota, Functional foods, y-products revalorization, Microbe-host interactions