Merichel Plaza

Merichel Plaza obtained her Bachelor's Degree in Food Science and Technology at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM, 2006). She completed her PhD thesis at the Institute of Industrial Fermentations (IFI, Madrid), supported by a predoctoral fellowship from the CSIC. During her PhD, she undertook a 3 months research stay at Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry (Brno, Czech Republic). In December 2010, she got the PhD title in the UAM with the highest distintion. Following her PhD, Merichel conducted a postdoctoral stage for 5 years and 3 months at the Department of Chemistry at Lund University (Sweden). The first two years were founded by a FORMAS grant from the Swedish Government, and thesubsequent 3 years and 3 months, she held a research position at Lund University. During this period she participated in multiple research projects, collaborating extensively with various departments within Lund University as well as with international research institutions. She also contribute to an European project known as BERRYPOM.

In April 2016, Merichel joined the Department of Analytical Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, and Chemical Engineering at the Universidad de Alcalá (UAH) under a Juan de la Cierva Incorporación contract (MINECO, Spain) (19th April 2016-18th April 2018). From April to November 2018, she held a postdoctoral contract (Type B) at the UAH. In November 2018, Merichel was appointed as an Assistant Professor under the Talent Retention Program at UAH. This contract ended on November 2023, after which she served as a Visiting Professor until February 2024. On March 1, 2024, she was appointed Associate Professor in Analytical Chemistry at UAH. During this period, she developed her own research line focused on the extraction and analysis of bioactive compounds from agro-industrial by-products, employing advanced analytical methodologies. She obtained financial support as principal investigator from the Comunidad de Madrid and UAH to carry out the projects CM/JIN/2019-033 and CM/JIN/2021-023, each lasting two years (2020-2022 and 2022-2024). Additionally, she is the principal investigator for a three-year project funded by the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla la Mancha, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund. Merichel also leads a two-year project on Ecological and Digital Transition Project, funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation in 2021.

Her work is focused on the revalorization of food by-products by obtaining compounds with high added value, either because they present biological activities or because they are of interest to the chemical industry, all from the point of view of their use in the context of a biorefinery. That is why, we developed extraction strategies based on the use of environmentally sustainable techniques, such as pressurized liquid extraction and enzyme-assisted extraction, among others, enzymes, biosolvents, and natural deep eutectic solvents that allow the sustainable extraction of the target compounds.

Her scientific contributions include 55 articles published in high impact SCI-journals, with 15 as the corresponding author, along with 3 articles in non-SCI-journals, 13 book chapters with international publishers,2 editated books, and 9 conference proceedings. Her publications have received a total of 5073 citations (she has been included in the list of scientists selected by Stanford University (top 2%) for citations received during 2019-2023) and her h-index is 33 (Scopus, January 2025). She is co-author of an international PCT patent, licensed by Beacon Biomedicine S.L. She has been involved in 32 research projects (24 nationals and 8 internationals), and 1 R&D contract. The results of her research have been presented in 50 conferences with 81 contributions (36 oral presentations and 45 posters). She was honored with the 2018 Young Researchers Award from UAH, recognizing her outstanding scientific trajectory. Her supervisory experience includes one PhD thesis and 16 undergraduate and master's research projects (TFG, TFM, etc.). She has also been actively involved in organizing and coordinating various dissemination activities. She holds an I3 certificated (I3/2019/1000) (Incentive Program for the Incorporation and Intensification of Research Activity). The research conducted has been recognized with two consecutive six-year research periods (maximum allowed).