Ana Isabel Bourbon holds a PhD degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering from the University of Minho since 2016. According to European legislation, her background is focused on developing different micro- and nano-structures to improve the nutritional value and safety of food products. Ana also evaluated different bio-based materials (e.g. proteins, polysaccharides, lipids) to create new solutions, with the main objective of replacing synthetic compounds in food products using clean technology (e.g. replacing the high-energy methods with low energy to produce bio-based emulsions).

Her PhD was about the “Development of nanohydrogels as a delivery vehicle of bioactive compounds to food matrices”, and she was awarded the Research and Development category by the Food & Nutrition Award in 2016. In 2016, Ana worked as a Post-Doctoral Researcher in Biological Engineering at the University of Minho and developed the Project “Evaluation of food grade micro/nano-structures behaviour in food matrices”, aiming the development of bio-based systems to encapsulate bioactive compounds and create new solutions to improve the shelf life of food products. In 2020, Ana was granted by Fundação Ciència e Tecnologia (FCT) to evaluate the impact of a functional diet on intestinal microbiota health. Ana Bourbon has an H-factor 28 and has published 40 papers in peer-reviewed journals, was a co-author in 7 book chapters, and is the author of a patent (107059) and more than 35 abstracts in international and national conferences.  Since 2021, she has been Staff Research at the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, working in the Food Processing Group.