Esther Garcia Cela PhD

Dr. Esther Garcia-Cela obtained her Ph.D. in Agricultural and Food Science and Technology in 2014 at Lleida University, Spain. She conducted her research work in two centers of excellence in Applied Mycology: The University of Lleida, Spain, under the supervision of Prof. Sonia Marin, and the Catholic University of Sacro Cuore of Piacenza, Italy, under the supervision of Prof. Paola Battilani. During this period, she gained an in-depth understanding of the management of risk issues applied to mycotoxin analyses, in particular to the uncertainty of both sampling and analytical chemistry techniques.

Her research focused on the development of different strategies for mycotoxin reduction in food and feed chains, especially by using chemical and vegetable extracts as antifungal compounds. During these studies, both current climatic conditions and conditions predicted by the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) were considered. In Italy, she focused her work on the development of a biological control agent against Aspergillus flavus to minimize aflatoxin contamination of maize. She was appointed as a Research Fellow in Applied Mycology in the Applied Mycology group lead by Prof Naresh Magan at Cranfield University (UK) in 2016. During this time, she developed predictive microbiology models of mycotoxigenic fungi and created Decision Support Systems to improve the storability of key cereals and nuts and avoid spoilage and occurrence of mycotoxins.